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At the time of writing this, I’m in Australia, studying for my Nuffield Scholarship entitled "herbicide resistant weeds; investigation a sustainable future for arable farming"; the award was made by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

I see herbicide resistance one of the biggest challenges that the arable sector faces, with increasing levels of herbicide resistance and nothing coming forward in the form of new chemical modes of action. This situation is prompting farmers to look towards more integrated methods of weed control.

My research has taken me to the USA for a month this summer; after my month in Australia, I hope to visit Argentina at the start of next year. I’ll then head back to the USA and Canada next year.

My learnings so far have been that herbicide resistance is a global problem, with different attitudes being shown towards it.

Resistance is often seen as a "wicked problem", but in reality it is really not. Understanding how resistance works on your farm is critical to determining a plan of attack on your own farm.

A practice called Harvest Weed Seed Control has changed ryegrass management in Australia and showing great results within a two to three year window. Meanwhile, the USA is very reliant on GMO technology and is now starting to stack multiple herbicide tolerances within Corn and Soybeans.

So how will this change what we do at home? Attention to detail is crucial and you need to farm in a way that will reduce the weed seed bank. You need to devise a weed management plan but have to be adaptable enough to change if the need does. The shift has to be made for reliance on herbicides to maximising the use of cultural controls.

My hope is that my findings will help other farmers with this huge problem. The world is a massive place; and the UK is only a tiny producer of food competing in a global marketplace. I feel that the British producers have a place within that market, as a producer of high quality food with some of the world's best safety records and levels of compliance, that's where we have advantage. But our produce needs to be marketed better to the public for a certain future. At the same time, UK agriculture shouldn't be complacent, because the industry needs to become more efficient to thrive post Brexit.

CropTec 2016

Herbicide resistance will be a big topic at this year's CropTec event, come and talk to our technical experts and listen to our seminars discussing how we can become more efficient.

We also have over 140 exhibitors at the event displaying the latest science and technology across the trade stands, while CropTec’s well established seminars and hubs will feature the latest thinking on a range of key arable topics delivered by leading specialists.

The event is free to attend for those visitors that pre-book their tickets. ALL visitors will be charged £15 on the day.

Biog: Conor Colgan farms at Lowick Hall Farm, near Berwick on Tweed. The farm is 700-acres, and the enterprises are an arable rotation of wheat, barley, oilseed rape, oats and beans. He also has an 80-cow suckler beef herd. Six years ago Conor completed an MBA at the Royal Agricultural University; his thesis was on Lean Management, a technique used extensively by efficiency-critical sectors like the car industry. As part of his study, he undertook a complete Lean audit of every process on the farm. He says that this has made him exceptionally judicious about what system changes he makes and whether the introduction of a new practice will improve the value it delivers to his end markets and business bottom-line. “If it doesn’t, I won’t do it.”

Title: Innovations must be farm-relevant

The innovations that have most benefited my farm all centre on GPS technologies and soil mapping.

I’ve used SOYL to map my fields with the dual aim of generating a more consistent yield from my lower indices fields and adopting a precision approach to applying P to the seedbed and K during the growing season. The net result has been a recovery of soil indices and an improvement in crop yields.

This approach works well for the scale of my operation and because I have a lot of variation in indices. For farms where soils are similar, I suspect that the returns may not be so good.

I feel that the environment for fostering innovation in the arable sector was hit badly when we lost our national advisory service. When ADAS in its old guise went, we lost the prism to assess innovation for our industry.

R&D is now in the hands of the supply chain and its results are used to sell products or kit. There are too few independent trials from the like of AHDB to assess how these new commercial introductions really perform on farm.

So it is beholden on farmers themselves to prove whether a new technology or innovation will actually deliver the purported returns in their own farm situation.

In the future, I think it is really important for organisations like AHDB, TEAGASC and SRUC to analyse the impact of new developments on a range of different farms, soil types and scale of operation. This work would give us the clarity we need to truly compare market introductions, and not take the manufacturer’s word for the projected improvements we’ll gain.

I foresee that investment into genetics and access to GM technologies will become the essential innovation for the coming decades, particularly if issues like Septoria resistance threaten the viability of wheat production in the UK.

