Oilseed rape

Niche crops, value-added crops and alternative break crops offer market-driven alternatives to environmental schemes

Co-formulations claim to offer key protections against major cereal and oilseed rape diseases

Speakers at an oilseed rape (OSR) conference in Northampton were keen to highlight the opportunities presented by OSR production but did not shy away from acknowledging the risks associated with the crop

The wheat crop was 21% less than last year and the five-year average

The UK harvested the third smallest wheat crop in 40 years

Gross output value falls below four-year average

Dan Hawes grew up on an arable farm in Suffolk and now produces strawberry and raspberry plants for the UK fruit market with Blaise Plants, sister company to Hugh Lowe Farms, Kent. The business grows outside, under tunnels and in glasshouses and produces more than four million plants a year. The arable side includes environmental schemes, with a mix of wheat, oilseed rape, beans and barley crops.

One Dorset farm has identified six key areas to secure oilseed rape establishment, securing successful yields and a firm place in a profitable rotation

With grain prices rising again after easing last week, Cedric Porter takes a look at the factors affecting the markets.