Arable Farming

A farmer from Ashburton, New Zealand, has won the Guinness World Record for the highest wheat yield for the second consecutive time.

The weather has not been kind to oilseed rape this season and the threat of flea beetle has left many growers questioning the future viability of the crop as yield information comes in.

For many potato growers, 2020 will be the first year they begin sprout suppression with foliar applied maleic hydrazide (MH) in the field as the first step to storage without CIPC.

The Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD) has approved the use of Funguran Progress (copper hydroxide) to control late blight in organic potato crops under an emergency use application.

New spring oat varieties with higher kernel contents are coming through and finding acceptance among millers for food consumption markets. The spring oat crop also has benefits in terms of black-grass suppression.

Concerns are mounting about the impact of virus yellows on the future viability of the UK sugar beet crop.

Slurry and digestate can perform a useful role in replacing or supplementing artificial fertiliser. FGinsight got some top tips on how best to use it from Tramspread director Laurence Baker.

In Cambridgeshire, Cassia winter barley yields are looking ‘suprisingly okay’ says Tom Mead of Mead Farms in Foxton.

Thirty-eight per cent of arable soils across England and Wales are degraded according to scientists at Rothamsted Research who have developed a new soil health measure.

The 2020 AHDB Planting and Variety Survey has revealed a large swing to spring cropping due to poor autumn conditions.