The Montreal Estate has a substantial arable business covering around 1000 acres of land.
The land consists of a diverse array of soil types ranging from Green Sand to Wealden Clay. This land is used to grow a variety of combinable crops including wheat, barley, oats, beans and oil seed rape.
Our crops are sold primarily to two grain merchants – ADM and Frontier. The beans and barley are sold for animal feed whilst the wheat and oats are sold for milling and used in food and drink. Our oil seed rape has the rape oil extracted to also be used for human consumption with the by-product used for animal feed.
Please contact us using the contact page or by emailing arable@themontrealestate.co.uk for any future farming opportunities or if you are interested in us contracting for you.
Investment in Modern Machinery
The Montreal Estate strives for high yields and maximum efficiency. Through investment the Estate has been able to purchase modern machinery, equipped with new technologies, allowing our experienced operators to get the very best results.
These new technologies include the use of yield maps to digitally plot variations in soil nutrient levels, allowing for variable rate fertiliser applications. This efficient method is environmentally beneficial as we are able to apply our fertiliser exactly where it is needed.
The recent purchase of a Claydon Direct Drill means that we can now establish crops using strip tillage. This massively reduces the use of diesel on the Estate and minimalises the release of carbon from the soil through cultivation. We continue to evaluate new farming techniques and crops.
Our use of modern machinery has allowed us to expand our operations. In 2013 we went into partnership with a neighbouring estate taking on their arable operations of 1000 acres. The Montreal Estate arable enterprise now contract farms over 2300 acres for 3 clients, with room for expansion into new contracting ventures in the future.
Arable Farming and Sustainability
The majority of the wheat produced by the Estate for our Frontier contract can be classed as sustainable milling wheat. For our wheat to qualify, we use a lower amount of fertiliser which reduces the protein content of the grain. Our grain storage is also within close proximity to the mill, reducing haulage distance and minimising carbon emissions.
The arable enterprise uses several environmental schemes to benefit the local area. Some of our arable land is used to plant seed mixtures that encourage wildlife around the Estate. The planting of wild bird seed mixes can often look like an overgrown field of weeds; however, the crops are carefully selected so that they can be used as important food resources, and to provide cover from the elements throughout the vital winter months, for small mammals, birds and insects.
