Those who braved the mud at Cereals this year were rewarded with plenty of food for thought as they prepare their farming businesses for an unprecedented period of political, technical and environmental change. CPM reports.

The farmed environment is key to making a difference.

By Lucy de la Pasture and Tom Allen-Stevens

Mother Nature usually finds a way of restoring balance and that’s just what she did as monsoon conditions struck Lincs just in time for Cereals. The liquified mud was more reminiscent of scenes from Glastonbury as even seasoned members of the farming community got caught out with their footwear.

But that’s not where the parallel ends. While AHDB hosted the ‘pyramid stage’ at the centre of the event, tucked away on opposite fringes of showground was where it was really happening. This was where those who would once have been regarded as farming’s ‘geeks and hippies’ headed in a pilgrimage to hear the ground-breaking speakers in the Innovation and Technology and Conservation Agriculture theatres.

Introducing one of the biggest growth areas in the industry was Prof Rob Edwards of University of Newcastle in his capacity as chair of the Farmer Scientist Network of Yorkshire Agricultural Society. He introduced a farmer-led research project, carried out by biopesticide strategist Dr Roma Gwynn of Rationale and funded by the European Innovation Partnership, investigating the use of biologicals for pest and disease control.

Rob posed the question, ‘when are we going to end industrial pesticide spraying?’ It’s a question he says needs answering because of the increasing public concern about the environment and health, but also because of the diminishing number of actives as the precautionary principle is applied and increasing instances of resistance to pesticides.

“There’s been a huge shift to biological agents, with an increase in 300% in the past decade and more new registrations than for chemical agents.”

Rob described the real benefit in biologicals is that they have multiple modes of action. “They can mimic plant responses; produce phytoalexins (inhibit growth of diseases) and phytohormones, stimulate defence responses and even physically kill the target.

“Plants have microbiomes, internally and externally. It’s a community that’s intimately associated with plant health and can be changed by biologicals, such as Bacillus subtilis and B. amyloliquefaciens, to elicit plant defence responses.”

Replicated trials carried out at three sites, Stockbridge Technology Centre in Yorks, Newcastle University’s Cockle Park and Nafferton farms in Northumberland, looked at three different strategies on Leeds and Skyfall winter wheat in 2018.

The IPM protocol was a microbial seed treatment using traditional fungicide timings – conventional chemistry was applied if disease pressure was high and a biological applied if needed when disease pressure was low.

The biological protocol was a microbial seed treatment followed by biopesticides only at standard timings, if needed. The third protocol employed a chemical seed treatment followed by conventional fungicides at standard timings.

The results showed all treatment protocols gave similar yields with no significant differences in quality data. But 2018 wasn’t a high disease incidence year, he added.

“Adopting an IPM strategy is more complex and applications can be more frequent because they’re based on how the pest is behaving and not the crop. IPM will require both a change in farming practice and an increase in knowledge to implement.

“But the adoption of an IPM strategy has the advantage that it can increase abiotic stress tolerance, all cultivars will respond and there’s less environmental impact. To sum up, biological where possible, chemical where needed,” he concluded.

Sarah Baker of Greater Lincolnshire Nature Partnership (GLNP) presented some simple ways growers can increase wild pollinators on the farm.

“Pollinators contribute £690 million to the economy but we’re seeing a decline in large number of species. The farmed environment is key to making a difference,” she said.

“Pollinators require three things; food, over-wintering sites and nesting sites so that they can complete their life-cycles on the farm. The GLNP has carried out basic surveys on 11 farms during 2017 to highlight opportunities to make small management tweaks to help them.”

One of the areas identified was farm verges and tracks which were often kept neat and well-trimmed, she said. “We suggested mowing a strip alongside the track and leaving the rest and observed an increased amount of pollinator activity as a result.

“Nettles provide a larval habitat for a number of butterfly species so identify some areas where nettles can be left and then time topping them off to lifecycles. Mid-June is a good time to do this so that the regrowth will coincide with the second brood,” she suggested.

“Game cover is another area on the farm that can very easily be enhanced to provide a significant late season pollen and nectar resource. Pollen-nectar strips are often gone by late Aug, but some species need food until the end of Oct.”

One of ways of providing a late food supply is to use sunflowers with the maize cover. An alternative is to plant bespoke mixes as buffer strips between game cover and crops and GLNP have found 2-year mixes containing phacelia increase bee numbers as well as other invertebrates.

“Wild bird seed mixes tend to be millet heavy, so you don’t necessarily get the pollen/nectar benefit, but by tweaking the mix it’s possible to supply this. Phacelia can also suit areas where growers struggle with traditional pollen/nectar mixes because of weed problems. These small steps can have a big accumulative effect,” she concluded.

“Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’ll be difficult to get it back in,” was how Bayer’s Barrie Hunt described risking glyphosate resistance. He believes the major principles of conservation agriculture should be remembered when considering how best to control weeds; that is minimising soil movement, permanent vegetative soil cover or mulch and a diverse crop rotation.

