Reducing energy input into arable production

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Reducing energy input into arable production

• Jim Orson
• The Arable Group

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Northern Europe competitive with USComplete
production costs for wheat (/t)
/t
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Average wheat yields (t/ha)
Effective fungicides
Effective herbicides
Increase in N
Semi-dwarf varieties
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Energy required to produce 1 tonne of bread wheat
(conventional)
Total Energy 2.46 GJ/tonne
From a Defra Project report IS0205 by Williams
and Audsley, Cranfield University
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N fertiliser half the energy for wheat production
but 80 of GHG emissions
Source Rickeard et al., 2004
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Nitrous oxide (N20)
A very stable greenhouse gas with a life-time of
over 100 years 1 kg/ha N2O 320 kg/ha CO2
Natural processes account for about 65 of
emissions, the remainder is anthropogenically
produced The main source of the anthropogenic
emissions are the use of artificial fertilisers
(29), manure fertilisers (26), fossil fuel
combustion (19), biomass destruction
(13), nylon production (12)
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N fertiliser half the energy for wheat production
but 80 of GHG emissions
A climate unfriendly technology
A climate friendly technology
Source Rickeard et al., 2004
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Organic less energy, more nutrient polluting
and similar global warming potential per tonne
From Defra Project report IS0205 by Williams and
Audsley, Cranfield University
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Parry et al 2005
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Options for reducing bag nitrogen

• Manures/waste not enough to go round nitrate
  leaching and greenhouse gases
• Placement of nitrogen small savings
• Improved mining of soil mineral nitrogen
• crops prefer using bag nitrogen rather than soil
  mineral nitrogen the undoing of RB209
• Reducing N dose to optimise energy use rather
  than optimise margins?
• Use legumes to generate nitrogen in the crop

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Uptake of N in grain, Marr 2006
Up to 200 kg/ha, 54 of applied N in grain
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Optimising economic yield, Marr 2006
maximum yield
61 optimum
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Optimising energy output small reduction in N
dose Margin over nitrogen cost (/ha) according
to alcohol price (p/litre), Marr 2006
N cost 0.42p/kg
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New Farming Systems

• Main site at Morley
• Linked to the STAR project at Otley
• Aim to maintain or increase financial margins and
  decrease carbon footprint
• Advisory committee

J C Mann Trust
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The holy grail?Wheat with legume roots
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But is it the Holy Grail?
Matches supply with demand? And Probable heavy
leaching losses and expensive seed? Why not have
the separate plants and use climate friendly
pesticides to control crop competition and N
release and use precision farming techniques to
top up N?
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Shallow cultivations to save fuelEstablishment
costs
Source John Bailey
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Looking to the Future
Cultivations and establishment strip tillage
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The future

• Exploiting both old and new agricultural
  technologies are the key to meeting the varied
  demands of food production
• Change is in the air!