Frost Damage

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FROST DAMAGE and what to do next

THE RECENT COLD SNAP BROUGHT FROST TO SOME MAIZE FIELDS. IF YOU’VE NOT SEEN IT BEFORE OR ARE WORRIED WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU – HERE’S A SHORT NOTE TO HELP UNDERSTAND.

What is frost damage?

Frost damage occurs when temperatures drop below freezing, causing ice crystals to form within plant cells. This can lead to cell death and tissue damage, particularly in sensitive parts like leaves.

Why is frost damage a concern for biogas plants?

When frost damages maize plants, it can negatively affect the biogas yield and quality:
Reduced Sugar Content: Frost can scorch leaves, leading to a loss of valuable sugars. Sugars are essential for the fermentation process that produces biogas.
Increased Clamp Spoilage: Damaged plants are more susceptible to spoilage due to increased microbial activity. They can also be harder to compact and ensile. This can reduce the overall quality of the feedstock and as a result the quantity of biogas they will yield.

Minimising the impact of frost damage

In the event you get a snap frost and the crop takes on the look of that in the photo herein, it’s not all doom and gloom:

Inspect: check to see if leaves have been damaged to the cob. If there are still green stems and leaves, the plant will continue to produce starches and can be left to mature. Go beyond the field edges – as early frosts are often light, plants several rows in are sometimes insulated and ok.
Timely Harvest: Harvest within 48 hours of a frost event. This will save some of the sugars and can help minimise further damage and preserve the crop’s nutritional value.
Proper Preservation: Chopping the crop short (aids compaction) and using additives can help prevent spoilage and maintain the nutritional value of the maize in the clamp.

Asking an expert like FORAGER FEEDS (with qualified agronomists working exclusively with crops into biogas plants) can provide valuable guidance if you need help deciding whether to harvest your frost-damaged maize or how to handle it properly. FORAGER can help assess the situation and recommend the best action for your specific circumstances.

IF YOU COULD DO WITH ADVICE ON CROP QUALITY, GROWTH STAGE, HARVEST or CLAMPING – WE CAN HELP

Out and About

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WE’VE BEEN ALL OVER THE PLACE!

We’ve been out with farmers all over the UK looking at maize crops and advising on readiness for harvest – here’s what we’ve found…

You’ll be unsurprised to hear – variability – both in stage and yield. The cold wet weather that typified the drilling season led many farmers to drill late or make a last minute decision to switch from a spring cereal to maize.

As you will have read from our previous posts, there was a real fear this could be a poor year with many crops well below average growth stage and showing signs of stress by the end of June. However, fair growing conditions since has many that some crops have caught up and will yield well – albeit mainly later than usual.

However, we have seen some really big variations depending on the approach taken, part of the UK and land type.

West of England – Very little maize was planted in early May, so the bulk of the crops are only just becoming dry enough to consider harvesting. Varying yields have been seen – 30-45t/h -reflecting the difficult conditions the crops were planted into. It’s looking very likely the west and central areas will be impacted heavily by the wet weather during harvest, meaning crops will likely come off later still and higher than target DMs

East of England- Early drilled maize (end of April/early May) is ready to be harvested now, with dry matter in the 30-33% range. Later planted crops are still 2/3 weeks away, currently sitting at about 26%DM. Yields look on par with five-year average for the farms. 35-40t/ha. The eastern part of the east is less affected by the very wet weather during harvest and seems to be coming off well and above average yield.

IF YOU COULD DO WITH ADVICE ON CROP QUALITY, GROWTH STAGE, HARVEST or CLAMPING – WE CAN HELP

IS YOUR MAIZE READY?

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IS YOUR MAIZE READY FOR FORAGING?

We’re often called by biogas operators to advise on whether a crop is fit and ready to go.

Maize is a staple of biogas plants and a good or bad year can have a huge influence on the whole feedstock supply chain – so getting it right (or as right as you can) is important. At this time of year maize DM is increasing by 0.3 to 0.5% per day. Too early and you may have a wet crop – too late and those all important sugars and starches are turning to brown lignins and compaction is more difficult to achieve.

Add to the equation weather. A heavy downpour can make field clamps/ ag-bagging areas inaccessible, damage soil and fields and cause public nuisance carrying soil onto the highways. So knowing “when to go” in the midst of foraging weather-windows, while balancing supplier/ customer interests is important.

There are two quick tests:

The twist test – shown in the video here – when the stem is twisted at the lower node, free water should not leach from the stem as in the video. This maize is between 25-26% DM by our estimate and if harvested would release a lot of liquid in the clamp and may even turn to “mush” in places. For a biogas plant this could represent a 25-40% reduction in value in the digester (when losses and reduced gas production are accounted for.
The squeeze test – video to follow – but when a single kernel is squeezed, there should be resistence and a hardness to it. If it is soft and “pops” (if you’re eating look away now) like a zit, then it is not fit and not ready for foraging.

IF YOU COULD DO WITH ADVICE ON CROP QUALITY, GROWTH STAGE, HARVEST or CLAMPING – WE CAN HELP

Short Term Maize Replacement

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CASE STUDY
^{Finding 15,000 tonnes of maize}

In March a client came to us with a problem. A supplier had been unable to put together the 15,000 tonnes of maize needed for the 2024 season at the contracted price.

It was a difficult situation – the contractor was local and would have talked to many of the local growers and the target contracted price was too low for the current market.

So the challenge was to locate growers with land within 15 miles that could supply the target tonnage; at a higher price than the contract – but sufficiently lower that it made commercial sense to go with this one-off alternative over paying the higher price proposed by the contractor. It was March – drilling is anytime from mid-April – we had 6-8 weeks.

We got our team on to speaking to local contacts and some of the bigger national brands to see if they could help of point us in the right direction.

In two weeks we had a list of over 40 contacts – from who, we needed to find 1,000 acres of land a few would be prepared to put into maize.

Another two weeks and we had secured 10,000 tonnes worth of acreage from a mix of estates and small farmers.

We created a new, easy-to-use, short form feedstock contract that was easily explained, understood and able to be signed up to quickly and we put it into docusign (probably the most difficult part of the process was encouraging the farmers to use this form of digital signing process).

Finally, after 8 weeks, we had enough acreage, signed up to via the digital signing process, on standard terms – ready for drilling. Of course, we needn’t have hurried as the weather this year meant most didn’t drill until the end of May – but the client was able to rest easy that at least everything was put back together and went in…

… and it cost the client £300,000 less than they had been told it would.

If you’re interested in how Forager’s expert team can help you – please contact us