Stugdale Farm
Autosteer
proving the
way forward
at Flaxton
Chris Berry talks with Jonathan
Rycroft at Stugdale Farm
» » ‘YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO
go back to being without it.’
These are the words one farmer
uses to describe becoming a GPS
precision farming devotee.
Jonathan Rycroft farms with his
father, John at the now 155-acre
Stugdale Farm, Flaxton that was
bought by John’s father Frank
in 1942. Frank tenanted the first
three years having moved from
a tenanted farm in the villag e.
Stugdale originally ran to 106
acres.
Jonathan also has share
farming and renting agreements
across four other farms taking the
overall acreage to 1250 acres.
Agricultural contracting sees
drilling, combining and other
work over 2000 acres.
‘We’re growing winter wheat,
winter barley, oilseed rape,
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spring and winter beans as
well grassland for hay grasses
making hay and haylage for the
equine market,” he says. “Our
wheats this harvest were Skyfall
and JB Diego across 600 acres.
They are reliable barn filling
varieties. We operate across a
varied land mix of medium loam,
very strong and very tough soils
and normally average around
3.5 to 4 tonnes per acre. Our
winter barley variety this year
was Cassia across 100 acres
with 108 acres of oilseed rape
and 130 acres of beans.’
Jonathan had been advised of
the benefits of precision farming
for several years before taking
the plunge.
‘I was sceptical about
precision farming but David
Bradley of Russells was dead