Arable Farming

When describing integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, recording when you do not take action, such as not applying a chemical, could be just as important as noting when you do.

A new independent trial carried out by the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) has shown that larger seed sizes of typical UK varieties of winter wheat and spring barley resulted in higher emergence rates.

Practical glyphosate application guidelines, published by the Weed Resistance Action Group (WRAG), aims to help arable growers reduce the increasing risk of glyphosate resistance developing in grass-weeds.

In conjunction with Bayer we will be keeping track of winter wheat development over two cultivation strategies, and using Rapid Disease Detection results to monitor disease progress through the season.

The result of the temptation to drill earlierlastautumn to ensure crops were safely in the ground is evident insome fields as highnumbers of black-grass headsemerge above the crop.

Farmers are being asked to assist in a new study looking at the spread of rat’s tail fescue, a grass-weed that is already posing problems in France, Switzerland, Spain and Denmark - and is now starting to take hold in England

What a rollercoaster ride this season is turning out to be; cold, dry, hot and wet, spring has had a bit of summer, autumn and winter in its making.

SCIENTISTS have refined a transformational process that allows nitrate to be captured from drinking water for use in agriculture as a liquid fertiliser.

An increased grant offering has been announced to encourage the planting of cover crops to improve soil structure on Midlands farms and protect water quality, as part of the wider Severn Trent Environment Protection Scheme.

Cooler temperatures have so far halted septoria progress, but the disease is expected to ramp up in the coming weeks following the bout of warmer weather.