Visit the Cereals 2023 event to connect, learn and share

Cereals crop plots

This year’s crop plots have, for the first time, dedicated weather stations keeping an eye on conditions on the ground.

“Temperatures have been warmer, at around 14^oC, and not too much rain, which has been good for spraying activities,” says Mark Herriman, account executive at Sencrop, which provided the weather stations.

Visitors can walk around 6ha of plots growing a wide range of crops. As well as its ‘wheels’ of winter wheat, winter barley, spring wheat and spring barley at Cereals, a feature which proved popular last year, KWS will exhibit varieties of sugar beet, including Conviso Smart, treated and untreated for weed control.

NIAB will be demonstrating options to support more resilient future arable systems. Visitors can look at a diverse range of the UK’s under-utilised and novel crops that may become more popular over the next few years, comments Stuart Knight, director of agronomy at NIAB.

“With five herbal grazing ley mixtures alongside buckwheat, quinoa, grain maize, durum wheat, hybrid rye and triticale, growers have the option to view the crops above and below ground in the 20m long NIAB soil hole,” said Mr Knight.

Lee Bennett, managing director at RAGT Seeds – a recent returner to Cereals – is looking forward to the event. “We have a bit of everything. We have breeding plots with new and established varieties including wheat group ones Skyfall and Illustrious and group four Bairstow, and new two-row winter barley, Orcade. There are also plots containing barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) resistant and tolerant varieties.”

Farmers looking to get the most out of their fertiliser use have access to a new nitrogen efficiency optimiser, widely available across the UK and Ireland for the first time this year, explains Alex Nichols, marketing manager at Corteva. “BlueN is a biostimulant containing a naturally available bacteria that enables crops, including cereals, oilseed rape and maize to fix nitrogen from the air and make it available throughout the plant’s lifecycle. Farmers will be able to view crop plots treated with BlueN and talk to Corteva’s experts on the stand over both days.”

DSV is celebrating its 100th anniversary at Cereals and will be showcasing barley variety, Sensation, which is resistant to BYDV and barley mosaic virus types one and two.

Knowledge exchange seminars

Cereals has a wealth of seminars this year, with opportunities to question political leaders, players in the environmental services arena and farmers going down the regenerative agriculture route.

The Mainstage kicks off with a session entitled ‘Privately funded environment incentives’, with presentations on ecosystem services that provide farmers with new income to deliver greater biodiversity, protect precious species or curb pollution.

Farmers also have an opportunity to quiz political and industry leaders including Mark Spencer, minister of state for food, farming and fisheries, and NFU president, Minette Batters, on their thinking around food security to trade deals, grant schemes to new technologies and everything in between.

Farming speakers will provide new insights and practical experience of the benefits of circular and regenerative farming methods. In the seminar ‘Great soils, great crops’, soil scientists will discuss their research after keynote speaker, LEAF farmer John Renner, explains how he has improved his low-grade land to such an extent that it is now part of a high-yielding arable rotation.

In another session on publicly funded environmental incentives, Janet Hughes, programme director for the Future Farming and Countryside Programme, will provide an update and details of the government schemes to encourage greater biodiversity, landscape and wildlife protection.

New technology and climate change will also be key topics, while a new feature for 2023, ‘AgAnalyst Academy: Making precision farming pay’, will explore best practice in precision farming with progressive farmers, advisers, and precision technologists.

The first session looks at ‘must-see machines to help you farm more precisely’, including N-sensors, spray nozzles, protein monitors and variable seed rate drills.

At the new Cereals Stories Stage, inspiring farming personalities will tell their stories about how they got into the industry and what they have contributed and continue to give back.

In its third year, the popular NAAC Land Drainage Hub has proved a popular attraction. Topics include ‘UK drainage – where are we now?’ and ‘land drainage and minimum tillage – making it work’.

Daily machinery demonstrations

The wide range of exhibitors means that, whether visitors are looking for the latest min-till drills, sprayers, harvesting or baling kit, the stands and demos will have plenty of high-tech machinery to choose from.

In addition to leading exhibitors, informational seminars and a wide variety of crops on display at Cereals, there are also 200+ working demonstrations taking place throughout the event. The ideal opportunity to see the latest innovations, new product ranges and precision ag technology solutions for arable farmers. Hosted on a working farm, Cereals 2023 is able to take your experience to the next level through working demonstrations across a wide range of manufacturers and machinery types.

Cereals is a place where visitors can learn best practice, and Cereals host Gregor Pierrepont, partner at Thoresby Farming and Estate, is also looking forward to the social element, where visitors can catch up with familiar faces.

“I’m incredibly honoured and excited to play a part in Cereals, which has been a key part of the farming calendar for decades.”

Tickets for Cereals 2023 are now on sale, with 50% of the proceeds going to the Multiple System Atrophy Trust, a cause close to the host farmer’s heart.