Even though he has cut out all applications of fungicides, insecticides and growth regulators, Alistair Craig uses his sprayer more than most conventional cereal growers.
At an event on his farm near Limavady, Co Derry last week, visitors walked a crop of winter barley which is now a closed gate field with no more treatments planned before harvest.
The seed mix had 11 different varieties which is typical for the Craig’s low input, regenerative style arable system.
“There is some rust on it now, but that has only appeared recently and came from the stress of the drought that we had up until last week. It was looking really good until then,” Alistair said.
The sprayer has been in the field eight times this season, although this was mostly for nutrition, rather than pesticide applications.
The farm has a dairy unit, so a key focus with the arable enterprise is to make good use of livestock manure, as well as other bought in organic fertilisers.
On the fertiliser front, the winter barley has got 18t of farmyard manure, 235kg of ammonium sulphate liquid, 5,000 gallons of slurry and 150kg liquid nitrogen fertiliser per hectare
With sprays, it has had 4.8kg of Crop Lift Pro, 7kg of epsom salts, 50kg of milk, 2kg of seaweed, 1.6kg of silica, 4 litres sulphate of potash, 2 litres of molasses and 0.25kg of fulvic acid per hectare.
Spraying regime
Whilst eight runs with the sprayer may seem like a lot, Alistair points out that two of these were with liquid fertiliser and one application was with glyphosate before the crop was direct drilled.
All in all, he isn’t driving over the tramlines much more than most cereal growers and he states that his fertiliser and pest control regime costs roughly half that of a conventional system.
In terms of labour input, he has a 5,000-litre sprayer, so getting spray on to crops is not a slow or laborious process.
A similar treatment regime was used on a field of oats, wheat and volunteer barley which is to be harvested for wholecrop silage.
Alistair said there are some aphids on the crop at present but again wants to avoid using insecticides. Instead, he plans to spray the crop with epsom salts, boron, and sulphate of potash to lower nitrogen levels in the plant.
“Aphids only want to attack a crop if it’s high in nitrates. If we can fool the plant into bringing nitrates down, then the aphids should leave,” he said.
Various additions and alterations have been made to a 4m-wide one-pass drill on the Craig farm.
Rye after-effect
Like all farms, not everything goes according to plan for Alistair. The first field that we walked had a strong crop of oilseed rape growing in the headlands only.
Alistair explained that the field was in rye last year and he suspects that it left a chemical effect in the middle of the field which stopped oilseed rape establishing.
A problem with the drill has been ruled out because the min-till crop is looking very well at the perimeter of the field.
“The rye didn’t do well in the headlands last year, probably because of compaction. Basically, where the rye didn’t grow well, the rape has come this year.
“It showed us that if you are whole cropping rye, you have to plough it in afterwards to get rid of the allelopathic effects under the ground,” Alistair said.
A mix of maize, spring beans and sunflower has been planted where the oil seed rape failed. This will be harvested for silage in October and the whole field will be planted in winter wheat afterwards.
AHDB to keep presence
in NI arable sector
Alistair Craig has finished up his three-year tenure on the monitor farm project run by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
Cereal and oilseed growers in NI pay a levy to AHDB and its knowledge exchange programme has been active here since 2018 when Richard Orr in Downpatrick was the first monitor farmer in NI.
At last week’s farm walk in Limavady, Craig Patrick from AHDB said the next phase was to set up a new “NI monitor farm network”.
Limavady farmer Alistair Craig and AHDB knowledge exchange manager Craig Patrick.
Events
It means events will no longer be based around one farm located in either of the two main arable farming regions of NI in east Down or north Derry.
“It will be more flexible with locations and topics. Hosts will not be tied into a three-year commitment,” Craig said.
Even though he has cut out all applications of fungicides, insecticides and growth regulators, Alistair Craig uses his sprayer more than most conventional cereal growers.
At an event on his farm near Limavady, Co Derry last week, visitors walked a crop of winter barley which is now a closed gate field with no more treatments planned before harvest.
The seed mix had 11 different varieties which is typical for the Craig’s low input, regenerative style arable system.
“There is some rust on it now, but that has only appeared recently and came from the stress of the drought that we had up until last week. It was looking really good until then,” Alistair said.
The sprayer has been in the field eight times this season, although this was mostly for nutrition, rather than pesticide applications.
The farm has a dairy unit, so a key focus with the arable enterprise is to make good use of livestock manure, as well as other bought in organic fertilisers.
On the fertiliser front, the winter barley has got 18t of farmyard manure, 235kg of ammonium sulphate liquid, 5,000 gallons of slurry and 150kg liquid nitrogen fertiliser per hectare
With sprays, it has had 4.8kg of Crop Lift Pro, 7kg of epsom salts, 50kg of milk, 2kg of seaweed, 1.6kg of silica, 4 litres sulphate of potash, 2 litres of molasses and 0.25kg of fulvic acid per hectare.
Spraying regime
Whilst eight runs with the sprayer may seem like a lot, Alistair points out that two of these were with liquid fertiliser and one application was with glyphosate before the crop was direct drilled.
All in all, he isn’t driving over the tramlines much more than most cereal growers and he states that his fertiliser and pest control regime costs roughly half that of a conventional system.
In terms of labour input, he has a 5,000-litre sprayer, so getting spray on to crops is not a slow or laborious process.
A similar treatment regime was used on a field of oats, wheat and volunteer barley which is to be harvested for wholecrop silage.
Alistair said there are some aphids on the crop at present but again wants to avoid using insecticides. Instead, he plans to spray the crop with epsom salts, boron, and sulphate of potash to lower nitrogen levels in the plant.
“Aphids only want to attack a crop if it’s high in nitrates. If we can fool the plant into bringing nitrates down, then the aphids should leave,” he said.
Various additions and alterations have been made to a 4m-wide one-pass drill on the Craig farm.
Rye after-effect
Like all farms, not everything goes according to plan for Alistair. The first field that we walked had a strong crop of oilseed rape growing in the headlands only.
Alistair explained that the field was in rye last year and he suspects that it left a chemical effect in the middle of the field which stopped oilseed rape establishing.
A problem with the drill has been ruled out because the min-till crop is looking very well at the perimeter of the field.
“The rye didn’t do well in the headlands last year, probably because of compaction. Basically, where the rye didn’t grow well, the rape has come this year.
“It showed us that if you are whole cropping rye, you have to plough it in afterwards to get rid of the allelopathic effects under the ground,” Alistair said.
A mix of maize, spring beans and sunflower has been planted where the oil seed rape failed. This will be harvested for silage in October and the whole field will be planted in winter wheat afterwards.
AHDB to keep presence
in NI arable sector
Alistair Craig has finished up his three-year tenure on the monitor farm project run by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).
Cereal and oilseed growers in NI pay a levy to AHDB and its knowledge exchange programme has been active here since 2018 when Richard Orr in Downpatrick was the first monitor farmer in NI.
At last week’s farm walk in Limavady, Craig Patrick from AHDB said the next phase was to set up a new “NI monitor farm network”.
Limavady farmer Alistair Craig and AHDB knowledge exchange manager Craig Patrick.
Events
It means events will no longer be based around one farm located in either of the two main arable farming regions of NI in east Down or north Derry.
“It will be more flexible with locations and topics. Hosts will not be tied into a three-year commitment,” Craig said.
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