On our fields we grow winter wheat, winter oilseed rape, winter barley, sugar beet, silage maize (for a nearby biogas plant) and potatoes (land leased to a specialised potato grower). This six-crop rotation allows us to farm sustainably while producing high-quality products. In the past, malting barley (spring barley), field peas and spelt were also grown. The ratio of broadleaf crops to cereals is about 60/40. There is no fixed sequence of crops; instead, the area of each crop depends on market conditions, which vary from year to year, and on agronomic requirements (plant health, sowing and harvest dates, field hygiene and more).

Thanks to the wide range of crops, workload peaks occur only at harvest time. The cereal harvest usually begins in mid-July, and winter cereals are sown from mid to late September. The first frosts can be expected from the end of October; spring cereals are sown from mid to late March. Sugar beet drilling can begin from the end of March, followed by maize sowing in early May. Late frosts can still occur in mid to late May, so particular attention must be paid to the weather when sowing maize.

Since 2001, a tractor for tillage (wing-share cultivator and plough), today with 250 hp, has been leased jointly with two partner farms. Winter cereals and oilseed rape are harvested with a Claas Medion 310 combine. The farm’s own machinery also includes a John Deere 6215R. A John Deere 6105R and a John Deere 2650 with narrow row-crop and standard tyres are used for crop care such as fertilising and crop protection. The main work on the farm, such as sowing, transport and spring tillage, is done by a John Deere 6630.

The machines are also used on other farms. Machinery costs are one of the main cost drivers in arable farming; better utilisation of the equipment keeps them low per hectare.

The machinery also includes a Rauch Axis 20.2W fertiliser spreader with weighing system. The spreader is connected to a GPS control unit to ensure precise application even without tramlines and to allow site-specific fertilisation. The GPS unit also switches sections on and off automatically at the headland. A 21 m Horsch Leeb 4AX sprayer is used for crop protection; its sections are also switched automatically. Sowing is done with a 3 m mechanical Kuhn power harrow and seed drill combination. The plough (Gassner, 5 furrows with slatted mouldboards) is used only when needed; after sugar beet, potatoes and oilseed rape in particular, ploughing is usually avoided. Because of oilseed rape, the two-beam wing-share cultivator (Lemken Smaragd, 5 m), which allows shallow incorporation of straw and shallow weed control, also plays an important role. For deep tillage a 3 m Kerner cultivator is available, used mainly after sugar beet and potatoes to loosen the soil more deeply. After wet years, a three-tine subsoiler with a working depth of up to 40 cm is used as required to loosen headlands and tramlines.