Arable Farming

Several grain merchants including ADM and Frontier have announced they will no longer be sending grain samplers on to farms, following growing concerns over health and safety.

Industry leaders have called for Government to provide ‘critical’ data on the UK’s figure for access to seasonal workers, in a bid to prevent labour shortfalls.

While participating in the LiveWheat project, Green Acres Farm in Shropshire has shown resilience in extreme weather and achieved consistent wheat crop quality and yield. Farmers Guardian spoke to organic grower, Mark Lea.

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

As pest control and extreme weather put sugar beet crops under pressure, BBRO’s online BeetField20 Virtually Live events provided growers with some pointers to adapting to the changing meteorological and political climate.

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.

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.