Choosing your crop - A guide when field landing

Choosing your crop - A guide when field landing

The purpose of this paper is to describe the fields and crops, along with their approximate timings and values. The business of actually landing in the fields is better dealt with in the motor-glider. The prefix "winter" implies that the crop is planted in the autumn and is therefore lying in the soil all winter ready to grow in response to sunshine, temperature, day length or some combination of these.

This thermal accumulation process is often referred to as the T-sum and variations in the T-sum account for most of the differences in crop timing across the UK. The timings given in the text are, unless stated otherwise, appropriate to sea level southern England. About one week needs to be added for northern England, two weeks for Scotland and a bit more for high ground.

The crops which concern us up to the end of May are winter barley, winter wheat, oil seed rape, winter beans and grass.

By April-May it is 300km weather at last - and 500km if we're lucky! Early April colours are mostly brown with a hint of green and plenty of places to land, if perhaps muddy. But over the next eight weeks much of the brown will turn to dark green until just before the first silage cut in mid May - the field choice is quite poor in many areas.

The crop values will enable you to estimate the damage you might cause if you land in a field of crop. If you do end up in crop and are reasonably careful in removing the glider, without taking the trailer into the field, then you will at the very worst flatten a tenth of an acre of crop. And even a thoughtless and irresponsible retrieve is very unlikely to ruin more than a third of an acre.

Winter barley

This slightly ragged-looking crop is planted in September and harvested in mid to late July. By early April the crop is still comfortably landable without damage to glider or crop. By mid to late April "mid-stem extension'; the crop is about 2ft tall and is likely to cause a ground loop, especially if wet and heavy. By late May the crop is 3ft tall, coming into ear and likely to be "lodging" (ie becoming tangled and obscuring the tramlines), especially if the farmer has been a little inept with the fertiliser. The colour is quite light green until the ears form in late May. Winter barley is worth about £68/ton to the farmer but he will be receiving £95 per acre in aid, on average it produces about 2.5 tons per acre; a gross yield to the farmer of perhaps £170 per acre.

Ears emerge on about the last week in May and the appearance of the crop begins to change to become a very pale green (almost yellow) with fluffy ears rippling in the wind.

The barley becomes quite golden about the third week in July onwards, depending on the exact location and variety of seed. The crop is plainly not suitable for damage-free landings during this period until harvesting, after which the golden stubble is perfect if dusty to land on.

Spring barley

This is just barley which is planted in the spring (surprise, surprise!), usually sometime in March in fact. The crop is harvested in mid August-just a little later than winter barley. The usual reason for planting in spring rather than winter is simply time availability. Winter-planted crop is preferred because of its higher yield, Spring Barley yield is in the order of 1 to 1.5 tons per acre and attracts a similar subsidy and costs it is worth about the same to the farmer. Spring planting is preferable for malting barley or as a cover crop in order to enable grassland to be established. Malting barley is worth about £78 per ton to the farmer although very little is actually grown

Winter wheat

Planted in October, harvested in August. Very similar to barley in appearance but slightly darker in colour and about two weeks later all round. By early April there is an almost complete carpet of green with just a hint of brown visible, especially in the tramlines. Landings can easily be made without mishap until late April but thereafter the height and weight of the crop increases rapidly; this is marked by the colour beginning to lighten. Wheat fields remain characteristically almost billiard-table flat until well into June so the tramlines remain clearly visible. Growing costs are similar to barley at about £150/acre but the value is greater at £82/ton and the yield is much higher at up to 4 tons/acre. Again £95 per acre will be received as aid. At £330 or so per acre wheat is a much more valuable crop than barley.

In early June the crop becomes very dark green because the `flag' leaf - the last leaf to emerge, whose job is to intercept the maximum sunlight - develops and very soon after this the ears - also green at this stage - emerge. By mid July the ears have begun to mature, causing the crop to become significantly lighter in colour as it dries out. Wheat is more suitable for emergency landings than barley but you can still expect to collect some damage and earache from the farmer.

Spring wheat

Curiously, this can be planted in November - or in the conventional spring months. November planting is for "alternative" or organic crop. The crop is the same as winter wheat but two or three weeks later all round.

