Welcome to the Morley Agricultural Foundation

News

Many will be saddened to learn of the death of two prominent figures in East Anglian farming with long associations with the former Morley Research Centre and The Morley Agricultural Foundation:

Dick Hill (1924-2008)
An innovative and pioneering farmer from Bradenham in Norfolk where he ran a successful mixed farm, became well known for his poultry breeding work and was very influential as vice-chairman of the Norfolk Agricultural Station, chairman of the Norfolk NFU and chairman of the ECF.

John Forrest (1945-2008)
A much respected farmer from Stonham Aspal in Suffolk, who demonstrated the virtues of thoroughness and practical good sense in all his arable activities. He was chairman of the Felix Cobbold Trust and was influential as a member of the Morley Research Centre and board member of The Arable Group.

OTHER NEWS

Morley Farm Update

October 2008. A change in command at the Morley Farms

Andrew Thurston steps down after 26 years at the helm. Andrew retires having seen in this year’s tricky cereal harvest and he takes with him a wealth of memories of trials and tribulations and the many satisfactions from jobs well done. In 1982 Andrew began with a team of 10 workers looking after some 200 ha (including 70 ha at Sprowston). This contrasts with the current situation where a team of three, plus an extra hand at harvest, manage 815 ha. Over the period of his management Andrew has seen the cropping change towards a larger proportion of cereals and oilseed rape (a recent introduction) but less sugar beet, while yields have increased dramatically. Sugar beet typically increasing from 45 to 70 t/ha, wheat yields up from 3 to 4 t/ha and malting barleys up from 2 to 3 t/ha.

Andrew is also justifiably proud of the manner of these achievements which has included acceptance of the farm as a LEAF Demonstration Farm in 1992, and as a LEAF Innovation Centre in 2002. The strategy of planting pro-wildlife headlands and new hedging began in 1984 and extended under the Countryside Stewardship Schemes in 1998 and 2003, has been particularly satisfying to Andrew. Among other changes on the farm he comments on the increasing use of what he describes as non-inversion cultivations, ie non-ploughing, after oilseed rape, beans and sugar beet. He also points to improvements in grain handling and storage following investment in new drying and storage facilities at the Manor Farm which has greatly helped with harvesting. Above all Andrew looks back on this time of change with much pleasure resulting from the good fortune of working with good colleagues and friendly neighbours. We thank him for his efforts and wish him well in his retirement.

David Jones, the new Farms Manager at Morley, comes into the job with a wealth of farming experience and a great enthusiasm to deal with issues by combining traditional and innovative approaches. David, who originally hails from Lancashire, is Harper Adams trained and has spent the last 6 years as a manager for Elliots, a large scale farm business spread across Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. He feels his experience equips him well to manage the Morley Agricultural Foundation farms and he looks forward to the challenges of the area, especially in relation to changes in cropping which may be necessary in the future. David brings his family with him, his wife Helen, and their three young children, and we welcome them warmly and hope they settle in to enjoy a happy life with us.

In future this part of the website will present an up to date view of any activities of special interest on the Foundation's farms at Morley and elsewhere.

New building to accommodate TAG Morley and Foundation staff
Building work has been progressing at a very satisfactory rate in connection with the new offices and meeting room. It is expected that the offices will be completed before Christmas.

Lord Townshend cuts turf for new office

RECENT TMAF FUNDED RESEARCH

At the annual winter meeting (24 January, 2008) of TMAF Advisory Council, Ron Stobart of TAG again outlined progress in two major projects being funded by the Foundation - National Agronomy Centres and New Farming Systems.

Agronomy Centres at TAG Morley
Part of the TMAF funding has been used to set up a series of field trials run by TAG Morley to provide farmers with broad strategic advice:

Early results from studies on spray application techniques showed significant benefits using angled Hawk nozzles to apply a blackgrass herbicide pre-emergence.

Preliminary results from nitrogen timing trials on winter wheat confirmed there could be improved protein levels in the grain without detriment to yield from delaying the applications in some seasons. Results from similar trials on winter oilseed rape suggested improved yields from delaying spring nitrogen. This work is continuing.

It was also reported that wheat varieties continue to be monitored for response to fungicides in order to identify those which may be cheaper to grow and those which benefit from more intensive programmes.

