The latest edition of Teagasc’s Tillage Edge podcast looks at the possible development options for tillage in the UK.
The reality is that Britian’s farming sector is undergoing fundamental change in the wake of Brexit.
Direct payments are on the wane and greater competition with food imports from around the world is now an everyday fact of life.
From a distance, all UK arable operations look big, when compared with Irish farms.
Co. Dublin-native, Andy Mahon, manages a very large block of land in the south of England. He used the podcast opportunity to reflect on the changes that are fast-impacting on his cropping enterprises.
He commented initially on the current state of grain markets.
“We are selling a lot at the present time. The decision had previously been taken to hold on,” he siad.
“Half our wheat is grown under contract. But there is an additional 2,000t that is sold as the season progresses.
“We can store all our grain on-farm. At the beginning of last November, the markets started to fall, so I sold a fair proportion of what was available at that stage, probably in the region of 600t.”
Mahon attributed the fall in cereal prices to the then plight of the UK’s pig and broiler industries.
“Both sectors are very large consumers of wheat,” he explained.
“The market did flatten out at around £200/t.And this is where id has stayed.”
Overall, though, Mahon is happy with the outcome of the 2022 harvest, with good profits locked-in for all crops.
Looking ahead however, he is far from confident regarding the prospects for arable in 2023.
“We are currently putting out fertiliser that was purchased at between £700-800/t,” he said.
“If cereal prices were got back up to £300/t then everything would look a lot a brighter.
“But a combination of high diesel fertiliser prices makes life pretty painful at the present time.
“Adding to the challenge is the fact that fungicide and all other input costs have risen by approximately 15%, year-on-year.”
No-till
From a crop development perspective, Mahon confirmed that all drilling operations went really well last autumn.
“We are no-till, so we do not carry out any cultivations,” he said. “We got enough rain in September to soften the ground nicely. As a result all crops were drilled in almost perfect conditions at the beginning of October.
Wheat and beans are the main drivers for Mahon’s autumn drilling operations.
“This year’s wheat crop extends to 300ha. All of it is looking really well at the present time, apart from 20ha where blackgrass has been an issue,” he said.
“We got fertiliser on quite early. In early February, we opted for urea.
“The weeks that followed were very favourable from a field work perspective. We drilled 80ha of spring oats at the end of February.
“The crop took an awful long time to get out of the ground. But it’s up now and looking well.”
Winter crops in the UK looking well
According to Mahon, there are some excellent stands of wheat in England at the present time. He has recently viewed crops in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. He believes that yields will be good – “if the weather plays ball”.
“After the drought of last summer, many UK soils had become very dry. And then we had the entire month of February without rain at all. So many growers were starting to become very concerned, particularly those who depend on irrigation,” he said.
A combination of night frosts and rainy days has hampered a lot of spring planting in the south of England over recent weeks.
Soil temperatures are still below 10° in many parts of the country. However, this will all change with the prospect of warmer, drier days coming in next week.
“I am happy enough to drill oats through until the middle of April,” Mahon said.
“So there is no need to panic just yet.”
New farm support measures
Turning to the subject of Brexit and the UK’s departure from the European Union, Mahon indicated that the current situation constitutes a “dog’s dinner”.
“The current government is one policy only, and this is very much environment-focussed,” he said.
“London does not have a food policy. And this is very frustrating.
“In essence, the government doesn’t want to talk about food production or being a food producer. The government just wants to talk about the environment.”
When Michael Gove was the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs secretary, a twin-track approach was taken, looking at the need to protect the environment while still producing food in rural areas.
This led to the publication of the Dimbleby Food Report. However, this seems to have been ditched by the current government in London, leaving the total emphasis on environmental protection.
In the view of Andy Mahon, all of this leaves UK farmers in a position where they will find it difficult to plan for the future.
“The single payment will be cut to 50% of its former value by next year; it will be gone completely by 2028,” he said.
“There is reasonable money in the environmental scheme. However, they are very slow to roll-out.
“Currently, they are a full 12 months behind where they should have been, in terms of their planned implementation dates.
“As a result of this, there is an enormous amount of frustration being directed by UK farmers towards the government.”
Investment and diversification
In terms of business development, Mahon is now looking at a number of priorities. First off, crops will only be drilled when conditions are totally fit for purpose.
Diversification and investment are also on the cards.
“We’ve had a couple of good years. This now allows to invest in new grain drying equipment,” he said.
“This will include the installation of variable-speed electric fans.
“Draining areas of land is also an option at the present time. We also have some industrial units that were set up a few years ago.”
Mahon confirmed that the new subsidy regime in England only pays out on the basis of income forgone only.
In other words, the payments available do not add, in any way, to the bottom line of the farming operation.
“Payments have increased in line with the increase in all costs that have impacted on all business over the past number of months,” he said.
“But, even with these developments, the money available is far from attractive. Things work, up to a point, for those farmers in lowland areas, who operate no-till drilling operations.
“But there is nothing at all available for the likes of sheep farmers in upland areas.
“The bottom line is that traditional plough and combi-drill tillage farmers in England will struggle to access any support payments at all, as they look to the future.
“Currently, the UK government is intent on pushing all farmers in England down the zero-till route, using less inputs,” he contended.
“But taking this route will only allow farmers to re-coup half the money that would have been available under the previous single payment system.”
Countryside Stewardship
The Sustainable Farming initiative (SFI) is the base line agricultural support scheme now available in England. Within this, three classes of arable farmer are classified.
There are an accompanying number of soil standards additionally defined within the measure.
“This is an extremely complicated support system,” Andy Mahon admitted.
“Beyond June of this year, a number of bolt-on measures will be introduced. These include a commitment to a no-insecticide use policy on farm plus a commitment to reduce overall fertiliser usage.
“And, again, there is a range of different payment options available, linked to the new measures.
“New hedgerow management standards are to be introduced. The whole thrust of the new policies is to improve soil and water quality.”
According to Mahon, Countryside Stewardship is a higher level scheme. Arable options within this measure include the establishment of two-year grass and legume leys.
“But we are not allowed to take the forage off as silage. The only management option allowed is that of topping the sward. Thus makes absolutely no sense to me,” he said.
“Producing seed crops for wild birds is another stewardship option. And we have done this.
“We have also established 6m grass margins adjacent to water courses. This is a measure that I completely support.
“Other bolt on measures, which look at capital spend on the farm are also available. One that we will look at in the future is the re-concreting of our yard surface, in order to protect ground water.
“But the grant available only covers one third of the total outlay.
“In the meantime, we have drawn down grant to establish a train water storage facility. This is already in place and working well.”
The largest biggest measure of all within the new UK farm support mix is called the landscape recovery scheme.
According to Mahon, this will encourage groups of farmers to come together in order to protect specific natural habitats.
“I try to keep myself up to date with all of these support changes,” he said.
“But it is a very specialised area. There is a grant available for advice on these issues. But it only covers the input of a consultant for one day.
“In my own case, the decision was taken to bring in an advisor to help work through this year’s Countryside Stewardship application.
“And at the end of the day, this was money well spent. The new schemes are just so complicated that it takes someone with an in-depth knowledge of these measures to extract all the support monies that can be made available for the business.”
