Posts by farmerknowsnothing

27. Measure machinery cost per hectare

Suppose a drill costs £120,000.

It works:

Farm A

400 hectares annually.

Farm B

1,200 hectares annually.

Ignoring other factors, Farm B spreads ownership cost across three times as much land.

That demonstrates why machinery utilisation matters.

Useful machinery figures include:

- Cost per hectare.
- Cost per hour.
- Hectares per hour.
- Fuel per hectare.
- Repair cost per hectare.

Without them, machinery ownership can become one of the largest hidden costs in the farm business.

26. Owning a larger machine is not automatically cheaper

A bigger combine may harvest faster.

But it also has:

- Purchase cost.
- Depreciation.
- Finance.
- Insurance.
- Fuel.
- Repairs.
- Storage.

The business calculation should compare the value of increased timeliness with the cost of owning that additional capacity.

Sometimes contracting is more economical.

Sometimes owning machinery gives essential control.

The answer depends on hectares, weather windows and utilisation.

25. Machinery timing can determine the result of the entire season

An arable farm can have excellent varieties, good soil and skilled agronomy and still lose substantial yield because machinery arrived three days late.

Timing matters for:

- Cultivation.
- Drilling.
- Fertiliser.
- Spraying.
- Harvest.
- Grain drying.

Machinery capacity should therefore match the area that must be covered within the available weather window.

24. Cover crops can be useful, but they need an objective

Cover crops are sometimes presented as automatically beneficial.

They can offer benefits such as:

- Soil cover.
- Rooting.
- Nutrient capture.
- Erosion reduction.
- Organic matter contribution.

But they also cost money to establish and terminate.

Before drilling one, decide the objective.

Is it intended to:

- Capture nitrogen?
- Improve soil structure?
- Provide grazing?
- Reduce erosion?
- Increase diversity?

A cover crop should be managed as part of the rotation, not planted simply because other farms are planting them.

23. Organic manures have value — but account for their nutrients
Farmyard manure, slurry, digestate and other permitted organic materials may supply:

- Nitrogen.
- Phosphate.
- Potash.
- Organic matter.

But nutrient content can vary.

Where appropriate, analysis and nutrient planning can help avoid treating organic manure as though it were nutritionally worthless.

It also helps reduce unnecessary mineral fertiliser purchases.

Applications must comply with applicable rules on nutrient management, water protection and timing.

22. pH can quietly restrict everything else

A field can contain nutrients while still failing to make them fully available if soil pH is unsuitable.

Poor pH can influence nutrient availability and crop growth.

Lime is therefore not simply another expense.

Maintaining appropriate pH can help the farm make better use of nutrients already present.

It is one of the basic soil-maintenance jobs that can easily be overlooked when crop prices are under pressure.

21. Nutrient management begins with knowing what is already in the soil

Applying fertiliser without understanding soil fertility can waste money.

Regular soil testing can help assess factors such as:

- pH.
- Phosphorus.
- Potassium.
- Magnesium.

Crop requirements then need to be considered alongside:

- Soil supply.
- Organic manure.
- Previous crop.
- Yield potential.

Nitrogen is particularly important but should be matched to realistic crop potential.

There is little value in feeding for an 11 t/ha crop when drought or poor establishment means the field realistically has much lower potential.

20. Controlled traffic and reduced tillage are tools, not religions

Farmers can become divided into camps:

- Plough.
- Min-till.
- Strip till.
- Direct drill.

None should be treated as universally correct.

The best establishment system depends on:

- Soil.
- Rotation.
- Weed pressure.
- Straw.
- Weather.
- Machinery.
- Experience.

Direct drilling can reduce soil disturbance and fuel use.

Ploughing can still have a useful role in some rotations and weed-management situations.

The correct question is not:

“Which cultivation system is fashionable?”

It is:

“Which system solves the problems this farm actually has?”

19. Heavy machinery can create expensive invisible damage

Modern combines, tractors, trailers and cultivation equipment are powerful and productive.

They are also heavy.

Repeated traffic can create compaction well below the visible surface.

This is why tyre pressure, axle load and travelling conditions matter.

Driving on soil when it is too wet may cause damage that affects several following crops.

Sometimes the most expensive machinery pass is the one that should never have been made.

18. Dig holes

One of the cheapest precision-farming tools available is a spade.

Inspect the soil.

Look for:

- Compaction layers.
- Poor rooting.
- Waterlogging.
- Earthworms.
- Soil aggregation.
- Smearing.
- Organic matter.

A yield map may tell you where a problem exists.

A soil pit may tell you why.

Do not automatically subsoil every field every year.

Identify whether a genuine compaction problem exists first.

17. Soil is the farm's productive capital

Machinery can be replaced.

Buildings can be repaired.

Soil structure can take years to rebuild.

Healthy arable soil needs:

- Suitable structure.
- Organic matter.
- Biological activity.
- Nutrients.
- Air.
- Water.

Compaction reduces pore space.

