Originally designed as a simple crop trial to monitor how different establishment techniques effect blackgrass, the innovative case study has evolved into a long-term project, to show farmers how machinery, technology and expert advice can improve profits and overcome common industry issues.
Expertly managed by the FarmSight consultants George Whelan and Kris Romney at Burden Bros Agri, the project has seen a 33-hectare parcel of land on the Romney Marsh, Kent (kindly provided by Andrew Martin of Broad Stream Farming) with a history of blackgrass divided into four trial blocks. Zyatt winter wheat has been drilled at three different seed rates, 350, 400 and 450 seeds per meter square, with three different drills, a Sumo DTS, a John Deere 750A and a Väderstad Rapid.
On Thursday 27 June 2019, a group of farmers met with the FarmSight team and Agrovista’s agronomy and crop protection specialist Rob Purvis who, along with his colleague Andy Pendry, is scientifically monitoring and advising on the entire project, to see the full results of the tiller counts and blackgrass establishment rates.