Monitor Farm walk: Taunton

Meeting programme

Registration and coffee

Philip Dolbear – AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager:  Welcome and AHDB update

Richard Payne, monitor farmer: One year in – thoughts so far, farm update and future plans

Farm Walk

• Variety performance traits to reduce input costs
• Review of T3 management
• OSR – review of performance and future place in rotation
• OSR establishment strategies - cost vs risk
• Pre harvest weed assessments, future biological and mechanical control strategies
• Cover crop try out – which mix and which destruction strategy?
• Post cover crop spring crop management - Spring Beans and Spring Barley
• Stale seedbed management
• Blackgrass control strategy – is it working?
• RB209 recommendations - theory and practice
• ELMS - future plans
• AHDB Market Intelligence Crop marketing update

Conclusions: Discussion of key areas for future analysis and meetings.

Lunch and close

About the farm

Richard Payne farms 280 ha at Manor Farm, Heathfield, near Taunton. The mostly arable farm has been in min-till for more than 15 years. Farming on silty clay loam, his rotation includes winter wheat, oilseed rape and beans. He grows primarily for the animal feed market, selling forward and into pools to spread risk. Richard’s main challenges are consistent profitability, succession and knowing which investments to make for the future. By the end of the Monitor Farm programme Richard wants to have a better understanding of all his costs of production, particularly on the fixed cost side, and to benchmark himself against others.