ORO AGRI, a global manufacturer of agricultural adjuvants, pesticides and foliar nutrients, made its debut at this year’s CropTec Show, which took place at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, UK on 19 – 20 November 2014.

“This is the first time that we have exhibited at CropTec and were delighted to have the opportunity to showcase our unique range of products to UK arable farmers,” explained Carol Pullen, General Manager Europe, of ORO AGRI International Ltd. “At the event we profiled our top selling adjuvant product WETCIT®. This product offers a ‘one

product does all’ approach providing farmers with the same, if not better, results from using one product instead of the need to use several products to do the same job. WETCIT contains a blend of natural plant-derived extracts with bio-degradable wetting agents the combination of which is collectively known as OROWET technology and is patented worldwide.

This technology is unique and differentiates WETCIT from other adjuvants. It gives the product a special mode of action and provides highly effective spread and coverage of pesticide and/or fertilizer spray droplets while optimizing penetrating properties into hard to reach areas of the plant.”

“TRANSFORMER® was another ORO AGRI product highlighted at the show. It is a soil enhancement product that can increase the efficacy of water in soil by improving infiltration with normally just one application per season. Both these products are already available in the UK from Hutchinsons,” said Pullen.

“Our flagship pesticide, PREV-AM®, which was recently shortlisted in the “Best New Biopesticide” category at the prestigious AGROW 2014 Awards, is currently on the market in France and Belgium but we are hoping it will become available in the UK

shortly,” said Pullen.

Eagle Eye Innovations have just spent a few days at a big agricultural event in Peterborough UK called CropTec. It showcases all things technological that affect agricultural such as automated driving devices for tractors, sprayers, software for yield management and other fascinating state of the art gadgets that are designed to help ease the burden on the farmer.

We were there with some of our aircraft and a stand to talk to people in the farming industry and help show them the benefits of UAV’s. This was our first event at an Ag show so we arrived with a sense of caution and scepticism. It didn’t take long however before curious farmers, agronomists and trade people came by and started enquiring about our services and how it would help them. We of course explained all the benefits of UAV technology, such as the simplicity etc and slowly but surely started to win over a lot of the doubting Thomas’s.

I think what became apparent was that since the advent of UAV technology consumers were aware that there was a use for drones in agriculture but the big question was where? Of course the big reason why there was a little bit of cynicism and the fear of the unknown is of course cost.

Although it is far cheaper than conventional aircraft its still an additional cost for something like farming that has been done successfully for a lot longer than aircraft have been around. Of course we’ve had an agricultural specialist on hand who had advised us on the benefits for months, he was also well linked in to many key players in the farming world so it was a little easier to attract these individuals to our stand and chat to them.

As the technology behind farming and agriculture has accelerated over the last 10 years, with the drive for increased yields whilst reducing the application of fertilisers and chemicals, it is clear that drones and EE Innovations can offer a great opportunity to this market. Additionally, what sets EEI apart from other drone operators is that we are ‘battle proven’, and are professional operators with in excess of 3000 hours of UAV operations across 3 continents.

CropTec was an excellent experience and opportunity for us to spread the word. We look forward to building on this in the coming months as we prepare for LAMMA in Jan 15.

An urgent rethink in the way crops are grown and protected is needed to ensure the UK arable sector can overcome significant short- and medium-term challenges that threaten its economic performance.

Rob King, managing director of Adama UK, the principal sponsor of arable technical event CropTec, used his opening address at the show in Peterborough (Nov 19) to urge everyone involved in crop production to open their minds to technical innovation.

This was vital to protect the dwindling armoury of crop protection products essential to profitable production and to increase the resilience of arable farming systems to increased pest and disease threats.

“That well-known phrase ‘I’ve always done it this way’ should be banished from cropping circles in this country,” Mr King said. “The question should be: ‘What can I do differently – as a manufacturer, a distributor, agronomist or grower?’”

The sector could no longer rely on new molecules to replace frontline solutions that in some cases were becoming redundant at alarming speed, he added.

