ENROL NOW

Growing Grain Crops

Course CodeBAG309
Fee CodeS2
Duration (approx)100 hours
QualificationTo obtain formal documentation the optional exam(s) must be completed which will incur an additional fee of £30. Alternatively, a letter of completion may be requested.


Learn to grow cereals, pulses and pseudo grains

  • Grow grain crops on a small or large scale.
  • Learn production methods, from soil preparation and planting to harvest and post harvest treatment of the grain.

This course is an ideal foundation for farmers, farm workers and anyone supporting agricultural grain production or marketing.

  

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

  1. Introduction to Grains
    • Production of Crops in Different Climates and Ecological Zones
    • Climate
    • Soil
    • Aspect and Altitude
    • Crop Growing Periods and Growing Degree Days.
    • Cropping Season as Affected by Moisture Availability
    • World Cropping
    • Cereal Crop Growth Stages
    • Jointing Stage
    • Booting Stage
    • Grain Fill Stage
    • Zadok Scale
    • Grain Types
    • Wheat
    • Barley
    • Sorghum
    • Oats
    • Rice
    • Corn
    • Canola
    • Pulses
    • Production Systems
    • Crop Rotation
    • Cover Crops
    • Crop Islands
  2. Grain Growing and Processing: Infrastructure and Machinery
    • Equipment Requirements
    • Choosing A Tractor and Accessories
    • Equipment and Tools Used in Different Crop Production Operations
    • Tillage
    • Seed
    • Certified and Saved Seed
    • Seed Production
    • Planting
    • Other Crop Production Operations
    • Irrigation Equipment
    • Crop Lodging
    • Harvest
    • Cereal Harvesting Equipment
    • Threshers/Combined Harvester Thresher
    • Cleaning
    • Grain Storage
    • Silos
    • Silo Bags
    • Bunkers
    • Insect Pest Control in Grain Storage
  3. Wheat, Spelt, Triticosecale, Oats, Barley, Rye
    • Wheat and Spelt
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Nitrogen
    • Phosphorus
    • Potassium
    • Zinc
    • Crop Health
    • Crown Rot
    • Stripe Rust
    • Leaf Rust
    • Stem Rust
    • Yellow Leaf Spot
    • Nematodes
    • Harvest and Uses
    • Tritosecale
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Harvest and Uses
    • Cultivars
    • Oats
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest and Uses
    • Barley
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Nitrogen
    • Phosphorus
    • Aluminium And Boron Toxicity
    • Crop Health
    • Crown Rot
    • Net Blotch
    • Spot Blotch
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Harvest and Uses.
    • Rye
    • Winter and Spring Rye
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest and Uses
  4. Maize, Sorghum and Millet
    • Maize
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Nitrogen
    • Phosphorous
    • Potassium
    • Sulphur
    • Iron
    • Crop Health
    • Boil Smut (Ustilago Maydis)
    • Rust (Puccinia Sorghi)
    • Stalk and Cob Rots
    • Harvest and Uses
    • Sorghum
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Ergot (Claviceps Africana)
    • Insect Pests
    • Heliothis
    • Sorghum Midge
    • Harvest and Uses
    • Millet
    • Cultivars
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Grey Leaf Spot
    • Charcoal Rot
    • Pests
    • Harvest and Uses
  5. Rice
    • Rice (Oryza Spp.)
    • Cultivars
    • Commonly Cultivated Varieties of Rice
    • Grain Type - Colour: Brown Vs White
    • Different Varieties for Eating
    • Cultivation
    • Environmental Overview
    • Altitude
    • Water
    • Irrigating Rice
    • Rainfed - Terrace Systems.
    • Crop Health and Diseases
    • Bacterial Blight
    • Bacterial Leaf Streak
    • Blast, Leaf and Collar
    • Red Stripe
    • Harvest
    • Ratooning
    • Rice-Wheat Systems
  6. Pulse Crops
    • Soybeans
    • Crop Health
    • Pidgeon Peas (Congo Beans)
    • Appearance
    • Cultivars
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Lima Beans
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Cowpeas
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Mung Beans
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Chick Peas
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Lentils
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Faba Beans
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Field Peas (Green Peas)
    • Growing Conditions
    • Propagation
    • Soil
    • Fertility
    • Crop Health
  7. Pseudo Cereals
    • Chia
    • Quinoa
    • Appearance
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Amaranth
    • Appearance
    • Cultivars
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
    • Buckwheat
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Sesame Seed
    • Cultivars
    • Cultivation
    • Soil and Fertility
    • Crop Health
    • Harvest
  8. Processing Grains for Human Consumption
    • Post-Harvest Processing
    • Drying
    • Morphologically Determining Moisture Content
    • Portable Moisture Meters
    • Simple Drying Test to Determine Moisture
    • Laboratory Testing
    • Types of Drying
    • Natural Drying
    • Heat-Drying (Hot Air Drying)
    • When Is It Dry?
    • Storage
    • Aerating and Cooling
    • Moisture Content in Stored Grain
    • Treatment During Storage
    • Mechanical Treatments
    • Grain Processing for Consumption
    • Hulling
    • Wheat Processing
    • Cleaning and Scouring
    • Tempering
    • Grinding/Milling of Wheat
    • Bleaching the Flour
    • Blending and Final Production of Flours
    • Extraction Rate
    • Processing Maize (Corn)
    • Corn Refining
    • Processing Rice
    • Processing Oats
    • Processing Pseudo grains
    • Quinoa and Amaranth
    • Fortifying Foods
  9. Grains for Livestock Consumption
    • Differences Between Crops for Human Consumption and Those for Animal Consumption
    • C3 And C4 Grasses - C3 Plants - C4 Plants - Legume Forage - Mixed Grass and Legume Forages
    • Nutrient-Dense Forages and Forage Quality
    • Forage Maturity and Nutritional Value
    • Forage Quality
    • Palatability and Taste
    • Intake
    • Digestibility
    • Nutrient Density
    • Anti-Nutritional Factors
    • Livestock Performance and Growth
    • Specific Forage, Feed and Grass Types
    • Feeding and Ration Calculations

