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Know How / Weed management

Find out about the main pest threats and how to control them in wheat, barley, oilseed rape, sugar beet and potato crops. Get advice on dealing with pests including flea beetle, TuYV, potato cyst nematode and slugs, how and when to apply insecticides and what a permanent neonicotinoid ban would mean.

Advice and tips

WEED MANAGEMENT

5 reasons why ryegrass is the UK’s most difficult weed

The AHDB, Rothamsted Research and Niab all rank ryegrass as the UK’s number one weed.   Here, experts from Adas and BASF discuss what makes ryegrass so challenging and how to…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Controlling grassweeds in beans easier, but caution advised

While the recent introduction of aclonifen for beans has made weed grassweed control a little easier, caution is still needed to achieve effective control without causing any undue damage to…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Advice on sugar beet weed control for summer 2026

Good crop ground cover will be key to managing herbicide costs in sugar beet this year, after dry conditions affected weed control programmes in 2025. Sugar beet growers should have…

ARABLE

Advice on managing grassweeds after low pressure season

Successful weed control was a highlight of last year’s growing season, with some of the lowest blackgrass pressures recorded in the UK over the past decade. However, experts are warning…

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Case studies

CROP MANAGEMENT

Regen premium helps West Midlands family battle blackgrass

Regen premiums have given father and son James and Sam Daw the confidence to dedicate one-third of their cropping area to spring crops and tackle a growing grassweed problem. “It…

WEED MANAGEMENT

How a farmer is planning weed control without flufenacet

Oxfordshire wheat grower Ollie Stobo has been using new autumn herbicide Fundatis to control his “medium” levels of blackgrass and some troublesome broad-leaved weeds. He has trialled FMC’s product across…

WEED MANAGEMENT

How two farmers integrate strategic glyphosate in rotations

Use of glyphosate – the most widely applied herbicide in the UK – has surged over the past three decades. In recent years that increase has been driven by the…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How growers returned environmental schemes back to cropping

Land in environmental stewardship schemes returning to the arable rotation must be managed carefully to avoid unintended weed burdens. We talk to two growers about how they have managed the…

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Insights

BLACKGRASS

Three steps to better blackgrass control

Blackgrass control is moving underground, with a shift in focus towards creating crop root systems that will be highly competitive against those of the weed. Significant progress has been made…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Advice on grassweed control for early wheat drillers

The higher yields and greater resilience targeted by earlier sowing of winter wheat must be balanced with an appropriate approach to grassweed control, growers are advised. While a large, up-front…

WEED MANAGEMENT

How new herbicide is helping tackle Italian ryegrass

Italian ryegrass is the key grassweed in parts of Kent and a new herbicide is helping farmers manage high levels and harvest crops which would otherwise be sprayed off. While…

BLACKGRASS

Growers advised to hold off stale seed-beds in dry fields

Cereal growers are being advised to hold off post-harvest cultivations in droughted fields, to maximise predation and degradation of blackgrass seed. Each summer, farmers look to spray off germinated blackgrass…

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News

WEED MANAGEMENT

Tri-allate offers new hope in herbicide resistance battle

New research suggests that tri-allate could have a valuable role in managing herbicide resistance in grassweeds, due to its multisite mode of action. This discovery by researchers means the chemical…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Bayer secures landmark Roundup US court victory

A landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court has handed Bayer a major legal victory in the long-running litigation over its glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide. It is a decision that could…

ARABLE

Australia clears paraquat and diquat for continued use

Australian farmers will retain access to paraquat and diquat after the country’s pesticide regulator stopped short of a ban, instead imposing new restrictions on how the herbicides can be used.…

ARABLE

Australia weighs fate of paraquat ahead of key ruling

Australia’s pesticide regulator is expected to rule later this summer on the future of paraquat, as pressure mounts from health campaigners calling for the herbicide to be banned. The Australian…

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Test and reviews

New Defy 3D nozzle: Sprayer operators give their verdict

Agrochemical giant Syngenta has launched its new Defy 3D spray nozzle, which will provide growers with improved grassweed control and reduced spray drift. The new nozzle is an evolution of…

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Video

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Leicester farm trials weed seed unit on Fendt combine

Europe’s first Redekop seed control unit (SCU) fitted to a Fendt Ideal 10T combine, aimed at controlling weed seeds, is being put to the test this harvest in Leicestershire at…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Mechanical hoes offer solution to herbicide resistance

As herbicides are withdrawn from the market, resistance builds and growers seek more sustainable weed management strategies, an increasing number of growers are turning to mechanical weed control. Andy Baggott,…

SUGAR BEET

Video: Robotti successfully drills and weeds 150ha of sugar beet

Autonomous Agri Solutions and Sentry farming have teamed up to use a fully autonomous robot to successfully drill and weed a 150ha area of sugar beet across Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.…

CEREALS

Cereals 2022: Watch the solar-powered FarmDroid in action

A fully autonomous, solar-powered robot capable of precision drilling and weeding was on display at Cereals this year. Using ultra-accurate GPS to record exactly where each seed is placed, the…

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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…

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