Arable Farming

With an estimated 95 per cent of winter wheat in the ground (December 2), the ‘explosion’ in spring wheat sales seen last year will not see a repeat and seed for spring wheat will be in good supply.

The wet weather in September which put harvest on pause for some seed crops has led to quality issues and possible seed shortages for the coming season.

According to CropTec Show Biocontrol Hub sponsor UPL, farmers are increasingly turning to biocontrols and biostimulants as they seek alternatives to conventional pesticides.

With subsoil compaction difficult to quantify at field-scale, PhD student Joseph Martlew of Cranfield University has been working with NIAB TAG to investigate methods to quantify and alleviate it in arable soils.

The five new varieties added to the OSR RL are all hybrids, which now make up 80 per cent of varieties on the list.

Featuring varieties with high yields and strong disease packages, the 2021/22 AHDB Recommended Lists offer new options to growers in all regions. Alice Dyer takes a look at the latest additions.

‘Test and trace’ has become a well coined phrase during 2020, but it is also a practice that can be applied to improve crop management.

Crop health faces huge challenges including climate change, biosecurity, pesticide availability, legislation and pesticide resistance.

If food production is to reach net zero targets, policy makers need to secure fair returns for farmers by incentivising climate neutral food production.

Oilseed rape plantings have fallen to their lowest level since 1986 at 318,000 hectares, according to AHDB’s Early Bird planting survey.