Balls' Nuffield Trip: Catch-up with Will

We travelled to Haverfordwest Wales to catch up with Will Scale another Nuffield scholar. Will grows a number of crops including winter wheats and other winter cereals with potatoes as a main stay. He sows his crops using no-till methods. He has been utilizing these methods for a while and is seeing the benefits of this system.

A No-Till Crop with Good Emergence

One of the hardest aspects to overcome with no-till is the fact of the sprayed out seedbed and the new crop comes up and does not look as good as a traditionally sown crops. The photo above shows a crop with excellent emergence, but is partly hidden by the stubble.

Will is looking for options to complement his current farming program to allow for more profitability by 2013 when the current Common Agricultural Policy is reviewed. So far all of the farmers we have talked to consider subsidies/grants or whatever the name, find them wrong but are not willing to give them back.

Some Nice Crops Overlooking Haverfordwest.

One of Will's and others farmer's problem weeds is Black Grass. It is resistant to a number chemicals already. The traditional cultivation systems have still got the same problems. A number of chemical options open to us in Australia are not available in the UK. These include Grammoxone, Simmazine and Sprayseed.
There is no longer a double knock option to help control Black Grass and other weeds.

When we left Will In St David we had a Captain Cook around St David's Cathedral. It is the smallest city in UK. (A city in UK must have a Cathedral).