North East Monitor Farm Summer Meeting

Join this webinar to hear from our cereals and oilseeds Monitor Farmers in the North East of the UK.

John Aynsley (Saltburn) and Gary Shipley (Huggate) look ahead to harvest 2020, following a challenging growing season. We will also hear from Northumberland grower Pip Robson, the new Chathill Monitor Farmer.

AHDB's Emily Pope will talk about the Strategic Farm programme and discuss ideas and strategies for on-farm try outs.

Speakers:

• John Aynsley: Saltburn Monitor Farm
• Gary Shipley: Huggate Monitor Farm
• Pip Robson: Chathill Monitor Farm
• Emily Pope: Knowledge Transfer Manager, AHDB

Programme

• Welcome and introductions: Rose Riby, AHDB 
• John Aynsley, Saltburn MF

Concluding 3 years as monitor farm host John’s objective was clear; looking at costings associated with direct drilling and rotations over previous conventional methods. Focusing on a 250 acre block on poor land historically in continuous wheat and with significant sterile brome issues of variable levels of control

• The aims are to a) improve profitability b) control sterile brome
• While assessing which rotation is the more physically, environmentally and financially stable.

• Gary Shipley, Huggate MF

Review of key messages taken from first winter meeting series

• Following a host of soil sampling at Huggate a scorecard approach is being developed and evaluated in the Soil Biology and Soil Health Partnership; it aims to provide benchmark data to guide an assessment of soil health
• Cover crops are being tried and experimented with to aid at providing nitrogen uptake, erosion control and soil structural benefits on the farm.

• Pip Robson, Chathill MF

Introduction to the new monitor farm and expectations of the programme.

• Based on a coastal plain in the far north of England, Pip runs a mixed farm of just over 800 hectares including 480 hectares of arable cropping.

• Emily Pope, AHDB
  • Emily is part of the team delivering AHDB’s Strategic Farm programme, a network of farms that are testing and demonstrating innovative practices and research outputs in commercial systems.
  • Emily will be sharing an update on harvest 2020 trials at the Strategic Farms and discussing ideas on how you can run similar trials on your own farm.
• Q&A
• Close: Rose Riby, AHDB