With crop surpluses there is increasing demand for alternatives. Sunflower is a potential alternative crop for the British farmer, particularly on cereal farms where similar equipment and husbandry techniques could be used to cultivate the crop. However, with present varieties the U.K. is at the fringe of the growing area in terms of climate, thus the crop is risky to grow, behaving inconsistently from year to year. Weather data for some southern regions of the U.K. show that low ground temperatures in spring are common thus present varieties of sunflower would have to be drilled later to avoid damage. In order to harvest a mature crop by the end of September, the crop would need about 1200 degrees C cumulative heat units for development compared with about 1500 degrees C for varieties grown in France. By assuming the sunflower crop could be grown consistently it is possible to assess its profitability on British farms. A whole farm model using the technique of linear programming calculates the profitability of sunflower for given farm and crop constraints. On cereal farms with average yields the alternative crop is profitable if it yields at least 2t/ha and is combined after the cereal harvest, at the end of September (or later with no loss of yield).
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