CropTec 2016:

Want to find out more about R&D and the latest innovation and technology? make sure to visit CropTec 2016.

To encourage knowledge exchange among the British farming community further, this year’s event is FREE for farmers and agronomists to attend. You MUST pre-register online to ensure you receive your free place.

General pre-registered admission: £12, all visitors will charged £15 on the gate on the day of the event.

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.

CropTec, the essential technical event for arable and mixed farmers, their advisers and associated industries, will be packed with innovative features and content when it returns this coming November.

Building on three very successful years, the show promises to be the biggest and most relevant yet. More than 100 exhibitors will display the latest science and technology across the trade stands, while CropTec’s well established seminars and hubs will feature the latest thinking on a range of key arable topics delivered by leading specialists.

Elisabeth Mork-Eidem, Group Head of Events at show organiser Briefing Media Agriculture, said: “CropTec provides farmers with a unique opportunity to find ideas, inspiration and answers on everything from crop protection and nutrition to plant breeding and soil management in one place.

“But it is very much a two-way process – CropTec is all about knowledge exchange, creating the ideal forum for visitors, exhibitors and researchers to exchange ideas and experiences for their mutual benefit.”

CropTec Development Director Stephen Howe said the content reflected the show’s principal aim, to help the combinable crop sector remain profitable, and had been modified following visitor feedback from last year’s event.

“Farmers face a roller coaster world of crop production. Our aim is to help them manage the current agronomic and business challenges and manage their unit costs of production so they remain competitive in an increasingly dynamic global market place.

“The visitor survey confirmed that the seminars formed a major part of the event. But farmers also want to drill down into key aspects of business and pressing agronomic topics such as black-grass, soil health, OSR establishment and how the industry might practically address the loss of key crop protection chemistry.”

Seminar content will reflect this feedback, and two new knowledge hubs have been introduced, one covering grain marketing and storage and one on black-grass. These topical 15-minute presentations will provide plenty of material for detailed follow-on discussions with experts at the event.

To encourage this knowledge exchange among the British farming community, the event remains free for farmers and agronomists to attend, provided tickets are booked in advance.

CropTec 2016 programme summary

• CropTec seminars

The extensive seminar programme will feature over 20 leading speakers covering a wide range of technical cropping issues across four key areas – crop breeding, crop protection, crop nutrition and crop establishment.

• Exhibition halls

More than 100 exhibitors will be on hand to discuss a wide range of developments across the arable sector.

• Knowledge hubs

Two new hubs feature this year, a grain marketing and storage hub and black-grass hub, augmenting the popular spraying technology and business hubs. These feature short, sharp presentations delivering key take-away messages.

• Sprayer demonstration area

Visitors have an exclusive one-to-one opportunity to test-drive the latest sprayers in the market from leading manufacturers.

• Careers forum

The perfect opportunity for students and others interested in a career in the arable industry to network and gain free advice from organisations, exhibitors and industry specialists.

• Opportunities to collect BASIS and NRoSO points.

Adama Agricultural Solutions is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new two-year deal to remain as the headline sponsor of CropTec.

First held in 2013, CropTec has rapidly become established as the arable sector’s key crop protection and technical event.

“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.”

The 2016 CropTec event will take place at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, on Tuesday 29^th and Wednesday 30^th November.

For further information on CropTec 2016 and to book tickets go to www.croptecshow.com

For further information contact:

Nichola Bell, Marketing Manager, CropTec

nichola.bell@briefingmedia.com 01772 799424

Notes for editors

CropTec is organised by Briefing Media Agriculture, publisher of Arable Farming, AgriMoney, Farmers Guardian and Dairy Farmer and owner of the market-leading LAMMA Show.

