How We Add Value
Drill options
Blanchard Farms operates a modern and well-maintained fleet of high-quality machinery. We use direct drilling and minimal tillage wherever possible. All drills operate with RTK accuracy to 2.5cm. We also have a wide range of drill options for varying soil types, soil conditions and crops to give peace of mind to clients:
- Horsch Avatar for direct into stubbles, cover crops or min-till drilling.
- Tined drill for wet conditions (direct, min-tilled or ploughed land).
- 8 row precision maize drill.
- Roller mounted seeder for grass seeds, small seeds and cover crops.
- Strip seeding behind subsoiler leg (for cover crops or OSR drilling).
- Power harrow drill for ploughed land.
Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF)
Our whole machinery fleet is built around precision and Controlled traffic farming (CTF) practices. CTF minimises the impact on soil structure and damage to the land. This is achieved by running all the machinery on the same tramlines, reducing the compaction and damage to the soil which ultimately leads to reduced cultivations, healthier soil and better yields.
We have achieved this by operating a fleet of machines that are 5m, 10m and 30m wide. This means our machines only run on circa 15% of the soil.
CTF has helped us improve our soil quality on all land types, allowed us reduce cultivations and therefore carbon emissions whilst increasing soil organic matter. Year on year we are slowly seeing improvements to drought stress and water filtration rates.
Precision Farming
By using the very latest GPS technology our applications can be more accurate. Our tractors, sprayer and combine all receive a GPS signal that allows 2cm- 4cm pass to pass repeatability.
Using this signal strength our precision drill and sprayer can operate using section control, reducing inputs by 3-5% resulting in less pollution. We are also able to use this to implement more targeted and efficient approach to increase soil potential and therefore yield.
Yield and Nutrient Mapping
Yield and nutrient mapping helps us quickly detect weed, nutrient deficiency, drainage and soil compaction issues. Part of our long-term soil health strategy, we're able to implement a more targeted, efficient approach to increase soil potential and help areas that require more attention.
By gathering important data, we can make more informed decisions and review performance over time, adjusting as we need.
John Deere Operations Centre
In partnering with John Deere all ofour machinery fleet collects live data and feeds it back to the Operations Centre. The benefit of this platform is that it’s easy to share and review yield maps, nutrient maps and variable rate seed maps with the farm management team and landowner. PDF reports can be made seamlessly and circulated.
Cultural Weed Control
We have invested recently in a 10m camera guided hoe with ‘green on green’ camera technology. This is designed to travel between the planted rows of wheat and cut weeds, particularly grass weeds, off from their roots. This operation we see provides a valuable tool in our armoury in the fight with black grass. Cultural weed control has the potential to save pesticide costs. In trials inter roe hoeing has controlled blackgrass between 40% and 80% depending on the year.
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
Our equipment allows us to qualify for the following SFI options-
Precision Farming (PRF 1)-£27/ ha
No Till (SOH 1)- £73/ ha
Companion Crop (CIPM 3)- £55
Generating £155/ ha additional income for the farmer.
De-risked crop marketing
To increase circularity and self-sufficiency in Blanchard Farm’s own mixed farming system, we run our own feed mill for the livestock which intern provides organic matter and nutrients to return to the soil. Therefore, we can provide a local market for all feed cereals grown. In this scenario we would suggest using published market prices to determine price. By doing this it saves the landowner haulage costs, merchant costs and claim costs thereby increasing the net margin. If needs be these transactions can be done via a merchant or agent.
Grazing in arable systems
We have ability to arrange and manage grazing of cover crops and cereal crops if necessary, using preferred and trusted grazing partners. We use cover crops and import organic matter from our own livestock to improve soil quality.
Health and Safety covered
Blanchard Farms is committed to providing a safe working environment for its staff, contractors, visitors and members of the public. We continually invest to both ensure that our health and safety procedures are reviewed and updated regularly, and that our systems are not just fit for purpose but optimised for a modern agricultural business.
Ceres Rural provide Blanchard Farms with both remote and onsite health and safety consultancy and audit. Ceres also ensure that we have all the relevant risk assessments and COSH assessments for the work we undertake.
We are installing the Merit Advantage platform to ensure all our policies, risk assessments and COSH assessments are available to all staff and contractors 24/7 via their mobile devices. Additionally, we are utilising Merrit AgCheck to record and monitor safety checks and maintenance of all our vehicles, machinery and buildings