Oil seed rape

Planted in August/September it takes 11 months to grow (harvested in July, for the hard of thinking!). Not landable after New Year. The field surface is usually flat beneath the crop but fertiliser is applied in February when the ground is often wet so the tramlines can be very exaggerated. Early growth is driven by the T-sum and so the timing depends a lot on the spring weather, rather than location. By late April the plants are waist high and tough although K-8s and other high wing gliders have been known to land even in tall rape with minimal damage apart from hay fever for the pilot from the overpowering mustardy pollen. The foliage is a darkish olive green and the flowers (from early May onwards ) are a vivid mustard yellow. Note that the crop on the edges of the fields you see from the roadside is shorter and sparser-like most crops-than midfield, owing to bird grazing. The yellow flowers begin as a light dusting and become quite unmistakable from mid May until late June. The value of the crop itself is low at £100-£150/acre but farmers collect a guaranteed subsidy (of £102/acre in 1999) on top of that, which is why they grow it.

By early July the flowers thin out leaving a very tall dense crop which is then swathed (ie cut and left to lie) to make it easier for the combine harvester to gather the little black seed pods - which are subsequently crushed for the oil which you can buy in the supermarket.

All rape fields will have harvested by the end of July, leaving a fairly tough and very white coloured stubble which may be up to 1 ft high but is still OK to land on although it may be noisy - especially in a fabric glider. Rape is otherwise totally unsuitable for planned landings.

Winter beans

These are ploughed in, in November leaving a rough surface into which gliders would be likely to sink. During April and May the colour is very dark green (like potatoes): individual stems are just visible from the air with some brown soil visible beneath. Beans are not acceptable for field landings because even in April the stems are a foot high and quite tough. The value is about £78/ton with an aid subsidy of £137 per acre.

During June the beans flower with small white and pink petals scattered thinly among the crop. Later, in July the pods form and the crop reaches its maximum height of 6 ft or more. Spring beans are occasionally planted in February and these are harvested slightly before the winter planted beans, although yield is rather less. Not suitable for landing.

Peas

These are planted in March/April and have little white flowers in June with a characteristic pale green foliage. The crop is normally l8in tall or less although there are occasionally taller varieties. Little damage will be done either to crop or glider before the crop has flowered.

The tendrils which grow tend to knit together in a manner which may be thought of as arrester hooks! The crop is worth £77/ton and yields about 2 tons/acre at a cost to the farmer of about £140/acre with a subsidy of £137 per acre

General vegetables

Peas and Beans (and indeed anything else that is grown but cannot be positively identified as grass) are still not landable up to and after harvest. Peas are harvested at the end of August and beans a month or two afterwards at the end of September.

Grass (silage/hay/pasture)

Grass is grown to feed animals and is green. The animals can either eat it where it grows (pasture) or have it cut and stored to eat later (take-away!}. If the grass is cut before heading then it grows again and can be cropped twice or sometimes three times per year, as silage. If it is allowed to head then there is usually just one crop, hay.

The same field may be in continuos use for grass production, or it may be sown in September. Either way, by early April the grass is ankle high but still perfectly landable. Thereafter the risk of ground looping increases with the height and weight of the crop . By early May it reaches about 18 in or so. Grass looks very like wheat until mid May, except it is more tussocky. The first silage cut is taken early May in extreme southern England at sea level, and as late as the end of May in northern England. The precise date varies with location and latitude, and depends on day length and altitude; any given field will be cut on approximately the same day each year. Subsequent silage cuts take place at about six week intervals

Hay is cut once only (occasionally twice) per year, usually in the second week of Wimbledon fortnight-if the weather is dry! The hay lies in heavy swathes in the sun to dry and these can cause a really spectacular ground-loop if a wing drops. Soon after that the hay is baled and removed. Grass fields which have just been cut are a very pale yellowy green and can look a little like rape flowers from a distance. Cut grass fields are perfect for landing in for several weeks after cutting until the next crop begins to get tall.

Permanent pasture will almost certainly have stock in it during the critical field selection periods (late May and late June/early July) since grazing fields are in short supply as the grass nears harvest time.

Even tall grass is unlikely to be significantly damaged by a landing glider and in any event it is worth only £50/acre at best. However, permanent pasture is often permanent because it is ridge-and-furrow which is very likely to damage the glider.

Grass remains as per May - either pasture, (brown/golden) or silage (somewhere between deep green and pale green/yellow depending on its six week cutting cycle. Second and subsequent cuts of silage are generally less lush than the first cut so tall silage is a better bet during June and July than it is in May, although plainly the fresh cut silage is the best of all if you can find it when you need it.

Potatoes

These are planted in April and harvested anytime from July through to October. The leaves are dark green and the crop is about l ft tall, sitting on raised beds or ridges - ie on a soft furrowed surface.

Potatoes cost the farmer a lot to establish and are quite valuable at around £45/ton, with an average yield of 12 to 15 tons/acre. Potatoes do not attract any government aid.

