Arable Farming

Gaining UK authorisation in December, the much-anticipated Revystar XE is available for use cereal in crops this season.

There is no doubt that the UK arable industry needs to scrutinise every opportunity available to it and indeed examine and lobby for steps which create new commercial opportunities.

Almost 50 years on from the closure of the Scottish sugar beet factory in Cupar, a Rural Innovation Support Service group is aiming to look into the feasibility and steps required to re-establish the crop in eastern Scotland.

February 2020 Arable Farming Issue

A majority of potato businesses are growing cover crops in order to improve soil structure, build organic matter and dry out wet soils, but there could be a benefit to yields too.

Well into January, we are still clinging to the hope of getting more crops in – spring sown, if not winter wheat. But every glimmer of opportunity in the form of a few dry days in a row seems to be snuffed out by yet another soaking.

Potato growers are being urged to prepare now for changes in the potato seed treatment line-up this spring, as product choices and application options have narrowed.

With some winter crops only just in the ground, and margins particularly tight, fungicide programmes will need careful consideration this season.

Not always a popular cropping option, spring oilseed rape could come into its own this year with firm prices among other factors in its favour, delegates at a United Oilseeds/AHDB Agronomy Seminar heard.

Sodden soils have severely hampered early weed control opportunities this season, and a wet and mild winter, which is typically followed by higher spring grass-weed populations, could make the challenge even greater.