Growers will be able to discuss arable advances with a diverse range of experts, when AHDB opens its stand’s door at the CropTec show.

Taking place on 29 to 30 November 2016 at the East of England Showground in Peterborough, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds stand (A25) has been designed to reflect the show’s main technical themes – Crop Breeding, Crop Nutrition, Crop Establishment and Crop Protection.

This year, AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds is the official supporter of the Crop Breeding seminar programme. The support sees Dr Susannah Bolton, Director of Knowledge Exchange at AHDB, chair a seminar session aimed at promoting advances in crop genetics.

Dr Bolton said: “Through pre-breeding investment, Recommended Lists trials and in-season monitoring activity, we work hard to make sure growers’ crops have the best genetic underpinning possible.

“As our latest Recommended Lists for 2017/18 will be launched online the day before the event, CropTec provides us with a timely opportunity to discuss the latest varietal developments with growers.”

On the topic of crop nutrition, Sarah Clarke and Susie Roques of ADAS, will be available to discuss AHDB’s extensive review of the Fertiliser Manual (RB209).

Many changes to RB209 have been proposed, including recommendations for additional crops and updated information on the nutrient content associated with organic materials. Visitors to the event will be among the first to hear about these changes and plans to launch the AHDB Nutrient Management Guide in 2017.

On the topic of crop establishment, Dr Amanda Bennett, AHDB, and Dr Andy Whitmore, Rothamsted Research, will focus on soil health. 

In recent years, a range of indicators for soil health has been developed. Visitors to the stand will find out about research developing the guidance and tools needed so the indicators can be exploited by progressive arable farmers. Soil organic matter will be a particular emphasis on the stand. 

On the topic of crop protection, Dr Jon Knight, AHDB Head of Crop Health & Protection, will outline AHDB’s investment in resistance management, crop protection trials and integrated pest management. 

The AHDB stand will also include staff from the Knowledge Exchange team – to discuss the AHDB Monitor Farm programme – and Helen Plant, AHDB Senior Analyst (Cereals & Oilseeds), who will discuss grain market developments. 

For further information on AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds activity, visit cereals.ahdb.org.uk 

Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 November at the East of England Showground, Peterborough.

Our stand

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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 

While there is growing concern on the reducing number of crop protection products, Dow AgroSciences is previewing an active ingredient that will power the next generation of broad-leaved weed herbicides.  Designed to specifically meet UK market needs, this new class of herbicides will be the first output of Dow’s strong development pipeline.

Dow AgroSciences has a long heritage in producing innovative breakthroughs for UK agriculture. The current catalogue includes iconic brand names that have stood the test of time over decades, such as Dow Shield®, Kerb® and Starane®. Now a new active ingredient – Arylex® Active – is set to revolutionize this market again. From a new class of chemistry Arylex Active will provide a backbone for future broad-leaved weed herbicide solutions meeting all the requirements of UK Agriculture.

“We are very proud of what Arylex Active will bring to farmers striving to meet the demands of operating in modern agriculture,” said Alex Nichols, cereal herbicides marketing manager for Dow AgroSciences UK. “With a wide spectrum of weeds controlled, no rotational implications, outstanding reliability in  the UK’s unpredictable weather conditions and no cross-resistance, it is easy to get excited by its strengths.”

Dow envisages Arylex® Active will be the basis for a new range of herbicides that will marketed in formulated mixtures which have been devised to meet the specific needs of UK cereal growers.

“Arylex® is one of the first active ingredients to progress completely through the new European registration system and this active ingredient will play a long term role in weed control within UK agriculture,” said Dr Nichols.

 “The first products containing Arylex® Active are expected to be available during 2016. They will offer three key benefits: First, a very wide spectrum of weed control. Second, effective control under a wide range of climatic conditions. Third, very high levels of crop safety to treated and following crops. All things considered we feel products based on Arylex® Active will provide simple, convenient and effective control to broad-leaved weed control in cereal crops.”

Also being developed for the UK market is a brand new insecticide active ingredient. Isoclast® Active is from a new class of insecticides and will offer control of sap sucking insects, such as aphids, in a wide range of crops. Key features will include no-known cross resistance to other insecticides together with a favourable profile on beneficial organisms.

“As with herbicides, we have a long tradition of dependable insecticides,” said Dr Nichols.

