Undercover operation feeds controversy

Stretching acres of plastic across fields may make sense to farmers. But in Penistone some residents are unhappy about the impact on the landscape. Liz Walker reports.

Not much usually changes in agriculture around Penistone. Farms are small, mainly family -run dairy herds, beef and sheep. At almost a thousand feet above sea level the crop of choice is grass, with corn and roots trundling along behind. Last spring though, with the daffodils going over and the hedges thickening, no-one could fail to notice something new. Acres and acres of plastic.

It wasn't pretty. Fields could be seen for miles, gleaming like mirrors. Nobody knew what it was and in the absence of real information everyone thought the worst. "You never know what farmers are up to nowadays," says local resident Sue Haigh. "So many chemicals. I wish they'd go back to how it used to be. Growing things naturally."

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A month or so later and the plastic disappeared, to be replaced by a dense carpet of growth. It was hard to see if the plastic had been removed or if the plants had grown through it in some way. The suspicion was that plastic was rotting in the ground.

And then, at harvest, the industrialisation of these sleepy hills seemed complete. An army of machines descended, cutting, munching, blowing chaff this way, pouring grain that. Days later, when it was all over, there was just the field again, quite bare. Some hoped they'd seen the last of it.

A general sentiment of mistrust has now resurfaced again because it seems last year was just the beginning. "What on earth are they up to?" asks resident John Clarke. Betty Noble was more explicit. "I think it's disgusting, fields covered in plastic. That's not farming."

But John Hill, of Kidfield Farm, is pressing ahead. "I think I'm getting the hang of it now," says Mr Hill, a former world ploughing champion. His day job is his dairy herd and dairy farming has had it rough. Milking cows need high energy feed, and feed costs were spiralling and the milk price was on the floor.

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"We used to buy in sugar beet," he says. "But then the York plant closed.

"Maize should be the answer, but at this height it's one heck of a gamble. That's when I dropped on this."

It's forage maize. Grown under plastic, or at least, begun that way. The ingenuity is truly impressive. About 15 years ago an Irish farmer, Sam Shine, realised that maize would be an ideal cattle feed if only he could grow it. On the Continent it's 10 feet tall everywhere, basking in long hot summers.

"Maize needs a soil temperature of 12 degrees to germinate well," says Sam. "Corn only needs five or six. If we were to grow maize at all, we were forced to use low yielding varieties and harvest them late. So I thought, let's start it off under plastic. And after that it got complicated."

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Very complicated. First, the plastic. It isn't really plastic, it's a starch-based polymer, pierced by tiny holes that allow water to penetrate, heat to escape and the plant to burst through. A giant machine plants the seed, sprays it with weed suppressant and lays the plastic, all in one go. Protected in its horizontal greenhouse, safe from frost, birds and bugs, the seeds germinate and put down strong roots, finally gaining the strength to press against the cover and emerge.

The plastic degrades in sunlight, breaking down quickly or slowly, depending on its thickness and the weather. Choose the wrong seed or the wrong grade of plastic for your area and the plant will find itself either without its overcoat, or too soft to break through.

Many trials took place before Sam got it right and John Hill, here in the Pennines, feels that his first year was also a learning experience.

"I didn't know how it would do, to tell the truth. I knew I wanted to harvest earlier, but in fact, if you leave it six to eight weeks more, you can combine it for the grain. I've got this thing called a crimper. You crush the grain out of the cob, treat it with an additive and bag it. Fantastic feed for cows."

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One of his first converts is David Booth, who keeps 240 head up on the hills. "I know it sounds strange, but it's improved the cows' feet," he says. "Dairy cows do a heck of a lot of walking, and this new feed is less acid. They're milking well and I'm not getting as much lameness, I know that."

As horse owners will confirm, this isn't as mad as it seems. The energy levels in feed can inflame the membranes in hooves of all kinds, so perhaps someone somewhere will think of horses and try it out.

"You can't just think of it one day and whack it in the next," says Sam Shine. "You don't do a thing to it after it's planted, so all the work gets done before. You have to get the soil ploughed and fertile, with manure and sometimes nitrogen, at least a month before planting. The heat increases phosphate take-up enormously. That's what makes the root growth, and it's the root growth that puts sugar in the cob."

"Everyone thinks good maize is tall maize," complains John. "But you don't want stalks, you want sugar-rich cobs. And the system's not cheap, I reckon it's an additional 100 an acre.

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"Everyone thinks they can economise, different seed, a bit of ordinary plastic, that sort of thing. But this way you get your money back without trashing the environment. Less spray, less fuel and no residues. I just want people to know that."

But it seems some of the people of Penistone may still need some convincing.

John Hill is holding an open day at the Lord Nelson pub, Hoylandswaine, S36 7JA, next Thursday. Details 07976 918976 or 07841 741827.