AICC News.

Delivering the objectives for the 2030 Food Strategy, Association of Independent Agronomists rise to the challenge at recent conference

At the 25th conference of the Association of Independent Agronomists (AICC), in Warwickshire last week the thirst for and interest in, more technically driven advice and consultation within the arable industry to meet strategic objectives was reflected by the audience.

"We had the highest number of AICC agronomists and industry representatives attending than ever before with 232 attendees, and what was so exciting was the notable presence of many new, young faces in the audience, demonstrating a possible resurgence in an interest in careers in agriculture and particularly agronomy,"says conference organiser AICC CEO Sarah Cowlrick.

"The purpose of the conference was to inform and debate many of the strategic and technical issues facing today's arable farmers, and the ways in which agronomists can help farmers to meet these objectives; hence headline topics were focussed around sustainable food production, nitrogen use and the latest developments in oilseed rape technologies and research."

The key messages on sustainable food production came from a range of industry representatives - and were clear - as an industry we need to put science before politics thereby providing a level playing field in which to meet the objectives on food production and sustainability laid out by Europe and global forces.

On CAP Reform Robert Gooch consultant with Smith Gore communicated his understanding of the reforms that may occur before 2014. Mr Gooch believed that: "direct payments would continue in some form but that SPS would be rebranded and values would most likely decline in order for economic and environmental sustainability to continue in rural areas," he said. "Whilst intervention will be replaced by some other safety net, cross compliance will be made more flexible on a country by country basis, with Defra managing the UK levels."

Precise and accurate nitrogen measurement and sampling resulting in more targeted application set the tone of the Nitrogen Use presentations. Addressing the difficult issues of measuring Soil Mineral Nitrogen (SMN), and obtaining accurate measurements of SMN, the HGCA presented the latest Nitrogen Use Guidelines and asked that growers used the tool to help them balance a nitrogen equation for their own farm.

Susannah Bolton, Head of R &D at the HGCA acknowledged the difficulties with precise measurement of Soil Mineral Nitrogen: "Soil Nitrogen supply is an important aspect of this calculation and we are still working to refine the testing and analysis of soil mineral Nitrogen to allow for a more precise approach to nitrogen application."

Recognising the inaccuracies associated with comparable readings from year to year, farmers were advised that autumn sampling of SMN proved to be more favourable, and that samples should be sent off as soon as possible. The need for consistency of approach was underlined ie sampling the same fields, at the same time of the year and using the same testing laboratory wherever possible.

Oilseed rape yields and approaches for better disease management in order to break the yield barrier took centre stage. The role of disease control in mitigating climate change was a key message from leading research scientists - crops free of disease were more productive and required less land - crops need to be produced as efficiently as possible. There was an agreed recognition for improved varietal disease resistance and to set targets by identifying diseases that will become more important. Predictions from experts on disease levels for harvest 2010 based on current climatic conditions were that "Canker levels would be down, whilst threats from Light Leaf Spot would rise, but keep an eye of Verticillium as this could potentially become an issue, and to be aware of club root particularly on spring crops of oilseed rape."

For more information on the conference and individual presentations, please contact Sarah Cowlrick on 01730 823881 or email aicc@farmline.com

Agronomists tackle new requirements under revised Soil Protection Review

One of the key issues to be debated at the recent Association of Independents Agronomists conference was the management of the newly revised Soil Protection Review (SPR) which was launched to the attending agronomists by Morag Cuthbert, Defra's soil policy advisor.

The new legislation which came into force on 1 January of this year requires more input from farmers than the previous scheme. The extra requirements ask farmers to identify and record current and potential soil problems, record soil types and degradation risks, select and identify appropriate measures to prevent any risks and review these risks annually.

Growers will no longer need derogation from Defra to access waterlogged land, but will be asked to record damage to waterlogged land and actions taken to remediate the damage when caused. The revised plan concentrates more on soil damage through compaction, erosion or loss of organic matter - recording potential risks to soils will become a key focus.

In addition farmers will need to select and take appropriate post harvest measures, adhere to the Crop Residues (Burning) Regulations and also to complete an optional section on buffer strips for water resource protection. Growers will have until 31 December to complete their SPR, and will be in breach of cross compliance if they do not also complete the blue continuation form from the 2009 review.

"Traditionally, agronomists have done this work for farmers as part of their service and because they have such long standing relationships with their farmer clients, however with the extra amount of work now required agronomists will now have to seriously think about how charging for the increased amount of time needed to get the paperwork and recording done," comments CEO of the Association of Independent Agronomists, Sarah Cowlrick.

"Agronomists will have to take responsibility for communicating this in their letters of arrangement to their clients, and agree on a fee, most likely based on an hourly or daily rate. I should imagine for most farms this will be half a days job but it depends on the geography of the farm, number of field etc as each field has to be analysed."

Bryce Rham, an independent agronomist attending the conference notes: "Whilst this information can be recorded though maps and tables, it all adds a substantial extra amount of paper work to an already overloaded workload. Of course, we will encourage farmers to get most of the basic groundwork done before we arrive, such as field maps etc."

For more information on the conference and individual presentations, please contact Sarah Cowlrick on 01730 823881 or email aicc@farmline.com