In 2014, Dow AgroSciences announced that globally it had the strongest pipeline of future products in the company’s history. Arylex® Active and Isoclast® Active are the first fruits emerging from this development pipeline for the UK market.

CropTec 2015:

If you would like to discuss these new active ingredients with Dow AgroSciences, please visit their stand at this year’s CropTec event on Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th November, East of England Showground, Peterborough

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: @Wyefarm

Biog: We farm 500 acres of predominantly arable land in the heart of the Wye Valley at Ross-On-Wye. The whole Farm is tenanted from The Duchy of Cornwall.

Our arable rotation involves Wheat, Malting Barley, Winter Oilseed Rape, Peas and Sugarbeet.

We also run a flock of homebred “Easycare” style ewes.

I grew up on the farm and returned home to run it in partnership with my parents in 2008 after graduating from The Royal Agricultural College with a degree in Agriculture.

In 2012 I took succession of tenancy from my father & was the youngest Duchy tenant at the time.

I have a keen interest in technology especially that surrounding advances in agriculture.

Outside of the farm I enjoy all sports especially rugby, I also featured in two series of Channel 4’s “First Time Farmers”

What are your cropping choices for the 2015/16 season, variety choices and reasoning for your selection?

Winter Wheat is 95% KWS Santiago, 5% Reflection. The Santiago has been a solid performer for the last few years & the field of Reflection we are growing will be used for seed in 2016 as long as it performs as well if not better than the Santiago.

Winter Oilseed Rape is all HOLL Rape this year. It is out first year growing HOLL OSR and we have been attracted to it because of the associatged premium & the newer varieties that are at the top of the recommended list.

Spring Barley is our largest crop, we are growing Propino for malting mostly to Molson Coors, the variety is the one they seem to want & is performing well for us.

Spring Peas – Prophet we have been growing peas for around 10 years, in that time we have found that Prophet tend to stand better than other varieties & that is the most important aspect for us.

Sugarbeet will be a mixture of varieties

What approach do you take to your cultivations?

Up until 3 years ago we were 100% plough & combination drill. It was & still is a very effective system & we never suffer from crop failures but it is expensive. We have since bought a Simba Xpress (legs + Discs) & this year bought a tine drill. The idea being that we “min till” the winter crops & plough the spring crops. Last year was the first year with this method & it seems to have worked well. We are planting covercrops before the peas & the Sugarbeet to try & increase the organic matter in our very sandy soil.

How might your area farmed and cropping change over the next 10 years?

I’m afraid my crystal ball seems to be playing up at the moment!

Land around us very seldom comes up for sale & if it does it is very competitive to try & get. We have, I believe, a good 5 year rotation with no one crop having a monopoly over another. I would love to have a go at growing something totally different, but what that might be I have no idea!

What innovations (e.g. precision ag, renewable technologies etc.) do you use on your farm?

We have recently started to move the farm towards precision agriculture by installing a RTK GPS steering system to our tractor

We have coupled this with our fertiliser spreader by having our fields nutrient mapped & applying nutrients to the areas of the fields where they are required as opposed to blanket application.

Also we changed our sprayer last year to include auto shutoff. After one year I think we are seeing savings of around 5% on inputs just by being more accurate.

I have a small drone which I use for a number of things including pigeon scaring & drainage mapping, I hope in the future I will be able to use it for nutrient mapping of crops prior to spreading fertiliser.

What new technologies and innovations would you like to see developed for your farm in the future, and why?

I would like to see GM rebranded to undo the horrible launch it was given all those years ago by Monsanto. The acronym GMO has a horrible stigma attached to it most of which is fueled by conspiracy theory. I think that there can be a future for GM if the right traits are targeted. Disease/Flood/Drought tolerant varieties could be vital in the future. However I don’t believe it is something I will be using during my career.

Please could you explain why R&D into crop production, yield and agronomy are important to your business  

R&D is vital to carry on taking farming forward, whether that be variety choices or active ingredients we have to keep pushing forward. I think it will be interesting to see given the current prices & glut of arable commodities whether farmers may start selecting for traits other than outright yield. Yield & profit are two very different things & if cost of production can be reduced at the cost of little yield I would be interested.

What are the big issues on your farm/for your farming business?

Flooding is one of our big issues. We try to keep a five year rotation which involves planting winter crops onto the flood plain, although we try to limit the winter crop down there it is an inevitability.

Market Volatility is also an issue you can be £5/tonne plus of minus if you ring in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. Historically you used to get a price at harvest & could add £1/tonne for each month you could store it.

