Andrew Ward

Normally, taking on a contract farming agreement to increase farm size from 454 to 650 ha in the last twelve months would be enough for most ordinary farmers; Andrew Ward however is no ordinary farmer. This summer, he will also be hosting this years Cereals Event in June.

Andrew, who farms with his father Roy at Glebe farm, Leadenham in Lincolnshire, with the help of one full time member of staff and one part time, is an ideal candidate to host the event. His enthusiasm for his work and his willingness to experiment with new ideas has led to a sound philosophy for his business.

“Over the last few years I have come to the conclusion that while great advances have been made in establishment techniques, plant breeding, disease and weed control we have tended to overlook our most important asset, the soil. We have to find ways of achieving more output from the soil. The old method of replacing nutrient offtake with simple compound fertilisers and nothing else should be confined to the history books. I think we should be looking more at organic matter content, calcium levels, the unlocking of tied up nutrients and applying many different trace elements. As a result of this, we have been using biosolids as an integral part of the new soil treatment philosophy in order to help the soil respond differently.”

The farm can be easily categorised into three distinct soil types: Clays, sandy clay loams and sand over limestone on the heath. “We have a major problem with blackgrass on the heavy land To counteract this we leave the set-a-side as natural regeneration and give it two hits of glyphosphate in order to keep the blackgrass under control. The nutri-bio is then spread on the land at a rate of approximately 19 tonnes per hectare before the oilseed rape is sown. Incorporation and cultivation is carried out with a Simba “Solo” pulled by a John Deere 8520T. A high content of phosphate in the nutri-bio has allowed us to eliminate the use of other phosphates. Also the nutri-bio contains enough nitrogen to establish the rape, eliminating the need for an autumn application. We also reduce the nitrogen applied the following spring by about 15 kg / ha due to the carry over.

“Although this will only be the third year of using nutri-bio we are already beginning to see some financial benefit. The conventional fertiliser policy over the first two years would have costed out at £54 per hectare whereas using nutri-bio the cost is £21 per hectare over the first two years. Despite this reduction in costs there has been no reduction in crop performance. We also have the added bonus of increased organic matter in the soil.”

The nutri-bio is also introduced to the other two soil types at the beginning of the rotation, and the same principles of minimal cultivation are applied. Andrew has switched to minimal cultivation in order to save on machinery and labour costs as well as protecting the soil structure as much as possible. The initial switch was made on the heavy land as this was seen as the potential problem area for a two pass system. (Solo and drill). A small amount of ploughing was still carried out, especially before sugar beet and for all the 2nd wheats. Now however, minimal cultivation is used on all the land irrespective of soil type, even for the Sugar Beet.

The minimal cultivation policy has led to considerable reduction in costs and labour. For example, it takes 80 minutes at a cost of £ 66 to establish one hectare of wheat on the heavy land compared to the old system taking 186 minutes and £103 to establish one hectare.

“With a certain amount of thought, experimenting and admittedly expenditure over the last few years, we have managed to significantly reduce the cost per hectare and the time needed to establish not only cereals, but all our crops. Our soil structure is in better condition than it used to be, we are using far less seed, the plants are healthier and our yields have risen.”