Competing against a number of other up and coming agricultural industry hopefuls in a 2016 pea growing challenge, Rhys Jones, our agronomy and research development technician is relishing the challenge.
Rhys is team leader for his group, that’s representing Bishop Burton College, so he’s really got his teeth into the “acting agronomist” role, for the competition.
“I’ve always been interested in farm management, and this has been a fantastic project to be involved in,” says Rhys.
Then we attended a launch event in February and here we outlined how we wanted the peas drilled, specified seed rates, seed varieties, and treatment advice. Since then we’ve produced a spray programme and a projected gross margin for the project. The next thing is a harvest plan,” he says.
Judged on their decisions and, ultimately yield and profitability, Rhys and his team mates Harry Torn and Shane Hardgrave have found it quite an education. “There are so many things you have to pre-empt, and I’ve learned that peas are susceptible to many pests and diseases.
“The competition is run by Velcourt and Hutchinsons, and we actually direct a trialist who manages a plot at Velcourt, so we truly are acting agronomists – which is great practice,” says Rhys.
Rhys is confident the team have done their best in submitting agronomic direction. “There haven’t been any problems so far – the crop was drilled about a month ago, and it looks quite clean so fingers crossed.
“I’m not sure if we have a chance of winning, but we’ve given it our best, and we’re really enjoying the challenge,” adds Rhys.
The competition will be judged at this year’s Cereals event in Cambridge, by Keith Norman, technical director at Velcourt, Dick Neale, Hutchinsons technical manager, the PGRO’s Roger Vickers, Claire Domoney from the John Innes Centre and Robert Law, host farmer for the 2016 Cereals event.
Rhys is keen to learn more about crop management on farm, and the experience will come in handy when he’s analysing miscanthus crop performance out in the field, with Michal Mos, Terravesta’s head of science and technology.
We wish you the best of luck for the competition Rhys!