Arable News

New Group 2 milling wheat Mayflower lived up to its promise with farmers reporting impressive yields and high protein levels following this year’s harvest.

With oilseed rape prices still topping £650/tonne and wheat harvests well advanced, many growers are understandably keen to get next year’s crop in the ground. But at the time of writing, only scattered showers had fallen across the UK – leaving soils dry and most drills stuck on standby.

Using variety choice to manage on-farm risk should be a top priority for growers when finalising variety choices for the coming season, according to breeder Limagrain UK.

Now in its 31st year, national crop establishment demonstration Tillage-Live is returning to Scotland in September.

Farmers Guide asked Zach Reilly, a senior consultant with SAC Consulting specialising in soil management and crop production advice, and the lead facilitator for the Farming for a Better Climate project with the Soil Regenerative Agriculture Group, to share his tips for grassweed control in non-inversion cultivation systems.

Despite drought conditions towards the end of the growing season and an earlier harvest than in most years, yields have generally held up well across the country, says KWS UK country manager Will Compson.

ProCam agronomist Jonathan Guy advises farms across South Yorkshire. Both black-grass and Italian ryegrass cause problems in his area, but on balance, ryegrass is more troublesome to control, he reckons.

CF Fertilisers UK is set to temporarily halt ammonia production at its Billingham complex, while Yara has announced further curtailments.

Yara and Limagrain on how to establish a successful oilseed rape crop this autumn.

As the world’s population is projected to exceed nine billion by 2050, vertical farming is rapidly becoming the answer to the global food crisis, according to Westbrooke Associates.

Unlike most years, 2022 will not be about managing large green haulm to aid skin set and lifting, but about keeping the crop alive with water or making more challenging strategic decisions, says Hutchinsons root crop technical manager Darryl Shailes.

Kuhn has chosen to focus on its min-till products at Tillage Live, showcasing the Optimer range of stubble cultivators, the Striger strip till machine and Prolander shallow tine cultivator.