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Know How / Crop management

Managing your crops through the growing season means careful nutrition and fertiliser use for maximum crop yields and keeping a watchful eye on pest, weeds and disease control.

Read expert advice, case studies, and tips on how to achieve the best yields and growth through best-practice crop management techniques, on all crops including wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, sugar beet and more niche crops.

Case studies

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PEST MANAGEMENT

Three practical IPM strategies to help growers cut costs

Independent agronomist Ben Burrows of Crop Management Partners has been working closely with Hampshire farm manager David Miller to implement a number of IPM strategies and cut input costs at…

POTATOES

How potato grower variably applies potash and magnesium

Novel soil-mapping technology is enabling a potato grower to learn more about his own soils and rented fields, thereby make better use of two key nutrient inputs. About two-thirds of…

POTATOES

How a potato supplier aims to improve supply efficiency

The UK’s largest potato supplier is investigating a farm-scale net-zero project which aims to increase efficiency and long-term sustainability across the entire potato supply chain. Whether it concerns variety choice,…

ARABLE

Grower reveals yield and margin data of intercropping trial

A mix of peas and mustard generated the highest gross margin in the first year of an extensive intercropping trial carried out by Oxfordshire farmer Ben Adams, where different crop…

SOILS

How one Leicestershire farm is tackling high magnesium soils

Soils with high levels of magnesium are often described as being tight and sticky which, combined with phosphate lock-up, can be difficult to manage. This was the challenge facing Dan…

ARABLE

Why Scots regen grower is first Carbon Farmer of the Year

Incremental changes made over more than 20 years to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase soil carbon sequestration have resulted in Doug Christie from Scotland being crowned the first…

Practical advice

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SOILS

How to manage waterlogged soils in an autumn deluge

This season’s washout autumn has seen crops battered by flooding and swamped by slugs, in what was the wettest October in England since 2000. In fact, some fields have been…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why hygiene is key to avoid soft rot spread in potato stores

Scottish potato growers are urged to remain vigilant against soft rots this storage period, with appropriate ventilation and meticulous hygiene key to avoid spread in seed and ware crops. A…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why wheat blends outperform individual varieties

A blend of four winter wheat varieties can help increase yields and allow growers to cut back on fungicides costs as it helps to slow down disease cycling through the…

WHEAT

Top tips for late-drilling wheat growers

Late-drilling winter wheat growers on heavy soils need to focus on crop nutrition as rapidly cooling soils give slow availability of nutrients, and so feeding crops is key to preventing…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Herbicide mix shows good ryegrass control

Good control of ryegrass in winter wheat can be achieved using a new herbicide alongside others with different modes of action, cultural controls and timing sprays when there is adequate…

BLACKGRASS

Farm trial shows best blackgrass strategy with new herbicide

The arrival of a new mode-of-action residual herbicide has seen major changes to one farming company’s pre-emergence programme on winter wheat, after trialling different combinations. Velcourt has spent the past…

Insights

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POTATOES

Why late blight management just got more complicated

A late blight genotype that is resistant to a second fungicide mode of action continues to spread through Europe, meaning British potato growers will need to take extra care when…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How biologicals are changing pesticide use

Biologicals will make up 25% of the overall crop protection market by 2035, growing by more than three times to a value of $30bn (£24bn), predicts Dr John Wiles, global…

ARABLE

What Strategic Farm East project will do at Morley Farms

If you were going to pick the perfect commercial farm to host a significant programme of trials and research, Morley Farms in Norfolk would surely be close to the top…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Natural bioherbicides show promise in tackling weeds

Could mint extracts be the secret ingredient to tackling resistant weeds, such as blackgrass and Italian ryegrass? Could they even be a glyphosate replacement? That’s what a US-based start-up company,…

BARLEY

Malting barley growers to take up fossil-free green fert

About 20 growers in the north of England and Scotland will be growing spring malting barley and wheat for the distilling market using Yara’s fossil-free green fertilisers next spring, under…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Vertical growing systems - next big farm diversification?

Establishing an on-farm vertical farming system could open the door for farmers to develop an additional revenue stream to sit alongside traditional agricultural practices. Vertical farming involves growing plants such…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Can blackgrass cultural measures also tackle ryegrass?

Early findings suggest that cultural measures for managing blackgrass are also effective against ryegrass. Agrii has just started the fourth season of a trial on a North Yorkshire farm near…

SOILS

How natural fungi can be encouraged to aid crop production

Mycorrhizal fungi play a valuable role in maximising crop performance, and a team of researchers is on a mission to delve deeper into the world of mycorrhizas to explore how…

CROP MANAGEMENT

4 key lessons from the first AHDB Cereals Strategic Farm

After six years, Brian and Patrick Barker’s Lodge Farm, near Stowmarket in Suffolk, will be finishing its run as the AHDB’s first Strategic Cereal Farm. It was also an AHDB…

VARIETY SELECTION

Why OSR vigour and late disease score is key to 2023 yields

Oilseed rape varieties with good early vigour and resistance to late season disease have been the top performers in Agrii’s variety plots in Lincolnshire. Like many areas of the UK,…

ARABLE

AHDB 'will be new sheriff' says cereals sector's chairman

AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds is going to step up, deliver for its levy payers and make a real difference to farm businesses, pledges new sector chairman and Cambridgeshire farmer Tom…

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Financial rewards of regen farming highlighted at Groundswell

The many ways in which regenerative arable farming practices are starting to be rewarded financially were a feature of this year’s Groundswell event. With supply chains responding to consumer expectations…

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