The effect of field margins on the yield of sugar beet and cereal crops

Abstract

The effect of field margins on the yield of sugar beet, wheat and barley was studied on commercial farms and in a series of field experiments from 1992-1997. There was always a trend of increasing yield from the edge of the field to the centre, with a marked reduction around the 'tramlines' and the area where machinery turns. In the studies on commercial farms, headland yield loss varied widely. In sugar beet the headlands yielded 19-41% less than the centre, with a mean reduction of 26%. In cereals the range was 3-19%, with a mean loss of 7%. Headland yield reductions were generally smaller in the field experiments than those found on commercial farms. These headland effects did not move towards the centre of the field when grass margins were planted at the edge of the field; there was no significant effect on the yield of the adjacent crop. The presence of boundary trees had the greatest effect on yield: in the outer 9 m of the field, the area shaded by trees produced 4.4 t ha-1 of wheat, and the area that was not shaded 8.1 t ha-1. Turning of machinery also significantly reduced yield, while grazing by rabbits and hares surprisingly had no effect. Following the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1992, the main effect of which was to change from a price support policy to direct payments to producers, farmers in the European Union who produce more than a specified tonnage of 'eligible crops' per year, are required to fallow a given percentage of their land (currently 5%), to qualify for Arable Area Payments. Growers can elect to fallow fields on a rotational basis, or permanently. Headland set-aside is a term used to describe strips of set-aside, a minimum of 20 m wide around the edges of fields. In these experiments, the headland effect did not extend beyond 20 m from the field edge. Therefore, particularly in fields with boundary hedges or trees, headland set-aside could effectively remove the poor-yielding area at the field margin.