Arable Farming: The Decisions That Determine Yield, Soil Health and Whether the Crop Actually Makes Money

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

28. Preventive maintenance is cheaper than harvest downtime

A combine breakdown in February is inconvenient.

A combine breakdown during a perfect August harvest afternoon can be extremely expensive.

Pre-season servicing should include items such as:

- Belts.
- Bearings.
- Chains.
- Filters.
- Hydraulics.
- Tyres.
- Electrical systems.
- Headers.
- Fire prevention.

Critical spare parts should also be considered.

One £40 bearing can stop machinery worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

29. Fire risk during harvest is serious

Combines operate around:

- Dry straw.
- Dust.
- Hot bearings.
- Exhaust systems.
- Electrical equipment.

Regular cleaning and inspection are therefore important.

Farmers should also maintain suitable fire extinguishing arrangements and emergency procedures.

HSE agricultural safety guidance stresses the importance of maintaining machinery and ensuring workers are properly trained and equipment is used safely.

Harvest pressure should never override machinery or worker safety.