Crop protection

Potato growers are facing a different proposition when it comes to weed control this spring compared to 2022 following delayed planting of much of the UK’s maincrop.

Potato giant, PepsiCo has been trialling CCm Growth for the last three years and for the first time this season the company is rolling out trials commercially.

Researchers have revealed for the first time how a mechanism that controls root development in plants enables them to cope better with environmental stress conditions.

After taking over Hope Farm in 2000, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is using the land as a testbed to demonstrate how farmers can transition to more nature-friendly practices while remaining commercially profitable.

If heavy rainfall and challenging ground conditions prevent T0 fungicide applications, industry experts advise growers to increase T1 application rates 

Arable farmers are being encouraged to make early foliar phosphate applications to give crops a much-needed development boost this spring. 

Yellow rust has become a bigger yield-robber than septoria for one Midlands farm, despite him farming some distance from the disease’s traditional eastern counties hotspot.

Chemistry is fast disappearing from farming’s toolbox, but researchers and farmers in Scotland are working together to trial alternative solutions to protect the high health status of the seed potato industry.