Arable

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.

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.

A top agricultural lawyer has warned the English agriculture budget could be swallowed up by non-farmers after the Brexit transition period ends.

Green groups have warned the environment could be under threat as cross-compliance provisions fall away in the coming years.

The Government’s new green watchdog should be given the power to determine whether future farming budgets are high enough to deliver desired environmental outcomes, a leading ecological body has said.

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.

Farmers in Scotland will benefit from a share of £40m as the Scottish Government moves to decarbonise the agricultural sector.

On Monday night at our local Highland Perthshire NFU branch meeting we were treated to an entertaining and informative talk by our local butcher Rory McDonald of McDonald Bros, Pitlochry and Aberfeldy.