“Within the EU and particularly the UK we expect very few significant crop protection solutions offering novel modes of action to come to market in the next five years. Each new active ingredient costs an estimated £150m and there is clearly a limit on resources for this purpose.”

Development and regulatory budgets within the traditional big ‘R&D’ manufacturers had largely been diverted into seeds and traits, he added. “We are in a region where GM crops are currently not welcome, so this diverted investment will not help us much in the foreseeable future.”

Important groups of agrochemicals were under severe pressure from national and European regulators, he added. New legislation could result in further rules or bans being introduced in just a season or two’s time.

“UK crop protection manufacturers, distributors, agronomists and farmers need to take lead roles in innovation together. Manufacturers must develop novel products and solutions; agronomists should give more sophisticated advice in the field; and growers need to adapt to do things differently to keep irreplaceable actives in the armoury. Without them, arable farming will be almost impossible in some circumstances.”

Further ahead, new pests and pathogens threatened to overwhelm many key crop-producing countries including the UK, as outlined in new research led by Exeter University, said Mr King.

“The study states that over 10% of pest species can now be found in half of the countries growing host crops. If this spread continues at its current rate, it is feared that a major proportion of global crop-producing countries could be overwhelmed by new pests within the next 30 years.

“Experts have warned that unless we take measures to build up resilience in agriculture and adapt at national policy level, then we’ll be unable to react to these new pest and pathogen threats.”

More investment in and an increased focus on sustainable farm practices was key, he believed. “We need to ensure agronomic strategies use the whole tool kit, including effective crop rotation, the use of fallow and break cropping, strategic spring cropping, carefully considered cultivation and judicious use of crop protection products.

“We need to be less reliant on a few disease-resistant genes across our most important crops – wheat and oilseed rape. We need to have access to a range of multi-site actives to reduce the pressure on single target site fungicides and herbicides.”

“Chemistry has contributed towards intensive, year-on-year monoculture but, with fewer new plant protection products coming through, we may have to take a break from this practice unless we preserve the tools we have now.”

Adama’s emphasis was very much oriented towards technological innovation, he said. “The company is focused on making relatively rapid improvements to the sustainability of crop protection practices. Already, our UK Oilseed Rape Foundations Programme and our Water Aware initiative are starting to attract attention.

“We must all examine new techniques using existing chemistry but in different ways, at different timings, at different concentrations to protect our crops and our natural resources in the short term and to help mitigate those pest and disease threats 30 years out.

“If we can tackle the short term we will survive to tackle the long term,” he concluded.

With a return to more normal cropping conditions this autumn, growers will have more time to consider their spring cropping options.  However this season these decisions need to be made in the context of several key issues affecting many farms up and down the country – CAP reform, black-grass control and making the most of field margins.

At Croptec this year Limagrain will be running a spring cropping clinic to focus on these very issues; breeders and technical experts will be on hand throughout the two days to discuss the pros and cons of different cropping options for your farm and how to best manage these crops.

“As breeders we are always aiming to introduce new varieties each year that offer benefits to growers; increased yield, stronger agronomic characteristics and better disease resistance – and we have a wide range of spring crops to offer growers that suit a wide range of situations.”

“We also have to meet the needs of the end users when developing these new varieties to ensure that they have secure marketing options through improved quality, productivity, processability and added value,” says Lee Robinson, managing director of Limagrain.

“For example, Limagrain has a range of varieties that meet the requirement of the new CAP cropping proposals such as cover crop mixtures and maize for bio-digesters, as well as the more traditional spring crops such as spring barley and spring wheat that can be drilled late autumn if required.

“Where growers have left fields fallow or are using spring cropping as part of their black-grass control strategy, we are able to offer advice on varieties that will fit the later drilled autumn or spring sowing slot – be these cereals, pulses or maize, offer the best advice on these and how to manage them,” adds Ron Granger, arable technical manager with Limagrain.

With increasing interest in field margins the Limagrain forage team will also be available at the clinic to talk through any questions on choosing and growing varieties for these areas.

