Arable
How ‘big picture data’ can boost arable farm sustainability
• Acts as early warning system for growers • Helps make planning rotations easier • Aids decision-making for drilling dates
ronomic trends, provide an ear- ly warning of
A potential crop
problems and identify benefi - cial management practices, says agronomy fi rm ProCam. The company recently
launched its latest ProCam 4Cast results – a crop database that gathers information from some 30,000ha of arable enterprises annually, collating information on cultivations, drilling dates, crop inputs and yields.
ProCam managing director
John Bianchi said the service could prove to be an important tool to help bolster the fi nancial sustainability of farms as they navigate the government’s re- formulated agricultural policy in the unknown waters of Brexit. Mr Bianchi said: “Financial sustainability means individual crops in the rotation need to be profi table, for example by maxim-
rable profi tability can be boosted by using ‘big picture data to spot ag-
ising yields and minimising costs of production. But it also means the rotation as a whole is profi ta- ble, and any agronomic challeng- es are addressed.”
Better wheat yields
ProCam 4Cast holds over 500,000 ha of data collected from real farms over multiple seasons. Mr Bianchi said it could be used to analyse trends, inform decisions, and benchmark top-performing
Key findings ahead of autumn plantings
• Average winter wheat yield (2017): 9.2 t/ha
• Most profi table combinable crop: Winter oilseed rape
•
Second most profi table combinable crop: Winter wheat
• No yield loss from delayed drilling date until 12 October
• Fewer fi elds ploughed, rise in non-inversion tillage
farms to help other farms im- prove.
Last year, for example, the
average winter wheat yield was 9.2t/ha for ProCam 4Cast grow- ers – some 0.9t/ha above the De- fra average. Better still, the top 25% of ProCam 4Cast growers av- eraged 10.4 t/ha, some 2.1 t/ha above the Defra average. “By increasing effi ciency of production, farmers can offset some of the harmful reductions in support payments,” explained Mr Bianchi. “The main prereq- uisite for improvement is a com- mitment to attention to detail in every decision.”
Most profitable combination ProCam head of crop produc- tion Nick Myers said big picture data could also help when plan- ning profi table rotations. It could make shorter-term decisions eas- ier, for example by showing the impact of drilling date on yield over a large area. Mr Myers said: “Latest Pro- Cam 4Cast data from harvest 2017 revealed that winter oil- seed rape remained the most prof- itable combinable crop option – just ahead of winter wheat. But
Data helps explain why delayed drilling works
Assessing the impact of delayed drilling on yield is a key benefi t of big data, says Pro- Cam seeds and traits technical manager Mike Thornton. As well as delayed drilling reducing the risk of blackgrass, delaying winter wheat drilling until after the peak aphid activity in autumn also reduces barley yellow dwarf virus risk, according to ProCam 4Cast data. “This could become an increasingly im- portant strategy for reducing BYDV prob- lems,” said Mr Thornton. “Once big picture data has been used to decide a particular crop strategy, it’s then important to match agronomy to get the best from the strategy. “With later drilling, you need to prepare
22 ANGLIA FARMER • AUGUST 2018
a good seedbed to get the crop established quickly. You also need a wheat variety that can compensate for later drilling through tillering, or that is fl exible with regard to drilling date. Even if the variety might be 1 or 2% lower yielding on paper, you could end up with a better crop.”
Growers should also select the appropri- ate seed rate for that drilling date, and look at a seed treatment to protect against dis- eases that could threaten later crop estab- lishment in colder, wetter soils. For weed control, moister soils improve uptake of re- sidual herbicides, while colder soils mean residual herbicides are broken down more slowly so last longer.
of course this is only part of plan- ning a rotation.”
Growers also needed to ex- amine the impact of the previ- ous crop on current crop yield. We have this information for win- ter wheat over multiple seasons. Data confi rms that winter oilseed rape yields, for example, are in- deed lower after spring barley.
Adapting agronomy “This is important to know – not to get rid of spring barley, which is
Growers can now assess the impact of different drilling dates, says Mike Thornton.
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