Arable News

Ernest Doe hosted a New Holland Harvester Demonstration to show off some of the latest harvesting equipment. Farmers Guide attended the Ernest Doe harvest Demonstration in Mickfield, near Stowmarket, Suffolk.

As harvest progresses almost a week earlier than normal and land is cleared, many growers will be looking to get their OSR crops into the ground – but don’t be tempted to drill until there is enough moisture, says Liam Wilkinson, arable development officer for Limagrain UK.

New hybrid OSR variety backs up its RL trial results with positive on-farm reports.

Ten of the most widely-used techniques to reduce winter OSR risk are rated particularly highly for their effectiveness by growers in the latest annual Dekalb benchmarking study, providing a valuable focus for those looking to make the most of the coming season’s excellent OSR-earning opportunities.

The launch of Elsoms Trees is set to boost the supply of broadleaf seedlings to the UK market, through increasing the supply of in-demand tree species from difficult to source provenances.

As temperatures start to climb again with warnings of an August heatwave, interim results from this season’s Quantis sugar beet trials indicate the biostimulant treatments are helping crops to better cope with adverse effects of heat.

The benefits far outweighed the costs in the first year of using the Omnia digital farming platform at one East Yorkshire farm, and with input prices hitting new highs, further efficiency gains look set to benefit the bottom line even more.

The lead-up to harvest has been dry, so conditions have not been conducive for slug activity across much of the country. However, things can quickly change if the weather breaks and a pattern of regular rainfall kicks in.

In the rush to prepare ground for drilling, it can be all too easy to go straight in with the cultivator or subsoiler as soon as the combine leaves the field – but that may not be best for soil health or crop establishment.

More than two decades of black-grass trials at Agrii’s Stow Longa research centre suggest that only by taking a fully integrated approach involving the full gamut of control options will growers succeed in tackling this problem weed.

Over-cultivating seedbeds, or cultivating them too soon after harvest, risks damaging soil structure and impairing following crop establishment, Hutchinsons technical manager Dick Neale has warned.

Sencrop has worked with the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) to develop an agronomic indicator for Cercospora in sugar beet which is now being widely used.