New era for OSR as robust varieties come to the fore

Good crops come from good establishment, says Philip Vickers, farm manager at the in-hand farming operation of Raby Estate, County Durham. It is a simple mantra but delivering it has involved a detailed consideration of the risks to performance that exist in the system.

For an estate that can trace its family heritage back to 1626, the changes implemented in recent years are seen as part of long-term strategy to sustain the farm for future generations.

“It is this sense of history that affords it a long-term perspective,” says Mr Vickers. “There is the recognition that the estate needs to balance its need to be commercially viable with what is environmentally sustainable.”

To support this twin requirement, the farm has adopted a direct drilling approach built on a long rotation. The oilseed rape area has been cut and second wheats have largely been replaced by spring barley, spring beans, lupins and rotational grass. The objective is to protect soils within the context of best practice and re-balance the seasonal workload and machinery requirements to cut costs ahead of the end of direct support.

“These decisions were taken voluntarily but may well have been forced upon us anyway. Although we farm in County Durham, where it is noticeably colder and wetter than just a few hours south in Lincolnshire, we still get our fair share of cabbage stem flea beetle, for example,” says Mr Vickers.

Having introduced more crops to the rotation, the intention is to grow oilseed rape on a one-in-six-year basis and no more than one-in-four. Greater focus is given to establishment policies and variety selection.

“Efforts to minimise compaction have been central to the new approach. The farm has a low-disturbance sub-soiler should it be needed, but the machinery line-up has been built around tractors with a maximum axle weight of 6 tonnes, specifically to minimise the risk of compaction, while a disc and a tine drill give us the capacity to sow crops when conditions suit,” says Mr Vickers.

“To give us good crops, however, we need robust varieties. Pests and disease are an inevitable reality of farming, so you need varieties that can cope,” he adds.

A new variety to the farm for harvest 2023 is DK Expansion. Chosen for its combination of high gross output, excellent resistance to lodging, good spring vigour and all-round strong disease resistance, it has impressed.

“It has seen its share of flea beetle but has coped well. It also gives us some highly valued diversity alongside our other varieties. From an autumn plant population of 20-40 plants per square metre, I am more than happy with how well it looks at mid-flowering,” says Mr Vickers.

Vigorous varieties are now the order of the day, he believes. “You need types that can tolerate the cold and wet weather we have in northern England and still get going early in the spring,” he says.

While variety choice is important, it is the management decisions that follow which determine much of the success. Adapting agronomy to reflect the situation is part of the attention to detail that supports good performance.

“Something I identified quickly was that the seed rate needed to be increased to support plant populations to mitigate the losses caused by flea beetle. We also applied a base fertiliser of an ash product which as well as being high in potassium also improves moisture retention and supports rooting through lower soil bulk density,” says Mr Vickers.

These changes have gradually come together to allow other areas to be reviewed. “The nitrogen regime has been tweaked. The focus is now on timing rather than application rate. In practice this has meant an early application of a P:K:S blend ahead of UAN. This has enabled us to meet target green area indexes at lower fertiliser rates than indicated by the fertiliser manual (RB209),” he concludes.

Philip Wright (left), independent soil consultant, and Philip Vickers, Raby Estate farm manager, consider the appeal of DK Expansion.

Expertise & Establishment support 

Bayer CTMs are on-hand to work with growers and agronomists to support variety selection, working together to best achieve your goals. In additional support, the DEKALB OSR establishment scheme is here to provide extra reassurance to growers in challenging times. All Dekalb varieties have strong development characteristics, helping them grow away from establishment challenges, however, should your crop fail due to flea beetle or other pressures, you’ll be credited by your seed supplier with £100/bag.

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