What are the Stages of Crop Development?

Crops usually begin as a seed germinating and emerging through the soil top produce it's leaves. From that point, growers commonly identify the following sequence of stages:

  1.  Two leaf stage
  2.  Early tillering
  3.  Mid tillering
  4.  Late tillering
  5.  Jointing
  6.  Booting/Flag leaf emergence
  7.  Flowering
  8.  Grain fill

Jointing Stage
At jointing, just above the first node, you can cut the stem open very carefully you will find a very tiny seed head.  More nodes will develop underneath that first node, but the first node on every tiller will have the seed head developing just above it.  When the seed head and first node are about halfway up the main stem, the main stem will start to thicken, this is called booting and the last leaf the plant will develop emerges, this leaf is called the flag leaf and is quite distinctive.  The seed head will be about 2-4 cm long but a swelling in the main stem will indicate that the crop is now in the booting stage.  

Booting Stage
The booting stage is over when the seed head emerges. In wheat, the crop will then proceed to flower and then form grain. In barley, the seed head often flowers in the boot protecting it from light frosts.  

Grain Fill Stage
As the grain then starts to form we talk about the milk stage, where when the grain is squeezed a milky substance is produced, then milky dough where milky dough like substance is exuded, and then you have soft dough moving onto hard dough stage.  After the hard dough stage the crop is then drying down, in preparation for harvest. 

 

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS COURSE?

  • Farmers
  • Farm Contractors
  • Agricultural suppliers
  • Farm Produce agents and marketers
  • Agricultural students
  • Other agricultural professionals, from writers and educators to research scientists, seedsmen and plant breeders.
  • Small farm or hobby farm owners considering new "niche" crops
  • Livestock owners/managers, wanting to produce animal feeds

 

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