Archive for August 2016

Cope Seeds are a sales and marketing company of agricultural seeds and grain, built on thirty eight years of experience within the UK seeds industry. We process a wide range of species both conventionally and organically, which are marketed to wholesale and farmer customers throughout the UK.

One of the key parts of our business is the development of new varieties that bring benefits to both the UK farmer and end user. To date we have successfully commercialised a number of varieties including Atego, Rozmar and Vok Spring Oats, Sokrates and Magister Winter Wheat, Amaretto Spring Wheat and Armada Spring Barley and we are constantly trialling new material each year in both AHDB Recommended List trials and independent trials.

This autumn we are marketing a number of winter wheat varieties including Costello, RGT Illustrious and our exclusive variety, Nelson. Costello has the highest untreated yields of any variety from our portfolio and also boasts the best grain specification of any feed wheat. Costello is a short, stiff variety which suits both heavy and light soils. RGT Illustrious is a group 1 milling wheat with the highest untreated yields of any of the group 1’s. This variety has long straw but with excellent standing power and fantastic all round disease resistance. Our own variety Nelson is a German Milling E quality. Nelson is a dual purpose variety which is useful for feed and milling and is currently being grown on a buyback into Heygates at a group 1 premium. Heygates love the variety so much; they are offering it on the old Hereward tolerance contract. Nelson is a tall, stiff variety which keeps its green retention well. In 2 years of National Agrii trials, Nelson has the best resistance to Septoria, even beating the variety Graham.

Nelson winter wheat

Our seed portfolio features the winter barleys Cassia and Talisman. Cassia is a popular high yielding, 2 row feed accounting for nearly a 3rd of the winter barley market. It has good specific weights and resistance to lodging. Cassia performed consistently over the last 3 years and is resistant to BaYMV but susceptible to Rhyncosporium and Mildew. Talisman is an early to mature 2 row malting barley with very good disease resistance, especially Rhynchosporium and has a moderate straw length with good resistance to lodging.

Our new winter oat Eagle, is now in recommended list trials and is looking like an extremely promising variety, offering both yield and quality. One of our seed growers in Scotland has reported that the crop harvested on 22 August 2016 were coming off the combine at a moisture of 13.4% and an estimated yield of 10.6t/ha, demonstrating the varieties earliness and yield potential.

Eagle winter oats

Cope Seeds are offering the winter bean varieties Tundra and Wizard to growers this autumn. Tundra is a popular variety with a sowing window running from October to December. Tundra is suitable and adaptable to a wide range of soil types. Wizard can help spread the workload and are more suitable to heavy soils where establishment of spring beans can be a problem. However due to their relatively short straw compared to other winter beans growers should ensure that seed beds are level to avoid harvesting problems. Wizard takes approximately 98% of the winter bean market as it suits both growers and end users for domestic and export use.

Should you be interested in hearing more information on any of the listed varieties, or would like to hear about our wider variety portfolio, please contact us on 01529 421081 or visit us at Croptec stand 151.

Weed wiping may offer a way to reduce black-grass seed returns by applying herbicide to the weed ahead of the following crop.

Mark Spicer, managing director of Norman and Spicer Agriculture, Hutchinsons Group, has been looking for alternative methods to control weeds including black-grass, rye-grass and wild oats.

Mr Spicer said: “I knew that American farmers were practising weed wiping which is exactly what the name implies, wiping weeds with herbicide from a boom on the back of a sprayer.

“So I spent some time looking at how this would work here on some of the more difficult to control weeds and this has led to a collaboration with Boston Crop Sprayers.”

A weed wiper is a kit attached to the back of the boom made up of a row of sponges that are gravity fed with herbicide.

“A farmer in Bedfordshire had a weep wiper retrofitted to his conventional sprayer to apply glyphosate at a concentrated rate to destroy wild oat and black-grass seeds ahead of the next crop, and there is no doubt that we have been able to kill off a large amount of the black-grass and prevent a huge seed bank being returned to the soil,” said Mr Spicer.

