RevYstories: Richard Budd

We will be hearing more in-depth from UK growers about their farming experiences, as they share their stories of using Revystar^® XE.

Find out more about Richard Budd and follow his RevYstory throughout the upcoming season below.

About Richard

Richard, of Stevens Farm (Hawkhurst Ltd) in Kent has been back on the family farm for 11 years now, having gained a degree in Botany at Nottingham University and worked in London as a wine broker, specialising in private client investment portfolios. Richard Budd’s business has expanded recently and he is now growing 1200 ha of arable crops from his base at Stevens Farm, Hawkhurst in Kent.

Richard has been involved with Real Results from the beginning. He said, “Trials are essential to my business and understanding where I am in terms of the crops I’m producing. Real Results is probably the most powerful farmer group that an agrochemical company has, with 50 of some of the best farmers in the country wanting to trial and learn about new material. There are also huge benefits to be had from finding out what others are doing differently on their farms and the peer to peer learning that the Real Results facilitates.”

Richard’s crop protection strategy is to eradicate disease or maintain the level of disease in the bottom of the crop, not letting it come up in the crop, protecting the green leaf area. He said, “One thing that the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) has taught me is green leaf area is King and the longer that you can keep that green area the bigger the yield.”

In terms of environmental measures, Richard has taken areas such as field corners and woodland edges out of production.

What’s happening on Richard’s Farm?

What`s in the ground?

Richard has 500 ha of wheat in the ground. Drilling started on the 9th of October but was very protracted, with the drill finally put away at the beginning of December. He has Group 1s KWS Zyatt, Crusoe and Skyfall, Group 2 KWS Extase and Group 3 Elicit in the ground.

“There is Septoria already in the crops- they will be treated accordingly. It will certainly be Revystar^® XE at T1 and then we will see where we go.”

The high cost of fertiliser has not impacted Richard as he had 500 t of old stock fertiliser and only needed to buy 100 t of nitrogen pre- Christmas to cover his needs for the season.

Richard said, “ Due to the price of nitrogen there is likely to be a lot of low grade milling wheat about this season so my guess is premiums might be pretty healthy. We will definitely be pushing the KWS Zyatt and Crusoe.”

If the weather allows Richard is planning to get back to drilling in February, putting in oats and spring wheat, KWS Chilham.