Arable Scotland: Act now to meet arable challenges

Growers attending the ‘Conversation’ panel sessions at the Arable Scotland event were urged not to wait until every detail of policy had been ironed out by researcher and science communicator, Dr Ken Loades, who said producers should make a start addressing the many changes which inevitably lay ahead. “With the short timescale available for the industry to meet the changes which are coming there is a clear indication that people shouldn’t be waiting,” said Dr Loades.

“Acting now to move towards sustainable production will put everyone in the industry in a better position to cope with not only what future policy holds but also changes to weather patterns, the continued erosion of the pesticide armoury and the many other challenges which the growers are likely to face in the near future.”

He played down fears that those who had already taken steps towards sustainable production methods would miss out on future support he said that 'strong voices' had been raised to ensure that early adopters would not be penalised for their foresight: “And with payments likely to be based on what can be delivered on this front, those who hold back and don’t take steps could find that they will be the ones who miss out.”

At a later session, SRUC reader in economics, Steven Thomson, said that it was important that producers were rewarded for outcomes and not just for change per se: “Producers should be rewarded not for change but for what they’re delivering. For example, those who have already done much to ensure that their soils are sequestering a good amount of carbon can’t really go much further on that front as there is a maximum which the soils can hold – but it is important that these virtuous outcomes are rewarded."

The Scottish Government’s head of agricultural policy, John Kerr, agreed that it was important to reward the investment which had gone into such approaches but added: “We also want to make sure that others are taking the right action. So there’s a real trade-off between outcomes and actions – but Steven is right, what we want to do is reward virtuous outcomes.”

Insecticide armoury's knock-on effects

An unparalleled drop in the number of insecticides available to Scottish growers has highlighted the wider the threat to all plant protection products and the knock-on consequences which this could have on both productivity and producer margins.

The SRUC’s Professor Fiona Burnett told the Arable Scotland event that of the 12 insecticides approved for use in crops in 2020, three had already been banned and another eight were under serious threat: “So we could soon be looking at the possibility of only having one active ingredient available to treat insect pests – and such a situation would seriously risk the build up of resistance to that single remaining ingredient,” she said.

Pointing out that, while not widely used in Scotland, insecticides still played an important role in controlling the levels of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) in both barley and wheat crops which was spread by aphids: “And in wheat alone, a lack of control could see yields reduced by 15% or more – a figure which would translate to a gross margin reduction of more than 25%.”

In barley and oats, she said that the loss in gross margin could be more than 15%, adding that while varieties with some BYDV resistance were now available, due to later maturity they were poorly suited to growing in Scottish conditions, showing both yield penalties and higher harvest risks.

Professor Burnett said that the picture for fungicides, though currently less extreme, was following a similar patters – with the erosion of the number of active ingredients available not being matched by new ones coming onto the market.

She said that a wider adoption of an integrated pest management approach could help extend the life of the current modes of action which were available. But she conceded that a recent survey had shown that farmers had concerns including a lack of confidence in some of the new solutions – a situation which she said events like Arable Scotland could help address – and growers sometimes worried that many of the new innovations were not ideally suited to Scottish conditions.

Levy important to future investment

The importance of continued investment in research and development for the cropping sector – especially in light of the huge changes and challenges which growers are currently facing up to – was highlighted at the event.

Chair of the cereals and oilseed sector council of the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), Cambridgeshire farmer, Tom Clarke, said that industry-focused scientific and management advice would be needed more than ever as the sector transitioned to the new policy and new market conditions which it was set to face up to.

And, while he said that the AHDB was very much in listening mode, it was 'beginning to open a conversation' with producers in all sectors of its operation to discuss possible increases in levies.

Against a backdrop of more than 10 years of static prices – together with an HMRC ruling which will stop organisation reclaiming VAT – the spending power of the AHDB’s £10-11m budget is estimated to have fallen by 40% over the past decade.

Mr Clarke stressed that the AHDB had listened and acted on the consultation with levy payers last year to prioritise the areas which it needed to invest to do what farmer levy payers had identified as their priorities, but against the background of recent inflation it was important that sufficient resources were available to let this happen:

“And while we will be having these talks in the autumn, it will, in the end, be up to government and devolved administration ministers to decide what increases, if any, should be made.”

Plough v min till ...?

With the event hosting its first major machinery field demo, the plough v min till debate – which has often elicited strong feelings on both sides – was a hot topic at last week’s Arable Scotland cereal event, though growers were told that as far as cultivations were concerned 'one size doesn’t fit all'.

While the majority of the farmers who spoke at the event’s panel session had integrated a degree of min or no till into their cropping patterns, they stressed that it was not necessarily a panacea in all situations – and that flexibility was important, particularly under Scottish conditions.

Spring barley – especially for malting, had proved a challenge for many under reduced tillage regimes, with the crop’s requirements to get off to a good start meaning that conditions had to be particularly good for the approach to work. And the contention put forward by Scottish Agronomy’s Greg Dawson that 'appropriate cultivation' should be the watchword, rather than adherence to a single-minded approach was widely supported.

Similarly, the use of extended rotations was another possible means of reducing the level of reliance on inputs. But SAC Consulting economist, Julian Bell, said that the adoption of this process might require growers to look further than the next season to see any immediate improvement in margins:

“To reduce input costs while maintaining margins, growers often need to look further ahead – in the short term the target is often to get as much out of a system as you can. But while there might be a settling in period and even a temporary dip in margins, extended rotations, while they are likely to take longer to show the benefits of lower input approach, can pay dividends in the longer term.”