Shows are upon us (Cereals has been and gone and the Groundswell Festival is looming), and this normally marks the tentative start for the end of the season and preparation for harvest. It would be nice if we could have some spring and summer weather first mind. Yet many crops have appeared to deal with this remarkably well. Sure, the ones that started out poor will still be poor come harvest, although not the complete failures many expected. Those that got away well in the autumn have shown some fighting courage and gotten on with things in spite of the conditions. Stem extension was late. Flag leaf emergence, for the most part, was later than normal but then wheat started booting almost immediately and before we knew it, the ears were coming out. Barley is looking early, probably because it’s run out of steam already and OSR crops, where they survived, is all over the place. It’s safe to say that I’ve yet to see a cereal crop this year where the vast majority of the field has been at the same growth stage making agronomic decisions somewhat challenging

We have also seen some interesting issues when it comes to nutrition and disease management. In April/May everyone was panicking about Septoria as heavy rainstorms lashed through the country. However, for many following systems-based approaches there was very little difference between those wheats that had a T1 fungicide & those that followed a nutrition/silicon approach.

Both images are of Graham winter wheat in southern England from May. The left had a conventional T1 input whilst on the right it received nutrition and silicon. There was some Septoria in the base in both but very little diferrence overall

Since then, septoria hasn’t really moved on any further and, for most, whilst it’s still there in the lower leaves, leaves 1, 2 and for many even leaf 3 have stayed clean.

Now of course we’ve seen a late explosion in rust. Extase, which a few years ago was being grown coast to coast is now so readily breaking down to Yellow Rust that it surely can’t be seen as a variety to pick next year, has gone from relatively clean at the start of the month to epic infection in the last 10 days. Brown Rust has appeared in Crusoe at the same time leading to some interesting crop walks through blended varieties.

Whilst on blends, I see a lot of discussion on social media about how varieties within blends are showing significantly less disease than when in monoculture. We’ve banged on about this approach for a while and it’s refreshing that it’s getting attention and noticed. Do we foresee a point in the not to distant future when all feed wheat (with the exception of seed crops) will be grown as blends? Perhaps we might even see the breeders engage and look to find a way to incorporate and manage varietal strengths and weaknesses into this approach. Bi-crops have also featured a lot more this year, not only because of Wildfarmed but also many are growing some element in spring crops. Lots of Beans or Peas & Oats (BOATS & POATS?), Peas & Barley etc. as well spring wheat & vetch. OSR has been companion cropped for a while now but even then, there is work to be done on what is the ‘best’ option to grow with it.    

Getting back to the rusts issues, we are definitely seeing those crops that have been more nutritionally balanced, grown with less synthetic N seemingly less impacted and perhaps even fighting it off where disease pressure is only moderate. However, even the healthiest animal or plant can’t do this indefinitely and so we must recognise the lesson for what it is.

The problem isn’t all the ‘cides’, PGRs and other ag chem….. The issue is how we choose to set up our toolbox. If a toolbox is full of hammers, then everything needs to be nail. Everything looks like a nail and all we can do is treat it like a nail. That is where many ‘conventional’ growers have been led and it’s finally starting to hit home (pun intended) that you can’t just pick a bigger hammer every time. There are other tools to consider and choose from and that has been AIVA’s approach from the start. Sometimes a hammer is the correct tool but only where the issue at hand is how to drive in a nail. More often than not, there is no nail.

The recent shift in approach within the sector that we’ve seen over the last few years, even in serviced agronomy, should be applauded and welcomed. The realisation, perhaps reluctantly, that screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches etc might actually have a place in their toolbox will only be of benefit to growers and will surely lead us to a better understanding of how to grow our food in a climate which is evidently changing and becoming more challenging.  

As always, the outcome of this year will only be truly seen once the combines start to roll but it would be nice to see a little bit of summer before they do.

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