“Min till and no till are heavily reliant on non-selective herbicides and there’s only a limited choice so it’s important to integrate cultural controls with effective chemical techniques. Shallow cultivations can give 40-50% control of weeds but it needs to be very shallow to keep seeds near to the surface or no tillage at all,” he said.

Barrie said that good glyphosate application is critical to ensure effective chemical control to complement cultural methods. “The rate needs to be adequate to kill the grassweeds, so 540g glyphosate/ha for seedlings but 720g once tillering has commenced. The pressure needs to be kept low to produce a coarse to medium droplet which can be applied in a water volume of 80-250 l/ha. Critically, no more than two applications should be made,” he advised.

Nitrates in groundwater is the latest issue that the UK’s water companies are seeking to work on together with the farming community, according to Tim Stephens of Wessex Water. It’s a problem that’s on the rise, partially because the take-up of nitrogen fertilisers is an inefficient process and partially a legacy issue, with nitrates slowly working their way down into the groundwater, he explained.

“We’re likely to see an increase in NVZ restrictions, particularly where water is abstracted from boreholes. It’s a direction of travel that’s indicated in the new Agriculture Bill,” he said.

The water company focus is on informing growers about their water quality, catchment management and fine-tuning of nutrient management with advice focused beyond compliance to help them achieve water quality. Their aim is to help growers access more specialist advice and incentivise change with financial support and capital grants.

Dorset farmer, John Martin, farms in a water safeguard zone with ground running down to the Milbourne St Andrew borehole. He’s undertaken a 5-year plan with Wessex water to reduce his soil mineral nitrogen by limiting nitrogen applications to 150kgN/ha/annum, growing over-winter green cover and building soil organic matter.

He’s achieving this by growing a non-legume winter cover crop and cropping the land in continuous spring barley which has enabled him to reduce his inputs to 125kgN/ha.

New OSR herbicide officially launched

Belkar (picloram+ halauxifen-methyl) gives oilseed rape growers the option to switch from preventative to reactive autumn weed control strategies, said Corteva Agriscience’s John Sellars.

“Growers can wait until the crop is out of the ground giving themselves time to assess the visible weed pressure plus the impact of pests. Targeting cleavers, cranesbill, poppy, shepherd’s purse and fumitory, Belkar offers an alternative to traditional approaches which rely on pre-emergence control.”

The herbicide is the newest member of the Arylex Active family and John expects Belkar to become? the traditional approach to weed control in oilseed rape.

“Growers are happy to invest if they know they are going to have an output. Moving to a post-emergence regime means growers don’t decide on their herbicide spend until they know a crop is there.”

Arylex Active has been in cereal herbicides since 2015 with the ability to control most key competitive weeds without affecting brassicas, making it an obvious fit for the oilseed rape market.

There are three treatment options which Corteva says have performed best in trials. At two true-leaves an application at 0.25 l/ha will take out the weeds which have germinated alongside the crop and, in some circumstances, that will be enough broadleaf control before an application of Astrokerb (propyzamide+ aminopyralid) or similar later on.

In high weed pressure situations where a second germination is visible, growers have the option of a second 0.25 l/ha two to four weeks after the first application. In low pressure situations growers can wait until six true leaves of the crop and apply 0.5 l/ha which will take care of the weeds going into the autumn.

Focus on borrowings as uncertainty looms

According to farm business consultants Andersons, arable profitability looks fairly static at present, with good prospects for 2019 harvest. “It’s what 2020 and beyond will bring, with changes to the subsidy regime, that may be of most concern,” says the firm’s James Mayhew.

That’s when direct payments will start to decline and support will shift into the as-yet-undefined public money for public goods, he notes. “What will you replace your £226/ha with? It’s likely there’ll be a different structure to the new ELMs that will incur costs, rather than just income for payment foregone – they may be best treated as a new enterprise.”

He urges farmers to take a critical look at their borrowings as the uncertainty of Brexit looms. “There have been increases in costs not reflected in on-farm yields, so are you getting a reward for your investment?” A period of consolidation may be necessary for some farms that could have over-reached themselves, he suggests.

The immediate concern is what happens on Brexit deadline day of 31 Oct, reckons Andersons’ Richard King. “It’s slap bang in the middle of the grain-trading season, but we don’t know where tariffs will be set. That puts quite a bit of uncertainty into the market with traders not wanting to commit.”

The big worry is if all restrictions come off maize, which could lead to a flood of feed-grain imports. “These could even be GM, depending on whether the UK follows EU restrictions. We believe policy will revolve around keeping food prices low, which would be a significant problem for arable farmers – you can’t dress it up any other way.”

Blackgrass is evolving resistance to glyphosate

Blackgrass is evolving resistance to glyphosate, according to scientists conducting a study as part of the Blackgrass Resistance Initiative (BGRI).

