Trip to New York for Broadway Star winners

UK - May 11, 2009

The lights of Broadway beckon for husband and wife farming team, Andrew and Janet Kirk, who have won a trip to New York in a competition about Dow AgroSciences’ new grassweed herbicide Broadway Star*.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to win the Broadway Star competition,” said Mrs Kirk. “I’m really excited and we plan to go before we get really busy on the farm later in the year.”

For Mr and Mrs Kirk it is all about managing inputs and outputs to ensure they get the best return from their mixed farm near Barkby, Leics. Winter wheat is the dominant crop on some 1,400 acres of arable land alongside oilseed rape, forage maize, oats and barley. Livestock includes milking 110 Holstein dairy cows, fattening 250 beef cattle, and also managing 100 Red Poll beef cattle on 300 acres of grassland as well as 1,800 poultry at Christmas. Much of the farm’s output goes to premium markets - milk to Tesco Local, most of the beef to Waitrose.

Broadway Star, the new grassweed weedkiller from Dow AgroSciences, will help with one of the challenges that a mixed farming approach, such as the Kirk’s, produces.

“As grass leys are part of our rotation, volunteer ryegrass can be a real headache in winter wheat. I’ve been waiting for Broadway Star to gain approval so I can use it to control ryegrass.

“With winter wheat we have used an autumn-applied IPU followed in spring with a sulphonyl urea herbicide alone or tank mixed with either Boxer* or Starane XL*. I have recently sprayed some 200 acres with Broadway Star and believe it will control both my broad-leaved and grassweeds in a single spray.”

Mr Kirk adds: “The mixed farm set up allows us to reduce some of our input costs and capitalise on the more profitable aspects of the business. It also allows us to spread risk.”

There will be another opportunity for farmers to win a trip to a New York Broadway Show courtesy of Dow AgroSciences at Cereals ’09.