GOOD records are a vital management tool for any arable farmer.

Dr Paul Wilson of the university of Nottingham, told a Home Grown Cereals Authority road show at York that they were essential.

"If you want to get somewhere you need to know how to get there, but you need to know where you are now," he said.

"The starting point is to look at records as a valuable management tool, not as a chore."

Details must be available about yields, prices, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and other crop protections as well as labour and machinery.

It was also valuable to have detailed knowledge at a field level, so the position could be seen of good and poorer parts of fields.

Accepting that soil types and the climate varied, he gave a general benchmark for the yields crops should be achieving on light, medium and heavy soils.

The benchmark for winter wheat was 8t/ha on light soils, 9t/ha on medium and 10t/ha on heavy soils.

Winter barley was 8, 9 and 9t/ha. Winter oilseed rape was 3.5, 4 and 4.5t/ha; spring peas were 3.5, 4, and 4.5t/ha and spring beans were 3.5, 4 and 5t/ha.

Dr Wilson stressed the figures should only be used as a benchmark.

If a grower was achieving it with wheat but was way off with barley, then he should consider whether barley should be dropped in favour of something more suitable.

He denied profitability depended on farm size but said a survey of farms up to 100ha, between 100 and 200ha and over 200ha showed that the middle group had been the most profitable between 1996 and 2000.

"It is sometimes said that spreading costs over large areas makes farms more profitable but from the information we looked at I think if you are in a hole now, getting bigger would not necessarily mean you would get better," said Dr Wilson.

"Small farms can be profitable and large farms can lose a lot of money. Information on farm size and profitability is not consistent."

He explained some of the differences between the top 25pc of arable farmers and the bottom 25pc.

The bottom 25pc of winter wheat growers were getting one t/ha less yield and a lower price than the top, who were getting 1 t/ha better yield and £2/t more than the average.

In total, the top 25pc achieved 2t/ha and £4/t more than the bottom 25pc.

The top ones spent less on seed, fertiliser and crop protection but more on labour and machinery.

They were spending more on implements so they had the technical clout to go in at the appropriate times.

Not only did the top 25pc achieve higher yields, they also received better prices than the bottom 25pc.

Potatoes were particularly significant in that the bottom 25pc received up to 26pc lower prices than the average while the top 25pc received about 25pc more than the average.

Dr Wilson said arable farmers wanting to improve their farm performance must know where their business was at present.

They should analyse its strengths and weaknesses, challenge current practices and identify opportunities and threats.

"Do not be afraid to change but do not change for change's sake," he concluded, "If you are profitable now, and happy with it, then stick with it.