Strategic Cereal Farm North

Name:

David Blacker

Location:

Shipton, York

Farm sectors:

Cereals & Oilseeds

Twitter:

@blacker_david

View on Google Maps

About Strategic Cereal Farm North

David Blacker is the host of this Strategic Cereal Farm
Church Farm is 205 ha
David contract farms an additional 320 ha
David has been involved in a many trials, independently as well in collaboration with other organisations
Improving soil condition and economic yield are key areas of focus
The six-year project runs from 2022 to 2028

AHDB Strategic Cereal Farms put cutting-edge research and innovation into practice on commercial farms around the UK. Each farm hosts field-scale and farm-scale demonstrations, with experiences shared via on-farm and online events to the wider farming community.

Video insight

Watch David Blacker give an overview of the Strategic Cereal Farm North trials in 2023.

Current trials

Developing a soil health baseline

This work carried out in-depth soil assessments (topsoil and subsoil) to develop a baseline for soil health. The information is being used to understand the impact of soil health on crop health and to help measure the impact of management.

Soil health, nutrient analyses and crop performance

This work assesses the impact of soil health on crop development and performance and evaluates if there is a correlation with soil nutrient availability.

Investigating trends in farm data

Strategic Cereal Farm North has over a decade’s worth of farm data, covering yield, soil and weather. This work performed an in-depth analysis of this geospatial data to inform management.

Investigating drainage for heavy soils

Can drainage effectively improve crop performance on heavy fields? This trial is comparing the impact of a new drainage system on soil and crop health.

Learn about the on-farm trials at Strategic Cereal Farm North