Evidence-based approach is vital within agriculture

Agriculture is a science-led, innovative industry and transitioning into a new era, with extensive research and a nationwide trials programme equipping Frontier Agriculture’s experts with the latest insights and providing UK farmers with proven, forward-thinking crop production solutions.

Dr Paul Fogg © Frontier

“As a business built on technical expertise, we base everything we do on robust evidence and data,” says Frontier crop production specialist, Dr Paul Fogg.

“It’s a particularly interesting time for the industry, and we’re committed to challenging assumptions and investigating new and alternative approaches.

“Relying on our own research means we can do this to scale, continually upskilling our advisors and supporting our farmer customers with the real challenges they face on farm.”

Dr Fogg explains that Frontier’s unique position means its teams can take a holistic approach to research.

“We work with many industry stakeholders, so can comprehensively review all options on the table.

“This means our benchmarking is particularly thorough and we can include a wide range of products in our screening trials.”

With any technology, solution or technique, Dr Fogg says Frontier evaluates its development journey, its benefits, and then any potential weaknesses. It’ll then determine how best to assess performance through trials.

“Ultimately we’re looking for uniformity and consistency of response,” adds Dr Fogg. “Then we’ll look at how to integrate that solution into the farm system, in a way that helps our customers to be sustainable yet productive.”

Frontier’s UK-wide trials network covers a range of research across all areas of sustainable crop production, including variety selection, nutrition, crop protection and farm-scale work on cultivation and rotation.

An annual budget of around £1 million supports work from a plot scale to whole-farm systems across a range of sites. “In a typical year we could assess between 12,500 – 13,000 trial plots,” says Paul.

Trial insights help shape production systems

Frontier’s trials cut across all areas of sustainable crop production and many follow the same timetable as commercial farm operations.

Paul explains: “With weed management, for example, the focus is ongoing blackgrass control just as it would be on farm.”

Given the loss of many actives, Frontier is exploring more integrated control strategies.

One example is the method of inter-row hoeing as a substitute for herbicides in crops such as oats, as well as investigating the increasing presence of ryegrass (including resistance to flufenacet) and brome.

Both are becoming more problematic as soil disturbance reduces, as well as resistance to Acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors and soft brome species now germinating in spring.

© Frontier

Establishment methods

As many look to reduce soil movement, comparisons between direct drilling, min-till and reduced ploughing help inform longer term management – often from trials carried out over multiple seasons.

Frontier has ongoing establishment trials in winter wheat and barley, with one wheat trial drilled on 10th October 2022 in Suffolk into Beccles series clay soil.

“The treatments compared a direct-drilled crop [soils were lightly cultivated with a Terrastar rake prior to drilling] with a non-inversion treatment.

“The direct-drilled plots had a light pass with a Claydon Terrastar and the non-inversion included two passes with a Kongskilde Vibroflex tined cultivator at 5-6 inches deep, followed by another pass with the Terrastar,” says Paul.

“Yields ranged from 9.58-11.13t/ha in the non-inversion trial [mean yield was 10.48t/ha], while the direct-drilled treatment saw yields between 10.36-11.85t/ha [mean yield 11.12t/ha].

“Gleam, RGT Zinzan, Gefion, RGT Illustrious, RGT Gravity and Skyfall showed yield gains of between 6.6-10.85% when direct-drilled; whereas Champion, KWS Cranium and KWS Dawsum were between 3-4% lower yielding.”

Specific weights were very similar irrespective of establishment technique.

Thousand grain weights and grains per ear were highest in the non-inversion system, while normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), plant establishment and final ear count were all higher for the direct-drilled crops.

These also saw higher protein levels; an average increase of 0.41% compared to the non-inversion treatment.

© Frontier

Variety performance

Another core objective of Frontier’s trials programme is to monitor existing varieties and screen new ones.

Varietal traits are a fundamental component of integrated pest management in terms of disease, lodging risk and pest control, but positive traits in these areas must not affect their ability to meet end-market requirements.

Paul says: “For example, we review wheat variety performance across different regions and assess which consistently perform in certain conditions.

“We typically have six or eight sites a year to review varietal responses to different treatments.”

Fungicide interaction is another focus, particularly with variety disease resistance and tolerance now more important for integrated crop management.

Paul continues, “We want to see how varieties with claimed resistance perform under field conditions, and whether there are other impacts to growth habit or agronomy.

Frontier is also examining quality and performance in milling wheat varieties.

“These assessments have given us good knowledge of the underlying weaknesses of varieties like Skyfall and KWS Zyatt, allowing us to develop management strategies to maintain their performance.

“We are also investigating the opportunities that new varieties such as RGT Illustrious, KWS Palladium and Loxton offer.”

Margin over input cost is an important metric for assessing the merits of different varieties.

It can be easy to overspend on some options, while others will deliver notable benefits from a robust management strategy.

However, knowledge of specific varietal strengths/weaknesses is fundamental to make sure inputs are appropriate.

“Integrating the best genetic traits with the most appropriate fungicide programmes is essential for helping growers maximise return on investment,” says Paul.

The trial below comprised four variety screens with different disease resistance profiles, with the results informing future management decisions.

© Frontier

Cover and companion cropping

As the decrease in BPS starts to become more acute and with applications open for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the use of cover and companion crops is increasing on many farms.

Maintaining green cover outside of a crop has direct benefits linked to soil health, nutrient capture and environmental protection, as well as supporting sustainable crop production objectives.

However, it’s important to understand how they fit agronomically, and how they should be managed both in the short- and long-term.

Richard Barnes © Frontier

“Screening herbicide effectiveness on different cover crops helps determine which mixtures may be suitable for different rotations, both in terms of destruction and weed control in following crops,” says Frontier commercial lead for sustainable crop production, Richard Barnes.

“Knowing what can deliver 100% plant kill is as valuable as knowing what will survive.

“The work highlights wider management considerations too, such as needing short-term suppression of living mulches to ensure establishment of following commercial crops.

“For companion crops, species selection depends on when the commercial crop is drilled.

“Berseem clover is fine planted in August or September, but offers limited value in October.

“Importantly, some companion crops like buckwheat are frost-sensitive so don’t require a herbicide – though this can differ depending on region and condition.

© Frontier

Nutrition strategies

Crop nutrition (both macro and micro-nutrients) is fundamental to crop performance, but the environmental impacts of fertilisers must be considered.

“Nutrient use efficiency and alternative products like biostimulants need to be assessed and, with recent market volatility placing the cost of nitrogen under the spotlight, it is critical to continually evaluate existing and future crop nutrition products and strategies,” says Paul.

“Soil management and condition are important for creating a resilient environment under which crops can deliver their potential too, while microbial technologies may have an increasingly crucial role to play.”

The trial below shows some of the work we are doing in this area.

At first glance, the data suggests there is no substitute for bagged nitrogen but in 2022, given the dry weather, even that wasn’t enough to meet milling spec.

Importantly, the benefits of some of the treatments only became apparent once the crop had been processed through to bread.

© Frontier

Supporting future business resilience

A benefit of trials is using the learnings to help future-proof farm businesses and prepare for upcoming challenges.

To support its customers with the right solutions, Frontier is continually monitoring industry trends, impending challenges and proposed legislative changes.

A key driver is the move to support environmental measures and improvement, as demonstrated by the SFI in the UK and Europe’s Field to Fork agenda.

“It’s not just about integrating options from the SFI and Countryside Stewardship, but also other priorities, such as feeding more people from less land,” explains Paul.

“With the right data our teams can use their expertise to identify the best opportunities to boost gross margins on farm, while increasing production and making more space for biodiversity.”