The Food Vision Tillage Group is currently engaged in producing a “provisional” report by the end of next month and will then deliver its final report which will outline a suite of recommendations developed by its members by October it is understood.
It is expected that this timetable should provide the government with an opportunity to include specific support and tax change measures, targeted at the tillage sector, in Budget 2024.
However Agriland is aware that there are many tillage farmers who have voiced concerns that the Food Vision Tillage Group process could turn into “nothing but a talking shop”.
Farmers have said they to see “clear evidence” of the work undertaken by the body made public in the short-term and “an effective response” delivered by government on receipt of the reports.
The primary role of the Food Vision Tillage Group is to address the climate change targets that have been put in place for the crops sector.
These include:
- The expansion of the tillage industry’s footprint to 400,000ha by 2030;
- A greater focus on the production of high value crops for use in the human food chain;
- The enhanced production of protein crops;
- The development of the organic tillage sector;
- The identification of actions that can be taken to reduce the carbon footprint of the tillage sector as a whole.
Tillage operation
There is pressure now being placed on the government from farm organisations who want to see fundamental tax changes and other incentives to allow tillage farmers to lease land on a competitive basis.
Meanwhile there is an ongoing debate about how to calculate the carbon footprint of a tillage operation.
The UK-based Agrii consultancy has called for the full carbon sequestration potential of crops to be included within the carbon calculations carried out within all tillage enterprises.
In order to make this happen a Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) figure would need to be included in the calculation process.
Research has confirmed that NUE is a strong indicator of both yield potential and the overall efficiency levels generated by cereal crops.
Currently, the average NUE index achieved on an international basis comes in at around 52%. However, research has also confirmed that it is possible to push this figure up to 90% under UK and Irish growing conditions.
The Agrii team calculate NUE values by including a grain analysis of the final crop and the use of nitrogen probes that are placed in the soil throughout the growing season.
Research and follow-up field trials have also confirmed that grain sampling and subsequent analysis at harvest provide an extremely accurate measure of true nutrient offtakes throughout an entire growing season.