Crop protection

Using the right adjuvants could be key to ensuring herbicide efficacy this year, following the challenging weather for planting crops and applying herbicides.

Fungicide active epoxiconazole was not among 30 plus actives which recently had their expiry dates extended to allow the EC longer to consider and process reapproval submissions.

Farmers whose crops have failed or are unable to get seed in the ground are now faced with the added stress of meeting crop diversification requirements in order to qualify for greening payments

Farmer-driven, independent trials conducted in northern England are showing some encouraging results when using biopesticides against septoria in winter wheat crops.

Neonicotinoids were a key point of discussion at the NFU Conference, following the high number of imports from countries that still use the chemical.

New systems need to be developed that measure the use of integrated pest management (IPM) to evidence decisions being made on farm that do not involve the use of chemicals.

The vision of only applying plant protection products to crops where they are needed may be some way off, but the use of variable rate application technology in fungicides is evolving.

Developments in plant transformation and insights gained from the pharmaceutical sector are helping to give a deeper insight into herbicide resistance in black-grass and how it might be combatted.

In 2019, the AHDB GB Fight Against Blight programme received 229 reports of blight outbreaks across 68 varieties, compared to just 40 outbreaks in 2018.

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