“We need to do some further work to quantify this, but the reduction is significant enough to warrant spending more time on the concept.

“Timing and speed of application of the glyphosate to the weed is critical; the black-grass has to be in flower and not yet filled and the weed really needs to be wetted so a higher speed works better.”

There are also crop factors to take into account, he added. “There needs to be a gap between the weed and the crop to ensure the herbicide is not wiping the crop at the same time as the weed, so a good PGR programme should be used when considering weed wiping.”

The weed wiping approach is in its second year of trials. As well as cereals, it may also have potential for use in weed control in sugar beet and brassica crops, according to Mr Spicer.

Article provided by Marianne Curtis, reporter for Arable Farming magazine. To view more stories like this why not subscribe to FGinsight.com

An enhanced version of Adama’s popular WaterAware app has been developed and is ready to launch for Autumn 2016. With 42 percent of the 486 drinking water protected areas in England at risk, the enhanced WaterAware application is essential in the coming months.

The original WaterAware app was designed to help farmers, agronomists and sprayer operators prevent key active ingredients from entering and polluting raw water supplies and to avoid further regulatory restrictions. Having taken feedback from users, the new phase of the app, which is launching in July 2016, makes the existing functions easier to navigate, allowing users to save and store data according to either the products being used, or the fields being risk assessed.

The latest phase also incorporates Adama’s new ‘#SlugAware’ feature which enables users to assess the risk of slug and snail activity on a field-by-field basis.

The WaterAware app spatially assimilates soil type and soil moisture deficit information along with forecasted weather conditions and uses a traffic light system to advise farmers and sprayer operators when it is safe or unsafe to make chemical or pellet applications.

“The original WaterAware app has been a huge success and has proved to be an effective and reliable way for growers to identify the potential risk of active ingredients being washed into watercourses,” explains Ali Bosher, Marketing Director at Adama.

“Our ongoing commitment to promoting the responsible use of agrochemicals meant we were keen to develop an updated version of the app with additional functions such as #SlugAware.”

#SlugAware is designed to protect the longevity of metaldehyde-based slug pellets such as Gusto 3 by ensuring that pellets are only applied when absolutely necessary. By considering factors such as soil type, humidity, soil moisture, temperature, cultivation method, wind and current and previous crops, #SlugAware gives growers a low, medium or high threat of slug activity warning based on their land’s specific conditions in a given 24 to 72 hour period.

“Whether it is metaldehyde from slug pellets or key weed control active ingredients such as metazachlor, more needs to be done to prevent these and other agrochemicals from entering fresh water supplies,” Ali continues.

“UK agriculture has already lost more than 70% of the active substances at its disposal since the early 1990s. Put simply, if we as an industry don’t do more to protect our natural water resources, regulatory pressures will result in farmers facing a future with even fewer active ingredients and significantly restricted weed and pest control options.

“The improvements to WaterAware and the introduction of #SlugAware are aimed at giving growers better advice and helping them to make more informed crop protection decisions by ensuring key active ingredients are only ever applied at the right time.”

The upgraded WaterAware app (which now includes the #SlugAware feature as standard) is FREE to download from Google Play for Android devices or the Apple Store for Apple devices.

BASIS and NRoSO points available for using the app.

For more information about WaterAware contact ukenquiries@adama.com or visit www.adama.com/uk/en/

CropTec 2016 proudly sponsored by Adama

Want to find out more information on the WaterAware app and other products and services from Adama? Make sure to visit their stand at CropTec 2016, 29 & 30th November, East of England Showground, Peterborough.

“We are proud to be associated with such a focused, professional and well-targeted event,” explained Ali Bosher, Marketing Director for Adama.

“With a breadth of industry-leading speakers covering a wide range of technical, practical and business issues, and an extensive seminar programme which provides various solutions to help increase yields and reduce costs of production, CropTec provides the perfect opportunity for farmers, agronomists and professional spray operators to learn more about the very latest developments in crop establishment, protection, nutrition, and yield enhancement.

“We look forward to another successful show in 2016 and are proud to be able to support such an influential event into 2017.”

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