“At CropTec I’ll be talking about the hugely important role plant breeding has to play in ensuring the growing world population and subsequent increasing calorie demand, are met.  Quite simply, the challenge is enormous – the world must grow more crops from the available resources and one of the key sustainable approaches, is to unlock the potential of plants through innovation.

The enormity of the challenge is the responsibility of everyone, but closer to home addressing the cereal yield plateau is something where we can contribute. In the past perhaps we have looked at each aspect of crop growing in too much isolation and not fully appreciated the importance of an integrated approach. At Syngenta we have recognised this, bringing together expertise in plant breeding, agronomy, chemistry and application to ensure that our wide range of products and offers delivers as much value to the farmer and supply chain as possible.

The importance of taking an integrated approach to crop production has been demonstrated during the last 12 months. After two very different challenging years, crops were established well last autumn, but a mild and wet winter followed by a warm spring meant that it was not just crops that grew well but also the blackgrass, wild oats and a wide range of disease such as septoria and yellow rust. That increased the costs of production. Meanwhile, lower commodity prices have also increased pressure on growers, although higher yields may have compensated for some of that decline.

Plant breeding companies have a range of new techniques and technologies, complementing traditional breeding that has served us so well until now, examples such as marker technology helping the whisky industry, marker assisted backcrossing allowing FHB resistance to be introduced into European germplasm, Doubled Haploid techniques delivering varieties quicker and of course Hybridization of barley giving increased yield consistency.
With its focus on technology, CropTec is the ideal event for us to demonstrate how plant breeding will help us increase crop output against a backdrop of climatic and economic pressure.”

For more on CropTec see www.croptecshow.com

Matthew Clarke, Dekalb UK & Nordics OSR Breeder

Breeding varieties with a high output potential isn’t difficult. But combining this potential with the greatest performance ability under less-than-ideal conditions is far more challenging.

Monsanto has identified major differences in the ability of high output winter OSR hybrids to tolerate nutritional as well as other environmental stresses.

Our screening of more than 60 advanced breeders’ materials across a number of sites has revealed that even tolerant modern hybrids with their superior ability to compensate for environmental stresses typically lose 22% of their yield when nitrogen inputs are cut from

180 kg/ha to 120 kg/ha.

While the least tolerant lines suffer yield losses of 25% or more, however, we’ve found the most tolerant lose just 15% or less, opening up the prospect of substantial improvements through breeding to further boost the resilience and reliability of winter OSR.

We’ve been able to extend this resilience significantly in recent years by introducing vigorous establishment, double phoma resistance, pod shatter resistance and low biomass traits into our Dekalb hybrids  To these we are currently adding robust light leaf spot and even stronger phoma resistance.

Employing no fungicides on sites with the greatest disease pressures has been instrumental in enabling us to develop robust varietal resistance. In the same way, delaying harvesting on particularly exposed sites has been vital in identifying pod shatter resistance; growing nurseries in the most extreme continental locations in ensuring high levels of winter hardiness; and drilling later than normal and into difficult seedbeds in pinpointing the most vigorous-establishing lines.

We’ve always appreciated the impressive powers of recovery oilseed rape possesses and the clear superiority of hybrids in this respect. But only by strictly limiting nitrogen inputs on a number of breeding sites are we seeing just how widely high output hybrids differ in their ability to tolerate nutritional stress. This has opened some very exciting doors for future variety development.

Our studies suggest environmental stress tolerance is linked to a superior capacity for branching in general and branching from low down on the stem, in particular; a capacity which depends on a number of hormonal factors – primarily those involved in apical dominance.

We are well-advanced in developing hybrids which combine the highest possible output  under optimal nitrogen levels with the least output penalties when nitrogen supply is seriously constrained – whether intentionally or in challenging seasons.

For more on CropTec see www.croptechshow.com

BASF’s Head of Global Sustainability and Product Stewardship, Joachim Leyendecker will be presenting a seminar on Profiting from Positive Stewardship at the CropTec event.