Key contacts:

Elisabeth Mork-Eidem, Group Head of Events – elisabeth.mork-eidem@briefingmedia.com

Stephen Howe, Development Director – stephen_howe@btinternet.com

Gareth Jones, Sales – gareth.jones@briefingmedia.com

Nichola Bell, Marketing – nichola.bell@briefingmedia.com

Twitter: @russbmckenzie

Biog: Russ farms 750ha, spread over 17 miles and four units, between Cambs and Beds. He grows predominantly first wheats (mostly for seed) with winter barley, oilseed rape, spring beans and spring barley. He describes himself as not form a farming family, but as having loved everything about farming since a very young age, starting with a harvest job on a local farm when he was 13. He graduated from Writtle College with a BSc in Agriculture and then took on a trainee manager’s position with Albanwise Farming in Norfolk. Russ is BASIS and FACTS qualified and is a partner in his wife’s family farming business which he jointly manages along with John Sheard Farms. He has recently undertaken a Nuffield Farming scholarship, sponsored by AHDB, researching how the best no-till practitioners across the world manage to make the system work in both the wettest and driest of conditions which took him to Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, USA, Brazil and Argentina. “I love being involved in such a fantastic industry and outside of work I am along suffering England Cricket fan, husband and father to two lovely (sometimes) children!” Oh and he’s an avid Tweeter!

Title: Future-proofing cropping hinges on blackgrass, R&D and realistic FBT prices

My mantra has always been to farm everything to the best of my ability; to achieve the best results possible. However, despite wanting to expand the area we farm, I find some of the prices being paid for FBTs on combinable crop land unfeasible to justify and impossible from which to make a sensible return. So, I see no sense in taking on extra land with the potential of making a loss as well as increasing our machinery wear!

I can certainly see rotations developing and changing over the next decade. Oilseed rape’s future has some big question marks over it because of the diminishing returns; also, how much more pulse acreage can the UK market really sustain? I fear that a countryside full of fallow fields could be a reality and will be an indication of the pressure upon farming returns; and very certainly, this will have a very negative impact upon soil structure.

Innovation and R&D is vital for farming to progress. We need to keep looking to improve and cope with the swings in disease ratings and levels of disease control. We have already adopted important technologies like variable rate P&K. More recently we adopted variable rate seeding which is showing some good results on the fields where we have had the most variation, leading to a more even yield across the whole field.

It is crucial that UK continues to be pioneering and innovative in its research and development of future crop production methods. Looking ahead, I would like to see instant yield map overlaying with soil sampling maps to fine-tune areas even more precisely than we are. I’d also like the ability to map blackgrass areas more accurately and be able to spot rate certain chemical applications specific to the weed – for example plant-count or the type of resistance – this could be a real benefit.

The biggest challenge for us is keeping blackgrass under control, a weed that seems to be able to continually adapt itself to any situation and is possibly one of the biggest threats to sustainable wheat production in the UK. Coupled with our unpredictable climate, we need to have a robust crop establishment system that can prosper in both wet and dry conditions.

I see the big issues on the horizon as legislation and pesticide regulation – these factors threaten to provide big hurdles for crop production efficiency and the ability to be able to control weeds, pest and diseases in the future. We need to be able to maintain and use what we currently have, which means that as farmers, it is vital for us to demonstrate judicial and wise use of plant protection products as the pool of resources become more rapidly depleted.

The one thing we are blessed with in this country is a favourable climate, even if August appears to be a regularly dreary month for combining. I believe that the ability to produce decent quality crops with a focus on export will be important to remain competitive; and although we haven’t seen the impact yet, the basic fact of a growing world population that needs feeding cannot be ignored, we will almost certainly need to produce more food for a wider audience.

Here is the link to download Russell McKenzie’s Nuffield Scholarship Report, Success with No-Till – Under any Conditions.

CropTec 2015:

Want to find out more about new legislations, pesticide regulations R&D or if you have issues with black-grass. Make sure to visit CropTec 2015.

In addition to the free advice on offer in CropTec’s topical and technical seminars, there will be numerous exhibitors you can talk to find ideas, inspiration and answers on everything from crop protection and nutrition to plant breeding and soil management in one place, at one time.

To encourage knowledge exchange among the British farming community further, this year’s event is FREE for farmers to attend. You MUST pre-register online to ensure you receive your free place.

General pre-registered admission: £12, all visitors will charged £15 on the gate on the day of the event.

Twitter: @croptecshow

Facebook: /croptecshow

Dr Toby Bruce

Twitter: @Toby_Bruce @Rothamsted

Biog: A senior researcher at Rothamsted. Toby joined Rothamsted in 2000 and has a background in Biology and a PhD in Chemical Ecology. He is convenor of the Association of Applied Biologists Biocontrol and IPM group, a Visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich Natural Resources Institute and Visiting Lecturer at Nottingham University. Current projects are: an Agri-Tech Catalyst project developing a lure-and-kill system for the pea and bean weevil; a project in Kenya on maize varieties that respond to insect egg laying by releasing odours that attract natural enemies, and CROPROTECT which is providing an online knowledge sharing resource for UK farmers and agronomists.

