Plan early to get most out of maize

Maize producers should start making plans now to hit the ideal harvesting window, achieve optimum yields and secure marketing opportunities.

An early season focus on key factors such as testing of soils and slurry, cultivations, drainage, weed control options and variety choice can pay significant dividends later, says Neil Groom, of Grainseed.

“The last two relatively hot and dry summers have made many producers realise how much easier their lives are if they can be harvesting their maize in September rather than later in the autumn,” he says.

Nutrition plan

“While much of that is dictated by the weather, there are several key management decisions that can help load the dice in favour of an earlier harvest, but it’s important to start planning early.

“As a starting point it is essential to get farmyard manure, slurry and soils tested so you know exactly what nutrients you have available and can make an appropriate crop nutrition plan to ensure plants keep growing strongly through the season.

“Maxi Maize Plus, containing nitrogen, phosphate and sulphur alongside vital micro-nutrients, is a good way to ensure crops establish well and a late applied foliar nitrogen such as Efficient 28 can be used to give crops a boost in June/July.”

Variety choice

Weed control, cultivations and variety choice are other areas requiring early consideration, says Mr Groom. “Competition from weeds, particularly during establishment, can affect final yield potential considerably, so it’s worth investing in a sound pre-emergence strategy. Dismissing this could save you around £10/ha but easily lose £250/ha of yield later.

“Appropriate cultivations to maximise seed to soil contact are also important as is addressing any drainage issues before drilling. Although early drilling is tempting if conditions look suitable, soil temperatures must have reached 10-12?C by 9am for at least four days across the whole field.

“In terms of variety choice, it’s still worth considering early and ultra early varieties. The yield difference between these and later maturing options is small and they are always going to mature more quickly and help achieve that earlier harvest. That not only helps with workload at harvest time but also means maize is likely to be cut in better conditions, reducing potential soil damage and allowing for better preparation and timings for follow-on crops in the rotation.”

Grain maize

One of the biggest developments in end use for maize crops recently is the emergence of strong demand and contracts for grain maize, says Mr Groom.

“Obviously, maize has predominantly been grown in the UK as a forage crop for livestock feed, primarily for dairy cows, and more recently for biogas production.

“Some producers have left their maize in the field for longer, taken it to full maturity  and then harvested it as grain maize. Treated with a crimping additive it makes an excellent high energy livestock feed or it can be dried down and sold commercially as grain.

“Traditionally, the UK has imported a considerable amount of grain maize for use in the food industry and processing.

“But with the move to more diverse rotations, the growing popularity of spring-sown crops and the quest for lower nitrogen requirements, UK-produced grain maize is in a great position to meet more of this demand.”

Top performer

Anticipating this, 2024 and 2025 saw NIAB re-introducing the descriptive list for grain maize. Good grain maize variety combines a high, consistent yield of mature grain, reliable harvesting and resistance to environmental and biological stresses.

“The latest NIAB grain maize trials place the variety Crosbey as the top performer with a very strong yield of 115% of controls backed up by an excellent feature set making it a sound choice for growers wanting to take advantage of grain maize markets.

“New buy-back contracts are being launched by established buyers with East Anglia particularly well positioned for these with its growing proportion of arable farmers growing maize – but there are great opportunities for livestock farmers too.

“It’s well worth sowing 10-15% more maize than you might require for your herd’s needs. Not only can this help build a buffer of forage stocks for years when things do not go so well, it also opens up the possibility of selling the surplus as grain maize.”