Providing a window into the ‘soil’ – Farmers Guide
"It all began with wanting to get a handle on our soil variability" is how Philip Meadley explains his journey deep down into the soils of his Yorkshire arable farm...
North Frodingham Farm is just outside Driffield, and soils range from medium sandy to clay loam, but with some increasing clay content in places. With such variation, Mr Meadley was interested in introducing variable rate applications to help improve and even out establishment across the farm, commenting: “We have hosted drill demo trials on the farm with Hutchinsons and asked their local agronomist Ben Jagger to come and talk to us about Omnia and TerraMap to see how we could use the system to produce the most accurate variable rate plans.”
Mr Meadley was impressed with Omnia – mostly around the accuracy of the data used to generate application maps, and also the simplicity and ease of the system, so he had 50ha of the most variable fields mapped.
TerraMap is Hutchinsons soil scanning service that provides greater definition and more accurate soil maps than any other system. It does this by mapping of all common soil properties, pH, soil texture, organic matter and CEC as well as elevation and plant available water. It also measures the levels of P, K, Mg, and percentage of clay, sand, silt and elevation as well as calcium, manganese, boron, copper, molybdenum, iron, zinc, sulphur, plant-available water and soil organic carbon.
“This offers a unique understanding of how and why soil performs and behaves the way it does and highlights in-field variations with clear digital maps. Analysing the data through Omnia allows tailored management plans and variable application maps to be created quickly and easily,” says Mr Jagger. “If you’ve got variable soils, TerraMap allows you to understand where those variations are and make some really impactful decisions,” he explains. “That may include variable rate nutrition, or for applying lime for pH adjustment, or to correct soil structural issues through targeted use of something like gypsum.
“We also know that pH variations are commonly detected by TerraMap scanning, and results can improve the understanding of pH and calcium content, so this is the direction we discussed with Mr Meadley.
“The results were interesting; organic matter levels were better than expected, as were P and K levels so we have been able to give those fields a P and K holiday. We found one field low in magnesium which we will address in the subsequent crop.
“We have made considerable savings applying variable rate lime rather than going on with a blanket application, and it also means that we are not pushing neutral pH areas into alkaline conditions.
“By dove tailing the data from the TerraMapping into our SFI application, we have also saved ourselves considerable time and money in this way – so we like to think the TerraMapping has paid for itself! We have used the data in Omnia to produce reports for Red Tractor audits, which has also been very straightforward and useful.”
A deeper insight
Mr Meadley explains: “Whilst TerraMap gave us an overall view of the soil it made us realise we wanted to know more as we introduced more agroecological farming practices, so alongside the TerraMapping we also had a Hutchinsons Healthy Soils assessment done.”
Hutchinsons soils expert Dick Neale believes that every grower should have some form of soils assessment to know what is going on beneath their feet. “It’s this that really tells you why and how the soil is doing what its doing. It’s effectively the starting point for more effective decision-making around cultivation strategy, organic matter management, liming, choice of cover crop species mix or even just the amount and type of fertiliser to apply.
“Generally the soils at North Frodingham were in pretty good order. Where they were high in sand content, and therefore unstable, we addressed this using cover crops with roots that would keep the soil open.
“We trialled various mixes and found that the farm just didn’t like growing vetch or crimson clover, but MaxiRooter which contains a mix designed to break up tight soils or bust through shallow compaction, using species with larger root systems, performed well.
“The aim with MaxiRooter (more so than with the other mixes) is to save a cultivation pass. Using ‘roots not iron’ to repair damage and create a friable soil for establishment of the following crop.
“It contains eight species including linseed which has a very fibrous root mass which spreads well throughout the upper soil layer. This is used in combination with higher levels of the deeper rooting brassica species, particularly daikon radish (also known as tillage radish),” Mr Neale says. “So, rather than fight nature, we are using the cover crop, to break up the soil and introduce more legumes across the farm, for the nitrogen benefits but without being highly reliant on the legume content for effective cover.”
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