Cereals 2011 Event
by Baron Halpenny, LincsMag Editor.
Date: 18 June 2011
The Cereals event (the leading technical event for the arable industry) returned to Lincolnshire this year as the event site was at The Old Rocket Site, Boothby Heath, just south of Lincoln.
With 64 hectares of stands, live demonstrations and more than 450 leading suppliers, Cereals 2011, held on the 15 – 16 June, proved to be very popular with the farmers and growers with visitors just topping 26,900.
Though Cereals 2011 is specifically a trade event, there were members of the general public as well as numerous international visitors, who were all eager to see the machines and advancement of farming technology that is in so many ways an important part of our lives.
Food, Food, Glorious Food
Cereals 2011 was certainly not short of food and people busy cooking throughout the day, as the smell (especially early in the morning with the fry ups) of the many savoury delights got the taste buds watering.
Throughout the Cereals 2011 event, there was always something to whet the appetite.
Not a good time to be on a diet ... damn!
Financial Waters
HSBC Agriculture, which provides a specialist service to agriculture and agribusiness customers throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland, was the Principal Sponsor of the Cereals 2011 Event and certainly stamped its presence firmly throughout, especially at the entrances.
The current issues of water and the concerns of farmers and growers, especially in Lincolnshire, on the financial impact on the harvest prospects and how farmers would manage anticipated short-term cash flow were discussed widely throughout Cereals 2011, and the CLA made a strong stand for not just their members, but the countryside as a whole on these issues.
Responding to the water shortage, Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said further restrictions could be imposed on water abstraction in the next few weeks, affecting growers with potatoes and other high-value crops.
The Government’s water White Paper, due to be published later this year, would examine ways of easing the pressure on water supplies, including tradable abstraction licences, increased winter storage and more effective irrigation techniques.
March of the Machines
The wide range of machines at Cereals 2011 was very impressive and for those looking to cover more acres more efficiently they were spoiled for choice with hundreds of stands offering the latest equipment.
JCB launched two flagship Fastrac 8000 tractor models, while Fendt’s compact but powerful 700 range made its debut.
Both Simba Great Plains’ new Centurion drill, available in 4m or 6m widths and Mzuri’s Pro-Til strip tillage drill, available in 3m or 4m versions, attracted plenty of interest, as did Kuhn’s new CSC 6m 6000 power harrow/drill combination.
New combines included Deutz-Fahr’s five-straw walker 222hp 6040 and New Holland’s CX5000 and CX6000 range of conventional combines aimed at farms of 200 to 600ha.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
A little bit of a damper (the current drought put to one side), was that the NFU unveiled the results of a survey of growers in the east of England on the opening morning of Cereals 2011, that showed English wheat yields were likely to fall 14% below the five-year average this harvest to average 6.5t/ha, pulling national output down by about 2m tonnes.
The Arable Conference debated the effects of CAP reform and market volatility, as well as the application of new technology on farms, where a leaner and greener CAP will be more focussed on sustainable agriculture.
New research plans
Visitors had the chance to find out about the HGCA’s new research plans for the next three years, identifying where levy-payers’ money would be best spent.
Eight key topics were identified:
- crop nutrition management;
- pesticide performance;
- soil management;
- food and feed quality and safety;
- integrated crop management;
- pest, disease and weed resistance and control;
- climate change;
- adding more value to the Recommended Lists.
Hundreds of Cereal, Oilseed and Root Crop Varieties
Hundreds of cereal, oilseed and root crop varieties were on show with the latest additions to the various Recommended Lists drawing the crowds.
More crop plots helped to draw the eye and demonstrate the latest crop management innovations and science including the latest blackgrass weed control techniques and novel SDHI fungicides.
It was good to see Lincolnshire Companies with a good strong presence such as Elsoms, the seed specialists, who are based at Spalding in Lincolnshire, who had some fine displays on show.
Elsoms innovation in sugar beet varieties, including developments in nematode and rhizomania control from both the Strube and SESvanderHave research programmes were impressive.
New Milling Opportunity For Growers
A new milling opportunity for growers was unveiled at a Breadmaking Variety Breakfast Briefing co-hosted by Openfield, Warburtons and Limagrain at Cereals 2011, for those who are looking to make the most from their milling crops next season.
Interested Growers can look at the possibility to grow two new bread making varieties ... the Crusoe and Edgar ... for well know family bakers, Warburtons, exclusively on contract through Openfield.
Both varieties from Limagrain UK, have demonstrated that their quality milling characteristics meet the high quality specifications required by Warburtons, and have been accepted onto the Warburtons list a year before recommendation.
New Nutrient Tool
At Cereals 2011, K+S UK & Eire held a Crop Nutrition briefing to show how the early drought has brought crop nutrition into focus, but also how many have yet to catch up with revised DEFRA RB209 recommendations.
This briefing put this and the potash market in perspective and also launched a very handy new nutrient tool, which Farmers and Growers will find useful.
K+S UK & Eire's display was a very good one (easily identified by their large red Kali bull) and I particularly liked their display of plants showing the effects of nutrient deficiency to make Farmers and Growers aware of what to look for so as to quickly take the correct measures to rectify.
Agronomy As A Career
The Association of Independent Crop Consultants announced a new training programme to encourage more graduates to take up agronomy as a career. In collaboration with Syngenta and PGRO, AICC will use training company Management Development Services to attract more young people into the industry from October this year.
Spraying
More than 50 of the latest self-propelled, mounted and trailed sprayers were demonstrated in the Syngenta Sprays & Sprayers Arena, including Kellands’ giant six-wheel drive, 9000-litre capacity Multidrive SixTrac S9000 and Vicon’s Ixtrack high-tech trailed sprayer range with capacities up to 5000 litres supplying boom widths to 45m.
Cereals, An Important Event For Farmers and Growers
As Allan Wilkinson, head of agriculture at HSBC Bank, accurately put it about the strengths of such an event as Cereals 2011 for farmers and growers, it is a great event for “knowledge transfer, networking and assessment of new techniques.”
Indeed, from what I witnessed over the two days there was plenty for Farmers and Growers, both young and old to see and learn about, and besides if nothing else, it was certainly an entertaining and fun day out.
Lincolnshire Ways