Title: Researcher looks back and ahead at ground-breaking ag innovations

In my opinion, innovation in agriculture is vital for many of the major global challenges we face. Food and water security is a prerequisite for political stability and essential to society. The connections between human health and the environment - via agriculture - need to be recognised. Agriculture uses huge areas of land and resources globally and improving resource use efficiency can have major positive environmental impact. Human health can be improved by providing suitable nutrition as inadequate nutrition is the main cause of child mortality worldwide. Therefore, I would like to see the whole area of developing innovations for the future taken more seriously. Complacency that crept in from the success of the green revolution in the 20^th century and overproduction in Europe in the 1980s has no place in the 21^st century. Waste needs to be reduced throughout the whole food supply chain and innovation is needed at many different levels to achieve this.

Agricultural R&D is hugely important because it underpins national and global security, as well as environmental stability. Although often taken for-granted, the outputs of farming systems really are a matter of life and death because none of us can survive without food. Thus, effective farming systems are essential for human health and political stability. This has very recently been summarised in the Thomson Reuters #9billionbowls report.

Furthermore, the inputs into agricultural systems are vitally important (See Picture 1 below). Food production takes up almost half of the planet's land surface, it is the biggest user of water (approx. 70% of extracted freshwater globally) and also uses huge amounts of energy and nutrients. How to minimise the resource footprint of agriculture while meeting rising demand from population and consumption growth - during climate change - is one of the biggest challenges humanity faces this century. Agricultural R&D can make farming systems more efficient.

Pic 1: Use of natural resources: Food, water, energy and material resources are vital to human society. The way they are secured affects human health and well-being directly, as well as indirectly through impacts on the environment

source: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/agriculture/greening-agricultural-policy

Research Councils UK timeline

Ground breaking research contributions are nicely summarised in a timeline infographic published by the UK research councils: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/documents/RCUKAgriScienceTimeline.pdf

Growing more with less

A remarkable achievement, although it has not received much of a fanfare, is the increasing resource use efficiency of UK farmers. Much has been heard about the wheat yield plateau but wheat yields have been maintained over a period during which fertiliser use has declined. This means that the amount of fertiliser needed to produce the same amount of wheat has gone down. This has come about through incremental improvements in farming systems rather than any one technological breakthrough.

Technologies

The ability to collect and share farm data in a multitude of technological ways has already made a considerable impact on farm performance, but – in my view - will have an even greater impact in the years ahead. Whether delivered by an App, a drone or a tractor-mounted guidance system, customising treatments to local conditions for individual fields and for spot treatments will make a big difference.

Already, soil measurements allow the correct balance of micronutrients to be applied and insect and disease monitoring systems deliver valuable early warning of crop threats. Online information sharing has also meant that farmers can share experiences with each other much more easily resulting in farming becoming a less isolated occupation. Mobile phone Apps such as the farm crap App are cheap or free and are already proving both practical to use and useful.

Biologicals

Using more biological solutions is an innovative trend which is likely to continue as the availability and cost of chemical solutions limits their use. Disease resistant crop cultivars are increasingly utilised to reduce fungicide costs. Some farmers have been using no-till and cover crops to improve soil structure and organic matter content and hence fertility.

As conventional pesticides are increasingly restricted, I would like to see alternative approaches made available such as biological control, resistant crop plants and design of agricultural systems that are less vulnerable to attack. Increasing resource efficiency of agriculture is a win: win scenario because it benefits both the environment - by reducing the footprint of agriculture in land, water and energy use and it reduces input costs.

New crops, new opportunities

We also need to consider crop choice and crop quality as well as the quantity of agricultural produce. For example, at Rothamsted, Camelina plants have been engineered to produce omega 3 fish oils up to successful field evaluation. This land-produced fish oil has the potential to revolutionise the aquaculture industry, while conserving marine sources of fish oils. It would also provide farmers with a high value crop.

