Arable Farming

The 2019/20 sugar beet campaign came to a close in mid-April, when British Sugar’s Newark factory closed its gates for beet intake after 208 days – the longest known uninterrupted European sugar beet campaign.

Miscanthus specialist business Terravesta has appointed ProCam as its official agronomy service, to support farmers with crop care throughout the UK.

The Environment Agency has revised its ‘2020 irrigation prospects’ to take account of the lack of rainfall in April throughout England.

Although more land has been cropped in the last month or so than many would have imagined, winter crops, in particular, are not looking their best and growers are faced with difficult decisions concerning what to apply.

While growers are aware of the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it can be difficult to know where to start. But NFU has been working to make things easier.

Changes to farm payment systems and satisfying supply chain company requirements may require a closer look at carbon balance in the future.

Recent rainfall throughout much of the country is likely to cause a flush of weeds, particularly where pre-ems could not be applied because it was either too wet or too dry.

With the 2019/2020 season an example of the extreme weather patterns the UK could be facing in the future, tech companies are working to find new ways of predicting and managing weather risk within the supply chain.

NFU’s horticulture and potatoes board chairwoman Alison Capper has warned thousands of pickers are needed to fill ‘peak’ jobs for the harvest season fast approaching.