Arable News

Warm and dry weather has supported harvest progress over the past fortnight and helped the progression of wheat, spring barley and spring oat crops towards harvest, the latest harvest progress report for 2024 confirms. 

As this year’s sugar beet harvest approaches, British Sugar has just shared details of the campaign start dates for each of its four factories.  

Harvest is on hold at the farm after organised criminals broke into a locked grain shed to steal the loader, bypassing security measures.

On top of basic hygiene measures, potato growers are being urged to disinfect stores with peroxyacetic acid, applied as a wet fog, to reduce the carry-over of damaging diseases ahead of this year’s harvest.

A project that brings trials of precision-bred cereal crops onto commercial farms in Europe is now underway, researchers confirm.

Market data sourced from Mordor Intelligence predicts that the potato market will grow to a staggering $137 billion (over £105 billion) by 2029.  

Richard Langton said contractors came in without prior warning and dug two holes in the field, despite being asked to wait until the spring barley had been harvested.

Analysis of over 800 of this year’s first cut silage samples shows a huge difference in the quality of silages harvested early (March, April and May) and those harvested later (June onwards), said feed supplier ForFarmers. 

Two farms share their experience of harvesting after record-breaking rainfall this year, with one moving from wheat to beans, and another putting a field into regen ag.

With the UK’s oilseed rape plantings potentially set to be the smallest for forty years, managing director of plant breeder NPZ UK, Chris Guest, joins in calls for a reboot for the crop for the benefit of UK growers and the country’s food security. 

Agricultural insurer, Acres Insurance Brokers, is warning farmers to check their staff’s operator licences when running farm machinery during the harvest period. 

Police are appealing for information in regards to £2,000 of damage that was done to crops on a field in East Dorset.