This year has started on a much more positive note than its predecessor. The more settled weather has improved soil conditions no end and in some cases has even prompted some drills to awaken from their post New Year snooze and re-enter the winter sowing campaign.

With increasing pressure to retain the performance of current actives, and a tight year expected financially, disease control this season requires a rethink.

The latest safe sowing dates for the various winter crops I had optimistically hoped we would get an opportunity to drill are fast approaching and will soon be a distant memory, probably without a wheel ever turning.

The start of a new decade is often a prompt to reflect on the 10 years just gone, and to consider what the next ten will bring.

With the weather having being kinder to us since the turn of the year, significant progress has been made on two fronts.

From the producer to the consumer, technology will enable better precision, prediction, profitability and scrutiny in the food chain. Jez Fredenburgh reports.

Enabling farmers to incorporate new technologies into their businesses will be key if the sector is to achieve its climate change goals. Lauren Dean speaks to Luke Halsey, head of Farm491 to find out more.

With the backdrop of resistance issues and withdrawal of chlorothalonil (CTL), growers attending the AHDB/SRUC Agronomy 2020 meeting in Inverurie heard how to maximise disease control this season. Jo Learmonth reports.

For years, the arguments around Brexit have been focused on ‘in or out’. Now, with our departure just days away, it’s time to think about how we can make the most of leaving, says Matt Legge, a sheep, beef and pig farmer from the Isle of Wight.

Critics of the industry often claim today’s pesticides are more toxic and damaging to soil than ever – but nothing could be further from the truth, says Adam Speed, head of communications at the Crop Protection Association.