We need to get our costs down says Nuffield Scholar

In last weeks (3rd Feb) Farmers Weekly, Caroline Stocks reported on Julian Hughes' talk at the annual Nuffield Ireland conference.

Mr. Hughes, a 2010 Nuffield Ireland Scholar, pointed out that 'In Argentina, costs are aggressively stripped out of the business - they don't have to pay to dry, store and haul grain. Thier costs are 19eur/t (£16/t) whereas ours are 41eur/t (£34/t). Mr. Hughes noted that GM precision farming, min-till systems and hydrogen power all needed to be embraced by farmers if they were to remain viable and be able to catch up with large scale producers over seas.

Mr. Hughes also noted that focus in Europe had been on short term environmental protection rather than investing in technology that could improve poduction levels and reduce the impact on the land.

Mr. John Landers a Brazilian No-Till consultant, spoke to the British No-Till association last year explaining that in Brazil and much of the rest of South America, direct drilling has been largely adopted. He, like Mr. Hughes, noted that the cost of production is greatly reduced there due to the investment in technologies such as direct drilling, which has also had a positive effect on the environment.