PLANET Workshop
Saturday 16 April, 10am – 3.30pm
Amerton Farm, Stowe by Chartley
Introduction
The PLANET Workshop has been designed to support farmers in their understanding of nutrient budgeting and preparing nutrient management plans for cost effective fertiliser use and assist compliance with NVZ regulations.
Objectives
This workshop has been organised to help you gain knowledge of the PLANET Nutrient Management computer program. By the end of the workshop you will have:
A working knowledge of the PLANET computer program
The ability to produce computer generated crop fertiliser “recommendations” from the examples given
The knowledge to input your own farm data to produce crop fertiliser recommendations
On the day
Bring your own laptop with PLANET vs 2 or 3 loaded, or we will supply. Workbooks are supplied by Tutor and available for learners to keep. The PLANET workbook contains 2 exercises which the candidates will work through. The first example sets up farm details and adds one field to the programme and follows through nutrients add, soil analysis and through to recommendations for an arable crop. Exercise two is a grassland example. Candidates are advised to stick to the exercises in the workbook unless already conversant with the programme. It would be useful if you would let us know particular problems you have in advance so we can tailor the session.
For those farmers who would like to use their own records details of what to bring along will be provided on booking.
Cost: £45 including lunch and refreshments through the day
Booking: Please email debbie@staffordshireruralhub.org or call 01785 255305
About PLANET
PLANET (Planned Land Application of Nutrients for Efficiency and the EnvironmenT) is a computer programme designed for nutrient budgeting. It provides a quick and easy way of obtaining RB209 fertiliser recommendations for arable, horticultural or grassland crops in each field, each year.
It calculates the in-organic fertiliser requirement of a crop after taking into account several factors:
Soil type and rainfall
Nutrients available from soil reserves
Soil analysis results
Previous cropping
Organic nutrients applied
It is an ongoing planning process and therefore can be modified to take into account planned/actual applications of fertiliser as well as added too year-on-year.
Previous year’s field records together with other information will be used to generate the following years RB209 recommendations. Field histories, recommendations and various other reports (such as NVZ information) can also be saved or printed off.
Why will PLANET be useful to farmers?
Fertilisers and lime are increasingly expensive but their correct use can give quality crops with maximised yields. Uncalculated fertiliser regimes – especially if including organic manure applications – can often lead to over application of purchased fertiliser. This is expensive and increases the risk of diffuse pollution. Whereas under application of nutrients will result in crops not growing to their maximum potential – reduced crop yields and a decline in soil reserves will then occur.
Organic manures (e.g. slurries, FYM, sewage sludge) contain large quantities of nutrients which can often mean that reductions in the need for in-organic fertiliser are possible when they are taken into account.
Therefore, to maximise profits and avoid unnecessary expense, farmers should allow for the nutrients supplied by organic manure applications enabling them to plan their use of in-organic nutrients for each field crop and in each year. Use of PLANET will help farmers to:
Achieve maximum efficiency in crop growth and yield, while reducing the risk of diffuse pollution
Comply with NVZ recording legislation
