With five years of Hutchinsons’ Helix project under his belt, Yorkshire farmer Nick Wilson says he’s used the opportunity to take his business to the next level.

Based in the Vale of York with 260ha across three varied units, the main site, Hundayfield Farm, plays host to Helix. Soils here are mostly free-draining sandy loams and the farm’s rotation involves winter wheat, spring barley, grassland, fodder beet, spring wheat and oilseed rape, with a small area rented out for potato production.

Nick says his involvement with Helix started during a conversation with agronomist Sam Hugill, where they discussed the farm hosting trials for Hutchinsons. With Nick being willing to engage with new technologies as well as the wider industry, he proved an ideal candidate.

“The main incentive was being able to take our farming a step further – using technology and trial work to gain a greater understanding so we could calibrate our actions and be involved at a deeper level,” explains Nick.

“Access to this depth of insight has been excellent and we’ve learnt so much. Ultimately, it validates what we’re doing and means we can compare with others in the Helix project.”

The first trial the farm undertook investigated cover crop establishment using different drill set ups, but that’s been the tip of the iceberg, he says. Since then, Nick has been involved with an NUE experiment to evaluate alternative sources of nitrogen, looked at varietal blends and hybrid wheat options, rolled out TerraMap and each guise of the Omnia farm management software, and is now part of the Messium pilot (see main story).

According to Sam, the magic has been Nick’s willingness to engage with innovative solutions and approaches. “For example, Nick was already undertaking tissue and soil testing, but we’ve been able to work together to take that up a gear.

“He’s certainly in the early adopter category, and it’s even better that he wants to share the farm’s learnings for the greater good of the industry,” comments Sam.

Nick adds that one of the highlights so far has been contributing to Omnia’s development. “We’ve grown with it as it’s evolved and now it’s a fully-encompassed tool for farm management. It’s proven hugely helpful as a way to track responses to the actions we’re undertaking on the farm; monitoring and recording data so we can benchmark and compare.”

Whether it’s yield mapping, variable rate seed or SAP testing, each year introduces new techniques and approaches to crop management, highlights Nick. “The main driver is to improve the farm, but equally it’s about contributing to the wider industry to help propel it forward.”

Sam agrees: “We want these types of farms who are proactive and industry leaders. Then it’s a case of working together, introducing new ideas and sharing the resulting narrative,” he concludes.

This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. For more articles like this, subscribe here.

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