Spring oats offer good opportunity at £180/tonne

Historically oats have suffered in the shadow of wheat and barley, this has changed however as the market is expanding for human consumption and to some degree as a high energy animal feed – and the difficulties with winter sowings has further improved the opportunities from spring oats.

Emma Martin, independent agronomist with Crop Advisors based in Hampshire, works with a grower who has already benefitted from growing spring oats under contract, having done so now for three years: “Last harvest the spring oats yielded around 2.53t/acre (6.24t/ha) and were selling in the region of £200/tonne which is a pretty respectable gross margin considering the inputs required are minimal.”

“This spring’s crops are looking great as they went into good soil conditions and germinated evenly, so the potential is there for them to do well.”

“However, bushel weight can be difficult to achieve in a dry year – you really need to be looking at achieving 50kgs.”

“Agronomically, spring oats are easier to manage than winter oats,” notes Emma.

“Grass control, particularly for black-grass, is easier as you can use a stale seed bad over the winter. Herbicide options for grass weed control are limited for spring oats; there is an EAMU for diflufenican pre-emergence which does give limited control. With broad leaved weeds, there is a wider choice, but be sure to wait until all the weeds are emerged before spraying.”

“The main disease issues with spring oats are mildew and crown rust, most varieties are very susceptible to mildew and there is not a rating within the NIAB recommended list for crown rust.”

“Depending on the season you can get away with one fungicide spray at flag leaf or ear emergence. Mantra is an excellent option as the combination of the three actives contribute to give a clean, quality crop. The strobilurin, kresoxim-methyl, assists with continued green leaf retention which helps with grain quality, the fenpropimorph helps to knock out any mildew or rust, and the epoxiconazole offers continued rust control through to harvest.”

“Although shorter, stiffer straws make modern varieties less prone to lodging it is important to use a good PGR such as chlormequat before the 3rd node is detectable and you could also look at adding Capalo to this which offers curative and protectant activity on crown rust and mildew.”

“An additional benefit from spring oats is that you don’t have the issue of straw incorporation that you have with winter oats. With a move away from ploughing to non -inversion tillage, straw can be a problem causing a thick layer in the top few inches of the soil profile.”