At Rothamsted, we have a new building called the LawesOpen Innovation Hub (See picture 2 below). It provides a space where companies can set up a base in close proximity to our research centre – it even has a physical bridge to us. It opened in July 2015 and I hope that suitable companies will locate here so that synergies can be developed between the more fundamental and more near market research to improve the field delivery and commercial availability of new technologies and innovations in agriculture.

Pic 2 below: The Lawes Open Innovation Hub at Rothamsted: open for innovation to help you grow, come and join us! VIDEO here: https://youtu.be/VSS7OHhxbEA

Biog: Philip Partridge farms 330ha of arable and 40ha of permanent pasture in partnership with his mother Sylvia and sister, Joy, near Ipswich, Suffolk. His late father, Mark, moved to the farm in 1953. The current rotation is wheat, barley, beans and oilseed rape. He has a small flock of sheep and 200 head of fattening cattle which are bought in as stores and fed on a mixed ration of home-grown cereals and pulses. The soil types are Hanslope, Beccles, Burlingham, Newport and Melford – Philip is very keen to learn more about his soils and to improve soil fertility. He is married to Anita and has two children, Karl and Fabian.

Title: R&D and stance on EU membership are vital to prevent us blundering into a dark future

The biggest issues facing us as farmers concern competing in the volatile world market, availability of crop protection products and building sustainability into our businesses. Producing grain and other products at a price to compete globally is tough, and in order to do so we need access to technology, we need to improve profitability and we need to build organic matter into our soils. For those of us with blackgrass, we need to manage grassweeds much better than we are.

We are also facing a lot of uncertainty over our membership of the EU and CAP; what is our domestic agricultural policy if we leave the EU? We must know to plan for the future. And, on a macro scale, we are potentially farming in a world with more extreme weather events in store.

An added need – and responsibility – is to keep the general public on side so that we can talk – and ensure higher food prices. It is a must for our industry going forward. Linked to this, it’s our responsibility to demonstrate that we can produce food with care – farming and wildlife can, and do, go hand-in-hand.

Looking ahead, my ambition is to farm more acres, but not at unsustainable rents. If I could rent or buy land locally within my reach, I would.

Precision tools are a part of the future for me – we have fairly standard systems like guidance on the two tractors, yield mapping on the combine and have also made the very recent move to auto section control on the sprayer. In terms of renewables, we have solar PV panels on the shed rooves.

Soils are a key area of focus for me going forward – we have soil audits carried out by Soil Fertility Services. The results show what nutrients are available or locked up in a great amount of detail compared to the standard availability tests on the market. This information has been invaluable in helping me plan fertiliser, manure and organic matter applications.

Industry R&D is absolutely vital as farmers gear for the future and keep pace with other parts of the world – we are already way behind in my humble opinion. With an even smaller number of crop protection products available to us, and with the wheat yield plateauing – we are blundering into a dark future. Also, it would be great to research better understanding of crops with more vigour and scavenging ability – maybe we need to do more to exploring wild relatives in our heritage seedbanks.

As farmers we need to have very close ties to people doing the R&D, it’s a two-way dialogue that must take place for each party to understand the problems encountered by the developer and the user. The bright light will be when R&D results are implemented – Agri-Tech strategy is a really good example of this.

I’d like to see more work on targeted spray applications – to minimise the impact on non-target areas. Also, I’d love to see the development of anything that makes it easier to remotely monitor disease pressure in crops. The list of what I want is endless, and I haven’t mentioned blackgrass yet!

I really believe that the future us bright for British farmers, but this will not be without some radical ‘out of the box’ thinking – and there will be casualties along the way; but food and energy will always be needed.

CropTec 2015:

Want to find out more about solutions for successful spraying, R&D and the latest innovation and technology? make sure to visit CropTec 2015.

In addition to the free advice on offer in our topical and technical seminars, there will be numerous exhibitors you can talk. We have introduced a new Spraying Technology Hub area of CropTec which is designed to help you boost yields further and reduce those all important unit costs of production

To encourage knowledge exchange among the British farming community further, this year’s event is FREE for farmers to attend. You MUST pre-register online to ensure you receive your free place.

General pre-registered admission: £12, all visitors will charged £15 on the gate on the day of the event.

CropTec 2016 programme summary

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