Arable Winter wheat Skyscraper performs


well during challenging season • Quick to establish when drilled late • PGR can be necessary but eff ective • Bushel weight holds up despite wet


A


no-till farmer who grew winter wheat LG Sky- scraper for the fi rst time


last year says the variety did well – even when drilled in the week before Christmas. Aaron Hogsbjerg, who farms on the Essex-Suffolk border near Sudbury, says Skyscraper was quick to get going and also quick to pick up tillers. “We really like LG Skyscraper because it is vig- orous and fi ts well with our no- till regime,” he says. Despite a challenging season,


Mr Hogsbjerg achieved a yield av- erage of 9-10t/ha – which he says compared well with other varie- ties grown. Planting date fl exi- bility was a real benefi t, he adds. Fields sown just before Christ- mas yielded 9t/ha.


‘Streets ahead’ “We were chuffed to bits. We used to grow Evolution, but LG Sky- scraper is streets ahead.” A different variety sown on 25 November only did 8.5t/ha, Mr Hogsbjerg reports. “LG Skyscrap- er was quick to establish across the farm, and worked equal- ly well across a number of soils, from sandy and clay loams, and even patchy light sand.” Since changing to a no-till re-


gime, Mrs Hogsbjerg says the im- provement in the soil has been re- markable. The seedbed was nicely friable and the crop germinated and was out of the ground with- in seven days.


Even during the wet weath- er of autumn 2019, he has been able to get on the land – drill- ing through a cover crop keeps mud off the drill. That said, drilling in a no-till re- gime can result in a few plants being lost early on, so seed rates ranged between 400 and 550 per m2. “It sounds


quite a high rate, but it gets us the results we wanted,” says Mr Hogsbjerg.


Treatment with a PGR is nec- essary because LG Skyscrap- er grows tall. But it is effective. Despite heavy rainfall during June 2019, the crop stood fi rm and none fell over. “This could be a problem in other years, but you can manage crop height us- ing PGRs.”


“


It is a nice variety to combine and the straw chops well.


Bushel weight held up – even during this year’s late, wet har- vest – where other varieties may have struggled. “LG Skyscraper is a nice variety to combine and the straw chops well.”


Future strategy


Moving on to talk about his future strategy, Mr Hogsbjerg explains that 25% of the land is used for growing sugar beet. This means rotations can be three, fi ve or sev- en years, depending on the land and conditions. “We have been building our


confi dence in the break crop, and next year we might grow more oil- seed rape,” he says.


A standard programme is fol- lowed with a “no fi re engines” ap- proach particularly at the start of the season. “We are believers in feeding the crop to keep it healthy to keep chemistry use to a min- imum, and we found that the crop kept itself quite clean.”


Paying keen atten- tion to detail, Mr Hogs- bjerg tissue tests cere- al crops to check for any


Skyscraper performs well – even when drilled late, says Aaron Hogsbjerg


The variety gave good yields across soil types ranging from sandy and clay loams to patch light sand


nutrient defi ciencies. This year, plants were low in boron, result- ing in top-ups of both boron and manganese and reduced rates of fungicides. Plans are to grow more Sky-


FARM FACTS


Area 1800 ha – all contract farmed Seed rate 400-550 per m2


Rotations • Seven-year – Rape, wheat, sugar beet, spring barley, wheat, winter beans, wheat • Three-year – Sugar beet, spring barley, winter wheat


Fertiliser Liquid Crop protection Fungicide at T0 and T1 or T1.5


Herbicide Strategy: • Pre emergence: Movon (Flufenacet + fl urtamone + difl ufenican) Wicket (Prosulfocarb) • Post emergence: Sunfi re (fl ufenacet) Claymore (pendimethalin) where needed • Early spring: Broadway star (pyroxsulam + cloquintocet-mexyl + fl orasulam) for brome patches


McCain signs up to schools project AHDB education manager


McCain Foods has become the principal sponsor of the Agricul- ture and Horticulture Develop- ment Board’s schools project – Grow Your Own Potatoes. Launched in 2005, the scheme


was one of the fi rst primary school based growing projects. It is now one of the largest. Almost 16,000 kits were distributed last year to over 10,000 primary schools so children could grow their own potatoes.


Sue Lawton said: “The straight- forward and hands-on nature of the project makes it perfect for young pupils. We get great feed- back from teachers, which is why it’s grown in popularity to the point where nearly half of pri- mary schools are involved.” Seed potatoes grown by the


schools are all donated by local companies, but McCain are the fi rst principal sponsors.


DECEMBER 2019 •ANGLIA FARMER 19


scraper, and this year it has been Mr Hogsbjerg’s variety of choice for late drilling after sugar beet. “Of course, so far we have only grown it for one year, but we re- ally like this variety.”


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