Apley farming news – crop trials

Apley farming – crop trials

Riding is a great way to really get to know your local countryside. I know I’m very lucky that that for me means the Apley Estate. I really get to see close up what’s going on in each field & watch how it grows every month. Last weekend, when I rode one of our daughters’ ponies, I cantered past Mike who was spraying the wheat with a herbicide & fungicide mix. I was going too fast to take a photo, but a little further on, I stopped in front of these sticks (quite hard to see I know – it was getting late) which are marking out some trial plots.

Apley hosts them for a research company that does the efficacy & safety data work for chemical companies which is required to get a registration for a new pesticide product. Sometimes the products are based on new chemistry, but usually they are based on existing chemistry that is being formulated in a different way. Each new product has to go through a very rigorous testing regime before it can get approval for use. It costs approx £8 -10 million to develop & register a completely new product. At least we get a small fee for hosting the trials !

This week on the Apley Home Farms, Adrian Joynt, Apley Farm Manager, said he & his team are cleaning out sheds so that the muck can be spread on the ground which will be planted with Fodder Beet. They’re also fertilising cereals & spraying them with a fungicide to protect the yield building leaves from disease. Plus doing some fencing repairs – which is always an ongoing task.