Farm of the week: Successful crop shows way to expansion in the future

As the industry grapples with having to produce more while minimising its environmental impact, one Yorkshire farmer has come up with a straightforward way of boosting his yields – by switching to hybrid barley.

Roger Kay, who farms in the Crockey Hill area between York and Selby, made the decision to grow a hybrid barley called Six Row Feed Variety Volume, to try to improve the amount of tonnage per hectare he was producing.

The trial period in which he grew the Volume Barley proved very successful for Mr Kay, with yields having increased so much that he is planning to vastly increase the acreage he farms next season.

"We have had very good results from the hybrid barley," he said.

"This year's crop had two applications of a new fungicide, Bontima, and from just over 13.09 hectares we produced 131 tonnes of yield.

"At more than 10 tonnes an acre that is really quite impressive."

Mr Kay farms 390 hectares in his own right as well as contract farming at various sites around the areas of Crockey Hill, Copmanthorpe, Acaster Malbis and Bishopthorpe areas around York.

He grows cereals, as well as oilseed rape and some linseed. Much like many farmers in this part of the world he grew sugar beet previously until the closures of various factories saw a sharp downturn of production.

Mr Kay's farm is run as a partnership between Mr Kay, his uncle, his mother and his wife.

Hybrid barley has been impressing agronomists and farmers for the past few years.

Trials conducted five years ago showed that hybrid barley could produce higher yields per hectare than winter wheat when both are grown as a first cereal.

The trials, conducted in the Lincolnshire area, made a direct comparison of grain yields and gross margins from hybrid winter feed barley with those from three separate winter wheat varieties.

Mr Kay already has his sights set on next season and to what he will be doing with his farm.

"We are going to grow 90 per cent volume next year," he said.

"The seeds do come at a bit more of a premium but they are more than justified by the yields.

"The crop was straight until harvest and very easy to combine. We had no problem creating a sample and it all passed without incident."

Mr Kay said that it was only necessary to increase yields by 0.4 tonnes per hectare to pay for the increased cost of the seeds.

As well as growing at a shorter length the crop is more resistant to disease. The Volume crop grows rapidly in the springtime.

"The crop has a robust growth thanks to the regulator treatment," he said.

As well as producing quality cereals and crops, he has been producing knowledge on his farmland, as part a demo scheme run in conjunction with seed company Syngenta.

Every June for the past five years part of his farm hosts a demonstration day for around 150 farmers, consultants and various other people involved in the agricultural industry.

Plots of cereal varieties and oilseed rape, along with various herbicide and fungicide treatments are all on display for observation and discussion on the day.

As for many Yorkshire farmers harvest time has become a very challenging period in recent years, as the impact of the weather continues to throw problems their way. While the start of 2010 may have been unseasonably dry, the weather has proven patchy in recent weeks – just in time for harvest season.

During my visit Mr Kay had been forced to take yet another enforced break from harvesting as the weather began to cloud up.

And while the weather may not be on the same level as the deluges seen in recent years during harvest time, the stop-start nature of the rain has made for very frustrating conditions for Mr Kay and all arable farmers.

"The weather has not helped," he said. "We have just been getting out to harvest as and when we can. We just cannot believe that for three years we have had this situation with the harvest – it is now three growing seasons where we have not had a straight run at it.

"At the moment we are looking at a situation where we get a couple of days straight and it looks as if it is starting to come right, and then it rains again. It is incredibly frustrating, fortunately we have very good grain dryers."

Mr Kay's barley goes chiefly to local mills in Northallerton and Sherburn.