The use of cyproconazole on sugarbeet, where it controls a range of diseases, resulted in improved yields in small plot trials in 2007.

Further information on these trials can be found in the TAG Alliance section of the TAG website (www.thearablegroup.com).

New Farming System trials at TAG Morley
Funding, through the TMAF in conjunction with The J C Mann Trust, is being used in support of the development of new farming systems which maintain or even increase financial margins while reducing reliance on fossil fuels and reducing levels of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Work toward these goals has already begun and a series of field trials has been established looking at different cultivation techniques, fertility-building methods and cropping practices. The intention is to combine these approaches into sustainable long term rotational systems.

On the cultivation side Ron outlined encouraging results using strip tillage techniques for crop establishment.

The potential for natural nitrogen-fixing through rotational and companion cropping using legumes is being assessed in large plots.

The potential to prevent overwinter nutrient leaching by including an autumn-sown companion crop is also being assessed in large plots.

While further information on these trials can be found in the TAG Alliance section of the TAG website, this work is in its early stages and results are limited. (www.thearablegroup.com).

The meeting also heard progress reports from TMAF's sponsored post graduate studies:

Nathan Morris (Formerly Reading University and currently with TAG)

Described his work on novel strip cultivations to establish sugar beet at Morley. During a study tour to the USA Nathan identified the Yetter strip tillage implement being used for the establishment of maize as a potentially useful machine for rowcrops in UK conditions.(www.yetterco.com)

He described promising results for sugar beet and oilseed rape on a light sandy loam soil at Morley using a winged tine. In two years, 2006 and 2007, provided autumn weed and volunteer growth was adequately controlled by glyphosate, crop establishment and yields appeared to be similar to those obtained by traditional methods, at the same time there appeared to be significant savings in time and energy requirements.

There was now a need to extend trials onto other soils and consider other crops to gain more experience under UK conditions.

Jenna Stonard (Rothamsted)
Jenna described her work on the control of Phoma stem canker in oilseed rape. Some past inconsistencies in yield response to control sprays in the UK may be explained by regional differences in the relative proportions of two distinct species, Leptosphaeria maculans and Leptosphaeria biglobosa. The former type being more prevalent in central and south of England compared with the north.

This would influence criteria for the application of control measures. Attention was also drawn to the findings in France of a number of distinct races of L.maculans which exhibit different pathogenicity to different rape varieties.

Comparisons of a range of rape varieties in the UK during 2005/6 and 2006/7 showed that there is a range of genetic resistance and this is receiving further investigation. It is likely that the regional variations in the incidence and severity of this disease will have been influenced by the history of variety use as well by differences in climate.

Jenna reported that in general L.maculans released ascospores earlier in the season than L.biglobosa and this may explain why the characteristic pale leaf lesions resulting from this species are more numerous on basal leaves in the autumn than the necrotic lesions of L.biglobosa and result in more basal stem cankers.

Joanna Philpott (Cranfield University)

TMAF, in partnership with the Douglas Bamford Trust and the Chadacre Trust, is sponsoring work on ways to obtain the benefits of controlled traffic to carry out shallow cultivations without its constraints.

Joanna, who has only recently embarked on studies towards her EngD qualifications, introduced the subject of soil compaction in relation to shallow cultivations by emphasising that most of the current advice was based on the experiences of the 1970s and '80s, before the wider use of low ground-pressure tyres and rubber tracks.

This project is intended to lead to progress in the development of systems which maintain soil conditions suitable for minimum tillage and ultimately for profitable crop growth.

Highlighted other research

Take All Control
The crop science laboratories of the Norwich-based John Innes Centre have announced (21 November 2006) the discovery of an antibiotic-producing enzyme in oats that could be used in the future to protect other major cereal crops to fight off fungal diseases such as "take-all". The research was carried out at the John Innes Centre in collaboration with IGER (Aberystwyth) and IPMB (University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France). The researchers found that the antibiotic, avenacin, is produced in the roots of oats by an enzyme called Sad2 and it is hoped that the gene cluster involved may be inserted into other cereals to help them resist fungal diseases like "take-all". www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/

Arable news
Current topics can be explored through various news websites including www.edp24.co.uk/Content/FarmersMarket/