We’re at an exciting stage of our development and we have some big plans. What’s certain is our working partnership with SoilEssentials will be a vital part of that expansion.
Location: Angus
Crops grown: Spring barley, winter barley, winter wheat, spring oats, winter oats and oil seed rape
Land managed: 2800 acres
James Hopkinson, Owner
Times they are a changing, never more so than in the farming business. For many farmers reducing their fixed costs are essential if they’re to survive in today’s uncertain markets. For James Hopkinson of Arable Ventures that realisation came two years ago when his own operation, Lindertis Farms joined forces with Walker-Munro Farms to pool contracting services. James explains, “Our aim was to offer the whole package from comprehensive farm management through to grain marketing and reduce our fixed costs by spreading our machinery over a larger area.” So far so good, but the management team at Arable Ventures were keen to make savings in other areas. After attending a few of SoilEssentials’ events the precision agriculture seed was well and truly planted in their mind.
“We farm 2800 acres of winter wheat, winter barley, oil seed rape, spring barley and winter and spring oats. We felt that using blanket rates of lime application over whole fields with variation in soil types meant wastage.”
For Arable Ventures one of the best products they’ve invested in is the Trimble guidance system. They say this has given them very accurate boundaries allowing them to make more realistic calculations – even a 1% drift over the acreage can soon add up. A recent addition to this is the variable rate seed application running with the SoilEssentials correction service, EssentialsNet. James has also ordered a top of the range Trimble TMX-2050 guidance display for their new tractor for variable P & K and plans to add the Trimble Autopilot automated steering system in the near future.
James says, “Our relationship with SoilEssentials is ever evolving and as the technology develops Arable Ventures wants to keep pace with that. What makes this rate of progress comfortable for us to deal with is the commitment of SoilEssentials. With them it’s not just one size fits all. It’s the individual solution-based service that’s the big draw for me.”
Arable Ventures has no plans to sit on their laurels. James already has plans to integrate Trimble Connected Farm into the business next year. “To be able to collect data from different devices and access it from anywhere and have the ability to share it accordingly will be a huge leap forward for the business.”
James believes yield maps are “king” and will be continuing to use SoilEssentials expertise to interpret the information. And the innovation doesn’t stop there as James has aspirations for farming with controlled traffic farming systems.
