Transforming nutrient and soil management planning

Creating fully compliant Nutrient, Manure and Soil Management Plans has been greatly simplified thanks to the development of new software available through Agrovista’s farm data platform, Insight.

Bespoke software for tailored farm solutions

Using the bespoke software, the company’s agronomy and rural consultancy teams can generate tailored plans much more quickly, ensuring farmers and growers have the information they need to comply with key environmental regulations and SFI actions efficiently and effectively.

Hamish Wardrop, national rural consultancy manager for Agrovista, says: “Our new software provides our customers with management plans that are fully compliant with NVZ regulations and Farming Rules for Water.

“Insight Management Plans also meet the requirements of SFI actions CNUM1 (assess nutrient management and produce a review report) and the planning element of CSAM1 (assess soil, produce a soil management plan and test soil organic matter).” 

Innovative in-house development

The new software was developed entirely in house as there was no ‘off-the-peg’ solution that could provide all the functionality that Agrovista requires.

Graeme Barrett, Agrovista’s head of precision who leads the development, adds: “Key decision-making data is presented very clearly using the new software.

“Farmers and inspectors can easily see how important calculations such as N-loading and manure exchanges have been worked out.

In addition to N,P and K requirements, sulphur and lime requirements are now included in the reports.”

© Agrovista Rural Consultancy

Making the most of manures

Agrovista’s new plans clearly show crop nutrient requirements both before and after planned manure applications.

Whilst none of this is new, having all of the required information in a single report helps planning to make the most of farm-produced or imported manures.

Producing compliant reports is just the start of the process; they provide the basic information for a more complex discussion regarding farm nutrient planning, and the opportunity to embrace innovative solutions to improve nutrient use efficiency.

For example, where organic materials with high and readily available nitrogen levels are applied, nitrification inhibitors such as Instinct could be used.

This product keeps more nitrogen in the ammonium form for longer, reducing leaching and denitrification and making more nitrogen available to the crop.

This, in turn, improves the value of the organic material and reduces the requirement for manufactured nitrogen fertiliser.

© Agrovista Rural Consultancy

Addressing phosphate challenges

In respect of phosphate, even where soil indices suggest adequate supply every year, growth stage-related sap or grain tests often show crops are low in phosphate, mainly due the complexities of phosphate availability in the soil, particularly in soils with sub-optimal pH.

Agrovista soil health specialist Chris Martin says: “Applying triple superphosphate is the most common solution to top up phosphate, but on some soil types it is locked up very quickly, sometimes within days.

“DAP and MAP are more soluble but even they eventually can be locked up. We’ve ended up building a huge bank of phosphate in the soil.”

Phosphorus Liberator and Phosta are soil-applied products that release some of this locked-up phosphorus or make soil-applied phosphate fertilisers and manures available to the crop for longer to meet a crop’s needs and improve soil health. 

© Agrovista Rural Consultancy

Delivering economic and environmental benefits

Applying products such as Phosphorous Liberator alongside foliar alternatives to bagged P and K, such as Luxor or Wholly-K, has the potential to save in the order of £100/ha over traditional maintenance dressings and has consistently shown a yield increase in trials.

In addition this approach greatly reduces the amount of inorganic salts being applied to the soil, which is a huge positive for soil health, says Chris.

© Agrovista Rural Consultancy

Hamish concludes: “In addition to meeting the aims of SFI Action CNUM1, which pays £652 per annum, having detailed discussions about nutrient planning can save thousands more pounds and increase yield.

“Insight Management Plans provide a clear and detailed starting point for these discussions.”