That can restrict:

- Rooting.
- Drainage.
- Oxygen.
- Nutrient uptake.

Compacted crops may struggle in both wet and dry conditions.

16. Know your contract specifications

Do not simply read the headline price.

Understand:

- Moisture.
- Protein.
- Specific weight.
- Oil content.
- Admixture.
- Hagberg.
- Mycotoxin limits.
- Delivery window.
- Location.
- Haulage.
- Rejection conditions.
- Deductions.

A premium that disappears after drying, haulage and quality deductions may not be much of a premium.

15. Market the crop before it is planted

This is one of the simplest principles in arable farming.

Before drilling a crop, establish:

Who might buy it?

For specialist crops this can be essential.

Markets may include:

- Feed mills.
- Flour millers.
- Maltsters.
- Crushers.
- Merchants.
- Export.
- Livestock farms.
- Human-consumption markets.

Premium crops can be profitable when specifications are achieved.

But if the premium market is small or the crop fails quality specifications, the fallback market needs to be understood.

14. Pulses: More than simply another crop

Pulses include crops such as:

- Field beans.
- Peas.

They are particularly interesting because legumes can fix atmospheric nitrogen through their association with root bacteria.

That can reduce their requirement for applied nitrogen fertiliser and provide rotational benefits.

However, pulse crops still require proper agronomy.

Important issues can include:

- Soil structure.
- Drainage.
- Establishment.
- Weed control.
- Disease.
- Harvest losses.
- Market specification.

Do not plant beans simply because they are a break crop.

Know who will buy them.

13. Oilseed rape: Valuable break crop, but establishment is everything

Oilseed rape can provide an important break crop in cereal rotations.

Potential benefits can include:

- Different herbicide opportunities.
- Rotation diversification.
- Earlier harvest.
- Useful following-crop opportunities.

But UK growers have faced significant establishment challenges, including cabbage stem flea beetle pressure in some areas.

That has led many growers to reassess where oilseed rape fits in their rotation.

A crop that never establishes properly can consume seed, cultivation, fertiliser and spray costs without ever having realistic yield potential.

This makes early assessment important.

Ask:

Does this crop still have enough plant population and potential to justify further investment?

Sometimes continuing to spend money on a failed crop simply increases the loss.

12. Timing can matter as much as product choice
Crop-protection products generally perform best within specific growth stages and conditions.
The wrong application timing can reduce performance even when the correct product is used.

This is why crop walking matters.

A farmer or agronomist needs to know:

- Crop growth stage.
- Disease present.
- Weed stage.
- Pest population.
- Weather forecast.

A £20/ha treatment applied at the correct time may produce more benefit than a £40/ha treatment applied too late.

11. Fungicides: Treat risk, not habit

Disease management in cereals can involve:

- Septoria.
- Rusts.
- Mildew.
- Eyespot.
- Fusarium.
- Other crop-specific diseases.

The appropriate programme depends on:

- Variety.
- Weather.
- Drilling date.
- Previous crop.
- Disease pressure.
- Yield potential.

A routine spray applied simply because:

“We always spray this field at this stage”

is not necessarily good management.

Equally, refusing to treat a genuine disease threat simply to save money can be false economy.

The decision should be based on crop risk and likely return.

10. Integrated Pest Management matters more than simply reducing sprays

Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, means combining different methods of preventing and controlling pests, diseases and weeds.

It can include:

- Rotation.
- Resistant varieties.
- Monitoring.
- Forecasting.
- Biological controls.
- Habitat for beneficial insects.
- Cultural controls.
- Threshold-based decisions.
- Chemical treatment when justified.

England's SFI26 included actions specifically connected to integrated pest management and other arable environmental practices, although the 2026 application window is now closed after its allocated budget was reached. GOV.UK

That illustrates how closely crop protection, environmental management and farm policy are increasingly connected.

9. Herbicide resistance should change how farmers think

If one herbicide kills 99% of susceptible weeds but the resistant 1% survive and reproduce, repeated use selects increasingly resistant populations.

Eventually the chemistry may become far less useful.

That means every treatment should be considered strategically.

Ask:

- Does this treatment genuinely need applying?
- Is the weed correctly identified?
- Is the timing appropriate?
- Are cultural controls being used?
- Are repeated modes of action increasing resistance pressure?

Chemical crop protection remains an important agricultural tool.

But preserving its effectiveness requires responsible use.

8. Blackgrass and resistant weeds can change the entire rotation

Weed management should not rely on one herbicide programme.

Some arable weeds have developed serious resistance problems.

Blackgrass is perhaps the best-known example in UK wheat production.

Successful management may require combining:

- Crop rotation.
- Delayed drilling.
- Spring crops.
- Competitive varieties.
- Seed rates.
- Stale seedbeds.
- Mechanical control.
- Effective chemistry where appropriate.
- Preventing seed return.

That is integrated weed management.

The central lesson is important:

The strongest weed-control programme is often built across several years, not from one spray tank.