Fitting cover crop establishment into the busy harvest window can be a major challenge for farmers, often compromising the timing needed for optimal results.
Ideally planted from mid-July to mid- August to benefit from the longer days and warmer temperatures, cover crop sowing frequently gets delayed until late August or early September because of harvest timing, particularly in more northern areas of the UK.
To overcome this hurdle, Agrii and Cérience have developed an innovative approach: the PHAB mix, a broadcasting seed mixture designed to be sown up to three weeks before the main crop harvest.
A key element is Cérience’s SAS fly seed coating technology. Applied to smaller seeds in the mix, it balances the Thousand Grain Weight (TGW), ensuring even distribution up to 30 metres with a standard spinning disc fertiliser spreader. Calibration settings are available for major spreader brands, including: Amazone, Kverneland, Kuhn, KRM Bogballe, Sulky/Sky, and Lemken.
This dust-free hygroscopic coating also attracts moisture and contains the OSYR organic bio-stimulant to boost establishment.
The PHAB mix itself combines two vetch and two radish species providing a diverse rooting structure, nitrogen fixation potential and improved biomass production. The mix complies with the requirements of the SFI options SOH3 Summer catch crop and SAM2 Winter cover crop.
Advantages of the pre-harvest broadcasting system:
- Spreads workload: establishes cover crops up to 3 weeks before harvest, easing time pressures.
- Optimal timing: capitalises on better growing conditions for improved results.
- Timely establishment: offers a viable solution for later harvest areas.
- Utilises existing equipment: works with standard farm fertiliser spreaders.
- Efficiency: provides a faster establishment method.
- Cost savings: estimated savings around £50/ha compared to post-harvest drilling (NAAC figures).
Farmer experience: a “game changer“ in Cirencester
Austin Russell from J Russell & Son, Church Farm near Cirencester, found the system highly effective on his dairy farm.
“Our dairy farm near Cirencester traditionally drills 70-120ha of cover crops after harvest often in early September, missing valuable August growth.
“Last year, trialling broadcast seeding Agrii PHAB mix with our own spinner on August 10th proved significantly better. The earlier planting drastically improved winter growth and coverage, distributed evenly across 30m tramlines, and was much faster and easier to fit around dairy work, especially reacting to weather.
“We’ll broadcast Agrii PHAB this year for all post-wheat/spring barley cover crops. Though seed cost is higher, broadcasting is quicker and cheaper, offering greater ground cover and nitrogen capture. It feels like a game changer for us.“
This pre-harvest broadcasting system offers farmers a practical and efficient solution to establish valuable cover crops reliably, mitigating the traditional bottleneck caused by harvest operations and delivering tangible agronomic benefits.
