{"id":9441,"date":"2019-07-08T12:37:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T12:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/?p=9441"},"modified":"2019-07-08T12:37:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T12:37:12","slug":"suspension-fertiliser-irons-out-root-crop-uniformity-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/suspension-fertiliser-irons-out-root-crop-uniformity-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspension Fertiliser Irons Out Root Crop Uniformity Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suspension<\/a> and solution<\/a> fertiliser is now an integral part of a Cambridgeshire farming pre-pack potato and onion enterprise, where in the past under a granular fertiliser regime, issues of crop uniformity and quality plus management pressure at busy times of the year, was having a detrimental impact on performance.<\/p>\n

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Farming cousins Robert and Jonathan Brown, who run the family business E C Brown and Sons from Whittlesey, have experience of both granular and liquid fertiliser systems.<\/p>\n

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The business has been applying OMEX suspension fertiliser to 150ha of potatoes grown on owned and rented land for over four seasons, and for the first time this year to the 90ha of onions as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn rented land our policy is to apply \u2018maintenance plus whatever the crops needs\u2019 so that we always leave the land in a better condition than we found it,\u201d says Robert. \u201cGood land is becoming a scarce resource so we want to be able to come back to the same farms at a later date.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Brown\u2019s apply suspension fertiliser accurately at 36m, which Robert says is difficult \u00a0even with the best granular fertiliser. Being contractor applied also means that the business\u2019s own resources can be utilised elsewhere more effectively.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe use an Amazon fertiliser spreader which was fine up to 24m with compound fertiliser but the ballistics just aren\u2019t consistent enough and it didn\u2019t fit our 36 metre system,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMatt Benstead is our approved OMEX contractor and he really seems to take pride in his work, which gives us the confidence to let him get on with the application without input from us. He also works well with OMEX district sales manager Ben Blom. Even when the pressure is on they keep everyone going with careful management and timings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The farm produces potatoes on contract for Produce World, Branston and Greenvale, mostly for the pre-pack market supplying the major supermarkets. Yields average around 44\/50t\/ha, which means the 5100t cold stores are always fully utilised. Onions are grown for the pre-pack market and marketed through South Eastern Produce Ltd.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe irrigate as much land as we can, but with temperatures exceeding 30o<\/sup>C last year for extended periods of time meant we couldn\u2019t keep up with the amount of water needed,\u201d says Jonathan. \u201cWe start irrigating at tuber initiation and typically apply eight inches over the growing season.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Water is extracted from a reservoir and rivers, but last year most of it came from the reservoir because the EA had to shut down extraction licences from rivers due to heavy demand and lack of flow in the rivers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following soil analysis of the potato land in the autumn, suspension fertiliser is applied to ploughed land in the spring and the mix includes 40% of the crops nitrogen requirement plus all the P:K and sulphur.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Potatoes are planted using a 3-row Standen cup planter. The Brown\u2019s make the point that it is critical to get the correct spacing in the rows to ensure crop uniformity for the pre-pack market.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBeing on a 2.74m bed system for potatoes and onions and with 36m tramlines we can practise a controlled wheeling system, keeping compaction in the growing area to a minimum,\u201d explains Robert.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were applying P:K at 24m in granular form we ended up running in \u00a0the potato growing area. Application of the product was definitely less accurate, which manifested as uneven crops and affected crop uniformity and quality. We were having to grade out a higher percentage of green and misshaped potatoes in order to hit the quality pre-pack market.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At planting the Brown\u2019s also apply biostimulants and during the season some selected foliar feed sprays too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An issue for Robert and Jonathan in the past with granular fertiliser was that it would arrive on farm in the spring at a time when staff and machinery were employed elsewhere. Having switched to a suspension system a major bonus is that all handling of the product is now done by the contractor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t handle any base fertilisers for root crops ourselves anymore, in fact apart from the ordering it\u2019s not even necessary for us to be involved with the delivery and application. We have no need to store that product now which frees up building space for other purposes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cApplying base nutrition always used to be a two man operation whereas now it doesn\u2019t involve any of our own employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He adds that too much wind can also be a major challenge with applying granular products, compared to liquids that can still be applied accurately in moderate wind speeds. Management input has been significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tackling the Brown\u2019s on a cost comparison between the two fertiliser systems, they say there is not much between them, but a key point is that it frees up management time and labour at a busy time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI do think that it is very easy to underestimate the cost of a granular system,\u201d says Jonathan. \u201cIt ties up machinery and labour which can now be utilised better elsewhere in the business, particularly the two telehandlers and their drivers as well as tractors and trailers needed to deliver bags to each field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suspension and solution fertiliser is now an integral part of a Cambridgeshire farming pre-pack potato and onion enterprise, where in the past under a granular fertiliser regime, issues of crop uniformity and quality plus management pressure at busy times of the year, was having a detrimental impact on performance.   Farming cousins Robert and Jonathan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-uk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omex.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}