“CropTec provides a great platform to focus on and to discuss the challenges that face oilseed rape growers and to share solutions to those challenges together,” says Joachim. “Oilseed rape remains the most profitable break crop in the rotation and it plays a key role in the control of problem weeds, such as black-grass, right across the rotation. This is especially so on heavy land where spring crops are difficult to grow. Growers should not underestimate the value of rape in their rotation.”
But Joachim warns that the greatest threat to growing oilseed rape today is water regulation, both in the EU and in the UK. “If we exceed the set amount of chemical in water, we stand the risk of less herbicide use, lower dose rates, a poor image for the industry and the possible removal of important active ingredients from the market. Our challenge as an industry is to be technically innovative and to think agronomically, whilst always protecting water resources.”

Dr. Leyendecker advises that BASF has made a step-change in promoting product Stewardship. “Product Stewardship is needed to keep a broad toolbox of active substances and solutions on the market. We need a pro-active approach. We need to listen to farmers. We must encourage them to support sustainable practices.”
He point outs that early establishment of oilseed rape enables effective management of fixed costs and labour. “It also plays an essential role in stewardship.”

“If you establish your oilseed rape crop early and well and also look after soil conditions and cultivations, this is an automatic start to a stewardship programme as it will allow early use of herbicides. Well managed crop protection is part of the solution, not the problem. This should be accompanied by measures to protect biodiversity to maintain the ecosystem in a favourable state.”

Growers should be thinking agronomically, paying attention to soil structure and seedbed preparation, establishing oilseed rape early by the first week of September, avoiding the use of metazachlor on drained land after the end of September and establishing biodiverse vegetative buffer strips.
This advice forms the key messages provided by the BASF and Adama Metazachlor Stewardship campaign, a proactive collaboration with the Voluntary Initiative and industry stakeholders. Additional measures will be added in the 2015/2016 season to avoid or minimise movement of water.

For more on CropTec go to http://www.croptecshow.com

Advancing and simplifying arable farming to the benefit of growers, their suppliers and advisers is the prime aim of the UK arm of a global agrochemical company which staged its UK launch in London (Nov 6). Adama Agricultural Solutions UK, one of 50 subsidiaries of what was previously known as Makhteshim Agan Industries, established in 1945, supplies arable solutions to farmers across the full value chain, including crop protection and novel agricultural technologies.

It manufactures fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, growth regulators, seed dressings and non-crop products. The business has traded in the UK for 25 years. Ranked seventh biggest agrochemical manufacturer and distributor in the world in 2013 and fifth in Europe, which accounts for 37% of group revenue, the US$3.07 billion / year revenue group has its UK offices at Thatcham, Berkshire.

Presently privately owned – 60% by ChemChina, 40% by Koor Industries – the company this week launched the new UK business with what it described as a new brand architecture for its 120 active substances, now available to major distributors and their customers in two distinct ranges: Advanced and Essentials. New, easy-to-identify, colour-coded packaging with QR codes, clear labelling and measurement strips on cans is designed to provide farmers, contractors and spray operators with a major safety feature and environmental safeguard.

Additionally, the Thatcham-based company is developing apps for mobile devices which will further support the provision of in-field product data for farm and spray contractor staff. Adama has invested in R&D hubs in China, Israel, India and Brazil to help deliver innovative, environmentally-sustainable solutions for farmers and growers in over 120 countries.

The UK business is already seeking and developing long-term crop solutions within tight European legislative, regulatory and environmental surroundings. Its commitment to innovative product development in a bid to protect yields and farm margins in the absence of new active ingredients being developed by the industry is recognised by agronomists. It does this by developing solutions from its substantial portfolio of high volume off-patent active ingredients, high value complex active substances, unique mixtures and formulations and its approach to innovative and novel solutions.

The business operates five synthesis and 14 formulation centres in Europe, China, the Middle East and in north and south America and in-country technical development facilities. In the UK, the company works with research organisations such as ADAS and NIABTAG to ensure innovative and environmentally-acceptable crop protection solutions are made available to arable farmers. It brings products to market through its established network of distributors and agronomy companies with branches throughout the country. Future plant protection solutions from Adama, it is claimed, will bring new introductions which will provide growers and their advisers with benefits over existing programme solutions.