What issues do you see facing farmers over the next decade?

Consumer Education – I see this as a huge challenge, reengaging the consumer with their food.  Consumers don’t know (or even care) about where there food comes from.

Water Availability

Phosphate vulnerable zones

Loss of key active ingredients with no new ones coming through to replace them

What are the future opportunities that you see for British farmers?

I think that as a generalisation the agriculture sector could be in for a few tough years, but adversity tends to bring around opportunity.

It’s being brave & to a degree wise enough to take the right risks. Now is not a time for burying your head in the sand & hoping oversupply & low prices will blow over.

On a smaller scale I still think there are plenty of niche markets that can be explored & am hoping to find one myself!

Twitter: @ChrisHewis

Biog:  Chris Hewis manages a 280 ha mixed farm in Lincolnshire, growing winter wheat, winter and spring barley and winter oilseed rape. 40 ha of grass supports a suckler beef herd of approximately 65 continental cross cattle, producing stores. He was not born into farming, but was always very interested. “I remember visiting Riseholme College as a 9 year old primary school pupil and thinking how I would love to study there. Nine years later I did exactly that. A three year sandwich course turned out to be a fantastic experience of living student life to the full and also got me the letters NDA to put after my name.  I have been in this job since leaving college 27 years ago. I’ve been married to Katy for 22 years and have a daughter and two sons. I follow Grimsby Town Football Club, have a HGV licence, am BASIS and FACTS qualified and have recently decided to improve my fitness level by joining a running club. I’m involved with the local Rural Training Group and with #clubhectare as one of the original co-founders.

Title: Feed varieties favoured – wheat and barley

Year on year cropping plans don’t vary greatly as I stick to the same 5 year rotation (OSR, winter wheat, winter wheat, spring barley, winter barley) for the whole farm. Winter barley is grown for a number of reasons – being early to harvest it not only spreads workload, but also ensures that there is no delay in getting oilseed rape drilled. The straw is used for the cattle.  I have grown malting varieties in the past but now stick to feed varieties due to the yield benefit and poor premiums from malting markets in the past. Cassia will be planted again this autumn following another successful harvest with it.

Oilseed rape is a crucial part of the rotation due to the benefit of having different chemistry available for grass weeds. I choose to grow hybrid varieties because of their consistently good performance. This year I have planted DK Exalte, Popular and for the first time, a Clearfield variety Imperial, due to a serious and increasing problem with cranesbill in one field.

Winter wheat will be split between three varieties this year. It will all be Group 4 feed varieties because the close proximity of the export facilities only three miles away. Dickens will be the main variety in the 1st wheat slot as it has performed very well here this year. It has been very clean all season, has yielded exceptionally well and has threshed well to produce a good clean sample. I will be trying some Reflection due to its high yield potential and high specific weight.

The choice for 2nd wheat will be Evolution this year, meaning the end of an era for JB Diego which has been grown for quite a few years now. Evolution has good disease ratings, has performed very well in a small but sensible sized plot and seems to tick all the boxes for a second wheat.

Spring barley is grown to spread workload and to aid blackgrass control. The malting variety, Propino, has been grown for the first time this year and has produced exceptional results, so will be chosen again for spring 2016.

Cultivations policy varies across the farm as the soil type varies widely. In one case there are four different soil types in a three hectare field. Generally the policy is to plough rotationally so mainly for spring barley and for winter barley. OSR is drilled conventionally following disc harrowing and subsoiling where necessary. Rape stubbles are left for a couple of weeks after harvest to allow any volunteer rape and some other weeds to grow. These are then sprayed with glyphosate, the tramlines subsoiled, and shallow disced. If any more weeds grow, including blackgrass, the glyphosate is repeated and the discing is repeated to a greater depth, pre-drilling. A power harrow drill combination is used for all crops.

The farmed area is unlikely to change in the near future, but the cropped area is likely to increase slightly due to the areas of Environmental stewardship land being brought back in to arable production. The old ELS scheme brought about some great improvements to the wildlife and environment but the new replacement scheme doesn’t seem to add up.

CropTec 2015:

If you’re considering adopting more efficient cultivation techniques or looking at ways to improve the health of your soils to reduce your crop establishment costs, attending our new Crop Establishment Seminar, sponsored by Horsch, will pay dividends.

