Overview
The land is made up primarily of Grade 2 stoney brash and crops are established via low disturbance, minimum tillage cultivations.
The cropping plan is based on a four-year rotation made up of two years of winter wheat, spring barley and finally a break crop of either peas or spring oats. Variety wise, Ollie grows Extase, Palladium and Skyfall, with the aim of selling into milling markets, and Laureat barley for malting.
Read more in his blog below:
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Questions & Answers
Blackgrass is our main issue. That said, while I have places where blackgrass could be better, we’re a lot better off than a lot of people. Some areas are very clean, but on the rest of the farm we do have our bad years. We see most of the issues in our second wheats.
Our main approach comes via cultural methods. We use low disturbance, minimum tillage to establish crops and then sheep come in to graze the cover crops which we find helps with the weed management too.
Chemistry-wise, we typically do six passes – desiccation, pre-emergence, spring herbicides, nutrition and then finally an ear wash.
Case Study
Image Gallery
Robbie Jamie - commercial technical manager for the South. Ollie Stobo - farm manager
Ollie Stobo - farm manager
Farm Facts
Location: Oxfordshire
Arable hectares: 174ha
Average wheat hectarage: 89ha
Soil type: Grade 2 stoney brash
Crops in rotation: Winter wheat, spring barley, peas, oats
Grass weed issue: Blackgrass and ryegrass
Top tip for tackling blackgrass
1. Our main approach comes via cultural methods. We use low disturbance, minimum tillage to establish crops