Interestingly, Scottish potatoes are often used as seed since their cold upbringing - often well above sea level - tends to make them aphid-free and healthy. Some seed potatoes are now being grown on the upper Cotswolds for the same reason. A landing made down the furrows shouldn't hurt you or the glider too much but might annoy the farmer.

Sugar beet

Planted in March/April, these can quickly become identifiable owing to the regular seedling spacing. The leaves look rather like rhubarb with a turnip-like tuber beneath. The colour is light green and the individual plants remain plainly discrete throughout June and July although spreading out gradually towards a complete ground cover. Not recommended for landings because the crop is delicate and difficult to establish and farmers can be quite touchy about this. The crop can cost the farmer £200/acre to establish (using a lot of fertiliser) and yields about 18 tons/acre at around £30/ton.

Sugar beet will still be a lightish green (like cabbages) until the end of September but won't be lifted until October, like potatoes.

Maize

Planted in May, 18in high by the end of July and looking like big leaks with lots of soil visible through the crop. This is mostly cut for silage for animal feed. The tall tough stems are an obvious disadvantage for incoming gliders and ultimately reach a height of 4 or 5ft.

The silage crop costs the farmer about £60/acre, he will receive aid at £95 per acre, and yields around l2tons/acre at £10 per ton. Sweet corn, which is essentially the same stuff, is worth rather more than this but is hardly ever grown as it is not very successful in this country

General vegetables

Carrots, onions, cabbages, sprouts, greens etc. are really specialist crops grown only in small pockets and much of that is in the fens - the exception to this being Bedfordshire. These are all short crops with the exception of sprouts which reach up to 3ft with thick stems - however that doesn't happen until August. The values of these crops are very variable but an individual cauliflower can cost up to a pound at the shop on the comer, the farmer will get about 25p.

Linseed

This is a sort of short-wheelbase rape, with small blue flowers which drop at tea-lime daily to be replaced by new ones next morning throughout mid July. The crop is about lft tall during June/July and is safe to land on although it should definitely be avoided later In the year.  The crop is harvested in September or later for the little seed pods to be crushed into oil. If you can get hold of some linseeds they go quite nicely in salads or muesli with a nutty flavour.

Brown soil will be visible between the Individual plants during June. The crop yields about £85/ton so is quite cheap, aid is given at £184 per acre. There is a very small market for Linseed and the selling window is quite small, this, together with the fact that it is a very difficult crop to harvest as it is harvested in October makes it all very difficult. The farmer must attempt to harvest the crop, if he fails he will plough it in but still receive the aid.

By mid August (a little later in the frozen north!) rape and barley are mostly cut and wheat is about to be cut.

Tall crops still Include beans, peas, wheat, potatoes and linseed. All of these will still be green in colour except the wheat.

Set Aside

There are two types of set-aside field; less than 1 year and more than 1 year.

For fields that are set-aside for less than 1 year, the field is normally sprayed with a weed suppresser called 'Round-up' after a grain crop has been harvested. This will turn the stubble a distinctive orange colour and is generally very good for landing as the surface will be hard and smooth. Alternatively the field will be left to grow through the stubble, becoming thick with native wild flowers. This must be 'topped' (cut down), at least once in the season. The field will be ploughed back in during August ready for sowing.

Fields that are set-aside for more than one year usually have very poor surfaces for landing. They are generally on poor crop producing ground, ie steep slopes or marsh etc. These fields are not sprayed but allowed to grow naturally, they are topped-off in July but will quickly grow back to tall weeds, grasses and flowers and are usually very rough.

Both types of set-aside attract a subsidy of £120 per acre,.

Cultivation for the coming year

During August especially there will be many fields which become brown-side up. Mostly these will be smooth and comfortable to land on - especially if stubble remains visible.

However, some dark brown fields will have been greatly disturbed by the cultivation and close inspection is worthwhile before landing. Deep striations are a reliable sign of trouble.

A note on Aid and subsidy

The amount of money a farmer gets for his crop has, over the last ten years or so reduced to the extent that most farms, especially the smaller ones are no longer be viable without subsidy. EEC subsidy is not automatic and the farmer must have every field registered on OS maps to the nearest 3ft. He must be able to log and account for every operation and be able to back this up when an inspector arrives. Every acre for which a subsidy has been received must be harvested completely, the farmer is not allowed to plough-in a bad crop. This process must be carried out every year for every field and for every crop and any mistake, regardless of reason is down to the farmer and could jeopardise the subsidy received for the whole of the farm.

The farmers job is to grow and sell crop and/or raise stock, it is not to provide landing areas for gliders, please bear this in mind when you next drop in uninvited.