In addition to the free advice on offer at this topical, technical and practical seminar, there will be numerous exhibitors you can talk to regarding your cultivation and soil care strategy. This new and important area of CropTec 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.

New Holland will be bringing its Precision Land Management (PLM) technologies to CropTec 2015 on 24-25 November and visitors will have the chance to view demonstrations of several of its auto guidance products.

John Downes, New Holland’s PLM product specialist, says: “Precision farming technologies are revolutionising agriculture. They are becoming an essential tool for many farmers as they strive to reduce input cost, improve yields, and increase efficiencies. New Holland’s PLM products offer cutting-edge solutions to meet a wide range of crop management needs and budgets. Croptec provides us with the perfect opportunity to showcase our innovative PLM technologies.”

New Holland’s extensive PLM offering includes displays, guidance and telematics systems, mapping software, crop input control systems and data management software.

Demonstrations of New Holland’s EZ-Pilot™assisted steering system; PLM™ Mapping software; a range of displays; and the new PLM™ RTK Connect correction service for accurate navigation will take place on the company’s stand throughout the event.

For more information about New Holland’s PLM technology visit:                                     http://agriculture.newholland.com/us/en/PLM/Pages/PLM_Overview.aspx

New Holland Agriculture’s reputation is built on the success of our customers, cash crop producers, livestock farmers, contractors, vineyards, or groundscare professionals. They can count on the widest offering of innovative products and services: a full line of equipment, from tractors to harvesting, material handling equipment, complemented by tailored financial services from a specialist in agriculture.  A highly professional global dealer network and New Holland’s commitment to excellence guarantees the ultimate customer experience for every customer. For more information on New Holland visitwww.newholland.com

New Holland Agriculture is a brand of CNH Industrial N.V. (NYSE: CNHI /MI: CNHI) a global leader in the capital goods sector with established industrial experience, a wide range of products and a worldwide presence. More information about CNH Industrial can be found online at www.cnhindustrial.com

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Press contacts:

Sara Sebastianelli, New Holland Agriculture.
Phone: 01268 295 268
Email: sara.sebastianelli@newholland.com

Rebecca Dawson, Ware Anthony Rust.
Phone: 01223 272800
Email: rebecca.dawson@war.uk.com

CropTec 2015:

New Holland are one of many exhibitors at this year’s event, view our full exhibitor list here.

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.

Steve Tuer’s bumper 7.2t/ha crop of oilseed rape may well be the highest yielding crop in the world ever recorded. The unofficial record attempt took place on 21 August at Mr Tuer’s Hutton Grange farm, near Northallerton. The national average oilseed rape yield consistently runs at under 4t/ha.

The restored hybrid variety, Incentive, is well suited to performance in the north, scoring 109% on the HGCA’s North Region Recommended List, but Mr Tuer said that the yield resulted from the farm’s soil and the attention to detail of the agronomy.

“This used to be a dairy farm, so there is a lot of inherent fertility in the soil, plus all the slurry from our 600-sow and pig fattening unit is spread back onto the 1000 acres of arable land,” he explained. “The soil is also very heavy, so crops do very well in a dry year like the one we’ve had.”

He added that his close working relationship with his agronomist, Chris Martin, of Agrovista, has allowed them to perfect the farm’s agronomy programmes to get the management “spot-on” in input choice and timings. The crop was sown at a very low seed rate, using simple cultivations but ensuring maximum attention to detail in achieving good seed to soil contact and post-sowing consolidation.

“I don’t believe in early sowing of oilseed rape,” Mr Tuer explained. “This crop wasn’t sown until the 6th September at a rate of 35 seed/m2 with a Vaderstad drill, after min-tilling with a Heva Combilift, followed by shallow discs and a packer.”

Following on-farm trials developed by Chris Martin, the fertiliser applied in four splits totalling 220kg of nitrogen as urea. The application dates were 10 March, 20 March + sulphur, 28 March and 12 April + sulphur. “We also applied foliar nitrogen in June with the second sclerotinia spray,” he noted.

Chris Martin took what he describes as a “conventional spray programme” of an autumn phoma and Light Leaf Spot spray of Frelizon (pentiopyrad + picoxystrobin), followed by an early spring application of Monkey (tebuconazole + Prochloraz), and combined with the nutrition product Headland Bo-La (boron + molybdenum). The scelertonia programme then consisted of Recital (Fluopyram + Protioconazole) at early flower, followed up three weeks later with Proline (prothioconazole) in tank mix with Nufol (foliar nitrogen), which Mr Tuer described as a “Rolls Royce Agrovista programme.”

