Farmers are being urged to take the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to displace imported soya and grow bean crops packed with environmental and agronomic benefits — and South West advocates agree.

The Nitrogen Efficient Plants for Climate Smart Arable Cropping Systems (NCS) project aims to instigate a reduction of 1.5Mt COe per annum.

NCS is made up of a consortium of UK companies, research institutes and farmer networks, led by the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO), which are working together to bring about the reduction calculated as 54 per cent of the maximum potential for UK agriculture.

To do this, the four-year £5.9million research project will work to increase pulse cropping in arable rotations to 20 per cent across the UK (currently five per cent) and develop and test new feed rations.

This will help livestock farmers to substitute up to 50 per cent of imported soya meal used in feed with more climate-friendly home-grown pulses and legumes.

“Everyone knows that pulses and legumes have considerable benefits for UK farming systems,” says PGRO Chief Executive Roger Vickers, who leads the NCS consortium.

“But these have never been truly and accurately measured. So their value has been sorely underplayed and their potential to address the climate crisis has gone unrecognised.

“Together we can change that. We now have the science, the tools and the know-how among UK farmers, not only to tap into that potential, but to develop it further. 

“Bringing that talent together is what lies at the heart of NCS — never been done before, and there’s never been a project on this scale with this much ambition.”

Independent expert in the science of soil management and crop production Stephen Harrison, of South West Agronomy, says legumes are already increasing in acreage in the South West on both arable and mixed livestock farms.

He says: “On arable farms they’re increasing partly because of problems with other break crops such as oilseed rape, while livestock producers appreciate their nitrogen-fixing benefits and the protein they can supply to feed their stock.”

If this protein displaces imported soya, it can offer substantial environmental as well as financial benefits.

Spring beans are said to be a fairly reliable option in the South West, but can be prone to the vagaries of the weather. This leaves some producers favouring a winter-sown crop which can be more consistent.

A Somerset producer who has grown beans for his beef cattle for many years says this year’s spring-sown crop is suffering in the current dry conditions, so he will increase his acreage of winter beans sown this autumn.  

Harvest of spring or winter beans can either be as a wholecrop forage in late summer but can also be combine-harvested and stored in a variety of ways.

Langport-based Kelvin Cave Ltd is a specialist in feed and forage preservation and say there are several options for storing and feeding combined beans. 

“If the moisture content of combined beans reaches 14-15 per cent they can be stored dry,” says the company’s technical director, Michael Carpenter. 

“But in UK weather conditions, this isn’t always possible so there are other options to consider for a higher moisture crop.”

One option is to use non-corrosive Propcorn NC at moisture contents of up to 28 per cent.

But beans can also be rolled and crimped when harvested at over 30 per cent moisture, using a suitable chemical preservative such as CrimpSafe 300. This means storing them in an airtight clamp, similar to one used for silage, or even in a plastic tube.

“This opens the way for livestock producers with few storage options to make a cheap and easy airtight store for crimped beans on their farm, which can even be created with make-shift panels or large bales as long as it’s effectively sheeted and weighted,” he says.

The benefits of an earlier harvest of higher moisture beans include fewer harvest losses, less disease risk, and providing an earlier start to autumn cultivations.

Mr Harrison adds that late-established winter beans can be sown cheaply by direct drilling or conventional cultivations when the soil-acting herbicide, propyzamide, can also be used in blackgrass control.

 

How to find out more

In total, the ambitious project, which will be funded by Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and delivered by Innovate UK, will involve 200 farms and 17 industry partners.

Farmers interested in taking part are invited to attend a webinar on Thursday, June 15 which will take place from 2-3.30pm to provide more information and set out what is on offer for farmers who wish to take part.

Sign up to the webinar here.

 

The first stage of the project will give 200 UK farmers direct support to establish their business’ carbon baseline, using the Farm Carbon Toolkit. The GHG emissions from these farms will then be tracked throughout the project and will form a fundamental part of the dataset.

The leading innovators among them, the Pulse Pioneers, will then be paid to work with scientists to co-design crop and feeding trials to carry out on their farms.

Keen to expand the knowledge exchange beyond this core group of farmers, the project is also launching the PulsePEP (Performance Enhancing Platform), led by ADAS. This will be a hub for the farmer-led community striving to achieve the best from pulse crops and reduce carbon emissions, as well as a place for discussion on best-practice pulse cropping.

“This will be the defining project of our time,” believes Mr Vickers. “It’s not just the chance for UK agriculture to make a seismic shift towards net zero, but it will also deliver a prosperous and resilient way of farming for communities worldwide.

“We want farmers to join us and be part of this exciting journey of discovery. You will shape it. Your knowledge and experience will enrich the science we’re bringing together. You will inspire others and accelerate the pace of change. And together we’ll achieve a farming future that is richly rewarding and immensely gratifying.”

More information about the project can be found at ncsproject.co.uk.