As a cereal crop, rye proves hard to beat

in 1971, as a student, I had the privilege of being taken on a tour of the sugar beet factory in Cupar.

This was a poignant moment as this was the last crop of beet to be processed before British Sugar closed the factory. All that remains today is the giant concrete silo that dominates the Cupar skyline.

The previous owner of Balcormo Farm, Arncroach, where I currently farm, was Jack Howie. Jack was so passionate about growing sugar beet that when the factory closed he sold up and bought a farm at Kelfield in North Yorkshire to enable him to continue to grow superb crops of beet.

With new anaerobic digestion (AD) plants opening up in Fife, Perth and Angus, beet is once again being grown in Courier Country but this time as a feed stock for AD.

Growing alongside beet is hybrid rye, a brand new crop to Scotland and a close cousin to the rye that farmers in the south of England harvest as a milling crop for rye bread.

Just as no one could have predicted beet retuning to Fife, who could have anticipated a brand new crop? And my goodness what a humdinger of a crop it is!

I am amazed at the potential of rye which has the ability to knock all other cereal crops into a cocked hat.

Rye ticks every box – provided, of course, you get the agronomy bang on, which is not at all straightforward. But get the crop husbandry right and it is a phenomenal crop.

Sow in early September and forage harvest in mid-July at 33% moisture. Harvesting crops in the long summer days of July is the perfect time for harvesting and a pure joy.

We host the Stenton I-Farm hybrid rye trials and harvest every plot at the correct growth stage for forage harvesting, and in this respect we are unique in Scotland.

Contract growers of commercial crops are paid £25 per tonne off the field with no harvesting costs.

On good soils with the best agronomy, we would target a yield of 23 tonnes/acre returning £575. Even if we take a 22-tonne crop, how does this compare to a crop of wheat or spring malting barley?

A farmer would need to sell 4.5 tonnes per acre of wheat or be paid £200/tonne for malting barley to be as well-off.

The other good thing about rye is that it can be grown at least four years in a row if not on a continuous basis.

With fields harvested in July, this leaves plenty time to inject the fields with digestate, a by-product of the AD process.

Digestate is a fantastic fertiliser containing up to 80% available nutrients and essential trace elements.

I will not hold my breath, but as more AD plants come on stream, one can but hope greedy maltsters will at long last pay farmers a fair price.

Around £200/tonne would be a good start.

“Rye ticks every box – provided you get the agronomy bang on

Chopping rye near Coupar Angus. Hybrid rye is a new crop to Scotland and has great potential.