Menu

Know How / Disease management

Get advice on managing disease in wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, and sugar beet. Find the best ways to combine cultural and chemical controls and how to deal with fungicide resistance. See tips, insights and farmer case studies focusing on major disease threats such as septoria, yellow rust, ramularia, phoma leaf spot and blight and how to combat them.

Advice and tips

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Advice on fungicide applications for profitable wheat

Extra focus on fungicide investment will be required this season, as budgets for a £170/t feed wheat price look certain. Despite suppressed grain markets, fungicides remain a significant investment in…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why variety and drill date are key to yield and disease

Growers looking to reduce fungicide use and reliance on synthetic chemistry are advised to start by focusing on two key decisions: variety choice and drilling date. While there is growing…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why growers need flexible T2 plans as dry spell continues

As the T2 spray timing approaches, keeping enough flexibility in spray programmes as the dry spell continues is occupying the minds of growers and agronomists alike. With T1 sprays completed…

CROP MANAGEMENT

6 steps to achieve correct sprayer setup this spring

A well-maintained sprayer is essential for accurate applications. We offer six handy tips to help achieve this. The busy spring spraying season is just around the corner, which means sprayers…

See all

Case studies

CROP MANAGEMENT

Wilts OSR grower reveals lessons from sheep grazing trials

If the timing is right, grazing oilseed rape with sheep in the autumn can improve crop evenness and deliver yield benefits, according to one Wiltshire farmer. At East Farm near…

PULSES

Drone applies pod sealant to beans in pioneering UK trial

In the first-ever UK trial, pod sealant has been successfully applied to a winter bean crop using a drone ahead of harvest. Pod sealants are typically applied to crops prior…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Irish farmer ditches fungicides on marginal crop land

Irish arable farmer Samuel Deane is successfully growing fungicide-free crops on what is considered the very limit of viable arable land in the rain-drenched landscape of County Cork. Sam is…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How integrating livestock in rotations cuts crop inputs

As sustainable farming practices become increasingly important, some agronomists and farmers are exploring how integrating livestock into arable systems can bring both environmental and economic benefits. By combining rotational grazing…

See all

Community

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Twitter round-up: Spring drilling and wheat T0 race is on

The recent spell of warm, dry weather has allowed many growers to get into full the swing of spring drilling and take on the first fungicide application timing in winter…

See all

Insights

CROP MANAGEMENT

How climate change is reshaping agronomy

Evidence from long-term trial data and climate modelling shows that warmer summers, wetter winters and more extreme weather events are affecting yield reliability, disease pressure and pest risk. The key…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Wheat dwarf virus widespread in UK, finds survey

A survey led by independent agronomists suggests that wheat dwarf virus may be more widespread in the UK than previously thought. Transmitted by the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus, the virus has…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Yellow rust resistance blamed on dominant market varieties

The large area of wheat varieties carrying the Yr15 resistance gene created the selection pressure that resulted in last year’s major varietal breakdown to yellow rust. Sampling carried out by…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Advice on fungicide choice to slow wheat disease resistance

Winter wheat growers are advised to utilise all four main groups of systemic fungicides and adjust doses to help fight any build-up of disease resistance. In addition, they are urged…

See all

News

CROP MANAGEMENT

Greenpeace questions UK pesticide policy amid £810m warning

Ministers face mounting pressure over pesticide policy after a Greenpeace Unearthed probe found chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive harm still approved for use on British farms. Unearthed highlighted 14…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Early reports of severe chocolate spot in winter beans

Winter bean growers are being urged to check their crops for signs of chocolate spot, as there are increasing early reports of severe infections of the fungal disease in some…

OILSEED RAPE

£2.5m farm project marks first precision-bred OSR in Europe

A £2.5m oilseed rape light leaf spot project is bringing the first precision-bred variety onto commercial farms in Europe. Crop researchers have identified a plant susceptibility gene for light leaf…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Research on historic wheats disease resistance gets grant

Historic wheat collections could hold the secret to tackling the newly identified strain of yellow rust pathogen which overcame the Yr15 resistance gene in winter wheat last year. The breakdown…

See all

Video

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Phone app is cheaper way to monitor crops with a drone

A new smartphone app offers farmers a cheaper and easier way to monitor their crops, simply with a mobile phone and a cheap drone. Developed by Northumbria-based Drone Ag, the…

POTATOES

Video: Early potato harvest start is worst for 40 years

Brothers Peter and Philip Le Maistre are sixth-generation Jersey farmers and for them this potato season has been the worst since covering spuds with plastic started to be used on…

POTATOES

Video: Jersey early potato yields dip 20% after frosty February

Jersey’s early potato harvest is almost a month late this spring, with yields expected to be down one-fifth after the Beast from the East frosted off young plants barely out…

ARABLE

Video: Crop Doctor sees septoria rising to worrying levels

Disease levels are rising in the nation’s wheat crops with the wet weather likely to encourage septoria to spread and put growers on alert to make sure their fungicide programmes…

See all

Webinar

OILSEED RAPE

How to balance high inputs and market prospects for OSR

Although the price of oilseed rape has risen sharply largely due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, so too have input costs such as fertiliser, fuel and energy costs. Therefore, oilseed rape growers…

ARABLE

Webinar: Combating fungicide resistance

Farmers need to find ways to combat problems in crop protection that are caused by development of resistance to fungicides. Pathogen resistance to fungicides is widespread. This is especially true…

ARABLE

Expert advice on maximising OSR yields in a difficult season

After such a wet autumn and winter, the big question over oilseed rape this spring is: "What can farmers do to maximise yields in a very difficult season for oilseed…

See all