Samples of blackgrass taken from across the UK showed a “huge variability” in their sensitivity to glyphosate, according to Dr David Comont of Rothamsted Research who led the study. “The good news is that we’re not finding proper resistance at the moment. The bad news is that we don’t know how long that will continue to be the case,” he said.

Working with the University of Sheffield, the Rothamsted team collected blackgrass seed from 132 farmers’ fields across 11 English counties, from Herts to Yorks, as well as collecting extensive data sets on historical field management, including glyphosate use.

More than 16,000 seedlings were grown from these seeds in glasshouses, and the effectiveness of glyphosate in controlling plants from each local population was assessed.

“At the full field rate of 540g/ha, good effective control was achieved. But at 475g/ha, there was a lot of variability,” reported David.

Seed from survivors were then grown for another two years, and sensitivity was found to reduce further, showing it’s a heritable trait, he said. The team also took plants from nine of the populations to produce 400 new seed lines with known genetic pedigrees, that were also tested for their responses to glyphosate.

“We wanted to be sure there is a genetic heritable component, and there is. This is a prerequisite for pesticide resistance evolution. What’s more, blackgrass populations with greater historic exposure to glyphosate are now the populations least sensitive to this chemical.”

Published in the journal New Phytologist, the peer-reviewed study has broken new ground as it’s identified signs of resistance evolution before it becomes a problem in the field. “This means farmers who follow glyphosate-stewardship guidelines can prevent reduced sensitivity evolving into a full-blown resistance problem,” noted David.

Flufenacet findings

Bayer revealed more detail on its flufenacet-resistance studies at Cereals. “We carry out routine testing of around 250 samples sent in every year,” said the firm’s Dr Gordon Anderson-Taylor.

“Usually, just two or three of these samples are ryegrass, but last year 12 were sent in, and four of these showed up resistance to flufenacet. This is the first time we’ve picked it up,” he noted.

“In blackgrass, there is variation in efficacy, but all UK populations tested are above the threshold of 90% control at 240g/ha.”

“It’s unclear why ryegrass has evolved resistance to the chemistry, while blackgrass hasn’t,” said Gordon. “Perhaps ryegrass is better at developing the resistance mechanisms.”

Bayer’s new flufenacet-based herbicide with added metribuzin is nearing the end of the regulatory process, and the firm’s Ben Coombs is optimistic it will come to market this autumn. “It offers a 10% uplift in control, compared with Liberator,” he said. The formulation with aclonafen is expected to arrive next autumn.

A treat of traits come forward in RL Candidates

DSV’s new British-bred Group 4 hard wheat Theodore was on show at cereals. The company started breeding wheats in the UK from its site near Banbury, Oxon, just 10 years ago, and Theodore, along with stable mate Toby, is the first to come to market.

An AHDB Candidate variety, Theodore is a cross of Stigg with Tuxedo and has a Septoria tritici score of 7.2, giving it a list-topping untreated yield score of 92% of treated controls.

“We’re further west than most UK breeders, and 150m above sea level, which puts our lines under high septoria as well as yellow rust pressure,” claimed DSV’s Mike Mann. “If you don’t get the pressure, you’re not selecting for it.”

Having gained a reputation across trial plots season as “strikingly clean”, Theodore’s performed well during the past two dry years, maintaining green leaf area says Mike, while it’s also demonstrated it can cope well with wet soils. It performs best in the West, and has good resistance to lodging, he added.

DSV has also introduced its first ever ‘quad-layer’ oilseed rape varieties, with stacked traits claimed to bring them enhanced disease resistance and physical properties. Their introduction follows on from AHDB Candidates Dazzler and Darling, both triple-layer varieties. For more on layering traits, see Tech Talk.

Drawing attention on the KWS stand was its new Group 4 hard feed RL Candidate KWS Kinetic. With the highest treated yield of the candidate varieties, it also has the highest specific weight. See article for more.

Joining Kinetic is another hard feed RL Candidate KWS Parkin. A cross of Reflection with Costello, there’s a treated yield of 103% of controls with strongest performance in the West and North. Short and stiff-strawed, it’s notable for its very early maturity.

New in the two-row winter barleys is RL Candidate KWS Hawking. At 107% of controls it’s the highest yielding candidate in trials and has a specific weight of 70.2kg/hl. It performs best in the East and West with a maturity equal to KWS Orwell, said breeder David Harrap.

Leading the OSR pack from Dekalb are DK Exsteel and DK Exstar. “DK Exstar is the most disease-resistance product we’ve ever bred,” claimed breeder Matthew Clarke. It has an 8 for both phoma and light leaf spot, with a 9 for lodging resistance, along with Dekalb’s other key traits of vigorous establishment and pod-shatter resistance.

But you won’t find it on the RL Candidate list following a mix-up over seeds. “We supplied the wrong seeds for the RL trials last autumn.” With “no weaknesses”, it’s shorter and stiffer than DK Exsteel, but doesn’t quite have the top-end yield of its stable mate. Exsteel is on the AHDB RL for the North, with a phoma score of 8 and LLS of 7.