“I’ve fallen in love with growing oilseed rape! But I invest to yield, make sure my soils are in good condition and keep everything simple – my rotation, cultivations and my agronomy,” Mr Tuer said. He also yielded 12.2t/ha from a crop of Glacier winter barley.  He has also registered with the ADAS Yield Enhancement Network project with a field of the variety, Kielder. “This field previously yielded 16t/ha in 2010,” so he is very hopeful that it should do very well this year.

Agrovista UK is totally committed to providing unrivalled value and innovative solutions for British farmers, both now and in the future. This commitment is focused on customer service, research driven advice and technical innovation. It relies strongly on the dedication, expertise and professionalism of all employees as well as the company’s many global and local suppliers. It also embraces care for the wider countryside with an understanding of the politically important environmental role now played by farmers. www.agrovista.co.uk

CropTec 2015

Agrovista are one of the many exhibitors at this year’s CropTec event.

Are you looking to new technology to reduce your unit cost of production, improve competitiveness and boost profitability? make sure you visit CropTec on Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th November, East of England Showgorund, Peterborough.

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.

Resistance is a familiar word in the arable farming lexicon, but its use in the same sentence as ‘glyphosate’ is not to be taken lightly.

Incidences of resistance to non-selective herbicide glyphosate have been recorded in other parts of the world, including Europe, but not yet in the UK.

Now new guidelines have been published aimed at preventing the development of resistance to the herbicide in UK weeds and significantly, they highlight the increased resistance threat posed by a number of recently-adopted practices, including multiple stale seedbeds and inter-row applications.

The guidelines have been produced by the Weed Research Action Group (WRAG) and are published by AHDB.

WRAG chairman and ADAS science and business development manager James Clarke says the publication of the guidelines is a proactive move ahead of there being any confirmed resistance in the UK.

“The aim is to ensure the efficacy of this important active in weed control is maintained when a number of practices are increasingly being deployed on-farm which could drive the evolution of glyphosate resistance in UK weeds – including multiple glyphosate applications, sub-lethal doses and suboptimal application timing – and we wanted to be proactive in highlighting the risks and promoting best practice.”

Stale seedbeds

One of the main concerns is the recent practice of using multiple stale seedbeds ahead of drilling in autumn in a bid to control large infestations of black-grass or black-grass resistant to selective herbicides.

“We know people are using multiple applications in this pre-drilling window. We also know they are using low rates [of glyphosate],” says Mr Clarke.

He underlines growers’ current reliance on glyphosate, particularly where they are faced with controlling herbicide-resistant black-grass.

David Ellerton, technical director with agchem distributor and agronomy advice business Hutchinsons, acknowledges the increasing use of multiple stale seedbeds. However, growers are being advised also to use other control methods, including cultivations, herbicides with different modes of action and competitive crops, he says.

Work at the company’s black-grass site at Brampton, Cambridgeshire, is enabling Hutchinsons to monitor the impact of glyphosate use over several years on the same field area, he adds.

“We are seeing zero failures, we aren’t picking up any changes,” says Dr Ellerton.

Monsanto, which supplies glyphosate under the Roundup brand, is supportive of the guidelines.

In a statement released at Cereals, the company said the new WRAG guidelines were ‘just what UK growers and agronomists need to safeguard the single most vital weapon in their grass-weed control armoury’.

The guidelines should form the basis for all glyphosate use from now on, says Monsanto northern European technical manager for Roundup Barrie Hunt, who highlights the pivotal value of glyphosate in the face of growing resistance to other herbicide chemistry.

Products

But the close-to 200 different glyphosate products currently approved for professional use in the UK, based on different salts, loadings and adjuvant mixtures and contents made less-than-ideal usage and less-than-effective treatment, which were key drivers of resistance development, more of a risk, he adds.

According to AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds, a potential loss of yield and quality would occur across all cropping systems without the use of glyphosate. In particular, it has been estimated a 20% yield loss would occur without the use of glyphosate pre-drilling.

Monitoring success

Reducing the risk of glyphosate resistance

Maximise efficacy

Use alternatives

Monitor success

Source: WRAG/AHDB

Glyphosate

Source: WRAG/AHDB

Maximising the efficacy of glyphosate

Spray at the right dose rate, at the right growth stage, in the right conditions

Source: WRAG/AHDB