Cereals News

A mild winter, forward crops and good conditions for sprayers to travel have conspired to offer many arable farmers an early opportunity to get ahead with weed control.

AHDB has produced its latest Agri-market Outlook, which explores the factors likely to affect farm businesses.

A crop of DSV Champion winter wheat grown by UK producer Tim Lamyman has been pronounced the official Guinness World Record for wheat yield, beating the existing record of 17.40t/ha achieved in New Zealand in 2020.

The Mecmar mobile drier is the latest addition to Ian and Tom Jackson’s grain drying plant at Bowsden West Farm and has been key to saving valuable man hours during harvest.

AHDB’s online edition of the Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) 2023/24 may feature fewer new varieties than previous Lists, but some of the newcomers deliver large yield increases, especially in barley and oilseed rape.

Firefoxx, a high-yielding spring malting barley with early maturity, bred by Elsoms-Ackermann Barley, has received full approval for malt distilling use by the Malting Barley Committee (MBC) confirms Paul Taylor, Head of Agriculture at Elsoms Seeds.

Exhibitors gathered at the new Cereals Event site last week to examine their crop plots and discuss plans for the event. Despite torrential rain, the new location, at Thoresby Hall, Newark, looked a picture, with the 60ha site protected by trees on the edge of Sherwood Forest.

Spring cropping remains an important option for many northern farms, and growers should think about variety choices carefully and take steps to secure seed early, said CAS arable agronomist Archie Boase, part of Hutchinsons.

More farmers are planning to harvest winter crops in 2023 according to AHDB’s Early Bird Survey, likely due to the favourable weather conditions and wider drilling window this autumn.

The four councils, Beef & Lamb, Cereals & Oilseeds, Dairy and Pork, have published sector plans as part of a commitment to outline how the levy will be invested over the next five years.

In order to avoid unnecessary yield penalties when late drilling winter wheat, it is key to select the right winter wheat variety.

Huddlestone Produce was able to reduce harvest time by around 30 hours after upgrading their grain drying and storage plant.