Farmer to push ahead with soya experiment

A PIONEERING attempt to grow soya in Yorkshire did not work out for Russell Toothill this year. But he is going to try again – and he may have company next time.

Mr Toothill, NFU stalwart and South Yorkshire farmer, joined an experiment aimed at pushing the northern boundary of potential soya territory.

His crop failed, but he knows why. And a Lincolnshire end of the experiment had surprisingly good results.

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Standard soya beans are indigestible raw but heating and crushing them produces a useful oil and a meal which makes a good animal feed. English farmers used to grow some but there was a price disincentive against oilseeds under the European subsidy system until 2006 and countries with better growing conditions drove down the price to a level it was not worth competing for. Three years ago, the UK acreage was nil.

Now, all crops are equally unsubsidised. Worldwide, the competition for soy meal from indoor livestock operations has doubled the price for the beans, from 170 a tonne at the farm gate to 340. And growers are getting back into the business.

New varieties have made a tonne an acre attainable, even in this country and using non-GM strains, says David McNaughton, MD of a seed supplier and crop dealer called Soya UK.

He sees the price going over 400 by the end of the year and the premium for a GM-free guarantee could add 30.

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He is working flat out to meet demand for new soya fields but they are mainly in the south. However, it used to be the same with maize. And Lincolnshire entrepreneurs Jim Sheriff and Tim Husson, who grow maize under film as contractors in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, asked if their system might work with soya.

Mr McNaughton said this week: "The results were beyond my wildest dreams.

"The plastic costs in the region of 100 an acre. But that includes laying it with a machine which will drill at the same time, so you save 20 an acre on drilling You get better plant establishment, so you can save maybe 15 an acre on seed. You also get maybe a quarter-tonne extra in yield, so you have covered your costs. Plastic might be worthwhile anywhere, quite apart from opening new possibilities up your way."

He added that an acre of soya would fix 200 tonnes of free nitrogen and a third of that would be left in the straw.

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Mr Sheriff and Mr Russon, who work together in the maize business as Seed2Feed, planted on Mr Russon's land at Burton, on the northern edge of Lincoln, and persuaded Mr Toothill to try at Auckley, near Doncaster. Drilling was on April 21 and harvesting on September 20.

Mr Toothill said: "Mine failed because we had a dust blow which pushed the plastic down onto the crop and then we got a late frost. But I will be trying again next year."

He mentioned that the sheeting in question is made from starch and designed to crumble as the crop grows.

The Lincolnshire crop was 1.2 tonnes an acre and Mr Sheriff said this week: "I know we can do a lot better."

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He is looking into a forage variety of soya which can be used whole in silage. He certainly plans to plant another crop next year. He said: "It's early days, but I don't mind talking to any farmer who is interested in working with us and isn't going to sue if it all goes wrong."

Soya UK: 02380 696922 or [email protected]/

Jim Sheriff – 07887 535332 or [email protected]/