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Low biomass oilseed rape varieties such as Astrid have continued to perform well on John Barrett’s farms in East Anglia, but he is particularly pleased with the cost-effective management that growing such variety allows and the opportunities that it brings to lower the cost of production per tonne.



Farm Business Manager, John Barrett explains that the professional farming company Sentry Ltd farms 18,000 hectares on behalf of clients with the aim of delivering added value and creating profits for their farmer clients. "We want to produce good yields and gross margins for our farmers through constant attention to detail and by careful analysis of all aspects of crop management. So we are looking for crops that will yield well both physically with grain in the barn and financially on the bottom line. Winter oilseed rape, particularly the low biomass varieties such as Astrid and Alienor, have performed well on our farms and have given good gross margins. They also fit well into our rotations, providing good entry to wheat. But one of their key benefits is the opportunities to reduce inputs and operating costs, whilst maintaining output."

John explains that he has been participating in a wide-ranging benchmarking exercise across all Sentry farms where the cost of production per tonne has been an important measure of success. "The overall cost of production per tonne for my winter oilseed rape is in the order of £156/tonne. A major contributor to these costs is our operating costs of £61/tonne, including cultivations, spraying and harvesting. With low biomass rape such as Astrid there are a number of opportunities to keep these costings as tight as possible. Being lower in height, you can do all your own spraying and harvesting, without incurring additional contractor costs. For example such crops are much quicker and easier to combine, with better flow through the combine, which can lead to lower operating costs. Astrid is short, stiff strawed and doesn’t lodge, so the crop is easier to combine following desiccation. It is at harvest time where the benefits of growing a low biomass variety are most significant."

John reports that the next most important costs of production are fertiliser costs at £47.60/tonne and crop protection sprays at £40.76/tonne. "A conventional rape such as Astrid and Alienor can save seed costs as you can save your own seed, and you also know exactly how the seed has been looked after. Growing 1200 acres of oilseed rape saving my own seed has a considerable cost implication."

"Astrid also has the additional benefit of excellent disease resistance to Phoma stem canker, with a 7 HGGA rating. This may not save us money on fungicide treatment every year, but makes management of the disease much easier and gives us a wider more flexible spray window leading to better timing of sprays. In low disease pressure years, this inherent disease resistance gives us more confidence to apply lower fungicide dose rates or maybe use less costly fungicide options."

John Barrett likes the overall package offered by the conventional low biomass variety Astrid. "In particular its low biomass is a key factor when choosing our varieties. Such a variety is easier and more cost-effective to manage and can save us money, whilst still producing acceptable and good gross margins and reducing the cost of production per tonne."

Neil Groom of Grainseed adds that growers have become used to growing low biomass varieties such as Es Astrid and it is interesting to note that on the HGCA Recommended List Astrid is now defined as an early maturing variety. "All of the conventional varieties which have been Recommended since Es Astrid are significantly later to mature and will potentially clash with the harvesting of early drilled winter wheat crops, making harvest more of a juggling act."

"Another factor that has not been allowed to be totally expressed is plant height. The cold and dry springs in the last 3 years have kept crops shorter than normal. We did see substantial lodging in some varieties on some very fertile sites last year, but in general most soils were too dry to grow massively tall crops. When we first introduced Astrid a lot of growers noticed the improvement on ease of combining compared the old favourite Winner and they don’t want to go backwards to crops which are laid and difficult and expensive to harvest." says Neil.

For further comment and information on the oilseed rape variety Es Astrid or other Grainseed varieties such as Es Alienor, please contact

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