Know How / Crop selection

Guidance and advice on choosing which spring or winter crops to grow for your end market to ensure you are profitable and insured against volatility. Find out which markets offer a premium, such as spring barley for whisky or milling wheat for bread and specialist crops such as quinoa or naked oats.

Advice and tips

ARABLE

How arable farmers can turn things around this spring

It may feel like doom and gloom at present, as any rare dry days are predictably followed by another spell of rain – a cycle that has limited field work…

OTHER CROPS

Round-up of the niche crop options for UK growers

Introducing alternative break crops to an arable rotation can help growers improve soil health, spread market risk and further financial gain. As pesticide actives are lost and resistance fears build,…

BARLEY

Advice on growing malting barley to gain from high premiums

Premiums of £55-£60/t for malting barley are being offered this harvest, with the price supported by beer's history of being recession-proof and the post-Covid recovery in beer sales. For these…

BARLEY

Major maltster picks top spring malting barley for Scotland

The spring malting barley variety Diablo could become the number one variety in Scotland in the next two to three years after an initial good performance on-farm and through the…

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Case studies

WHEAT

Herbal leys and bicrops help hit organic wheat premium

Devon farmer George Greed is successfully using herbal leys, inter-crops and population wheats to hit organic milling premiums, as part of his nature friendly farming operation which has increased arable…

ARABLE

How US farmer increases profitability through relay cropping

Relay cropping winter wheat and soya beans in one season could be worth at least £605/ha (US$300/acre) more for a US farmer in Indiana compared with just growing mono soya…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

How agriculture policies affect our Arable Insights farmers

Uncertainty still reigns over Scotland and Northern Ireland’s future agricultural policy, while English farmers are now able to apply for Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) income, albeit having had their Basic…

ELM

2023 SFI to regain lost third of BPS for Warwickshire grower

Paul Wilson is hoping to secure one-third of the money he received from an old area-based subsidy scheme as he puts the finishing touches to a new farm environmental plan…

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Insights

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Could sunflowers fill the cropping gap this spring?

The first UK marketing pool for sunflowers gives farmers an alternative spring option to make up some of their winter cropping shortfall. Latest AHDB figures show that the wheat area…

MAIZE

Why grain maize could be a profitable spring cropping option

Grain maize could be a profitable spring option for growers this season, with expected net margins of £914/ha, thanks to growing market demand. After the winter washout wreaked havoc on…

ROTATIONS

SFI 2023: Tips on making it work on your farm

One in eight eligible farmers have now submitted a Sustainable Farming Incentive application, with more than 11,000 applications to the scheme and more than 100 farmers applying every day, according…

CROP SELECTION

What spring crops should farmers consider in 2024?

Spring cropping choice is set to be more complicated in 2024 as farmers assess the impact of the rain-hampered autumn drilling season with questions over the viability of some crops…

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News

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

New regenerative wheat standard offers farmers £20/t premium

A new wheat standard that aims to encourage regenerative farming practices and cut chemical use is offering a £20/t premium for compliant farmers. Established by the Green Farm Collective in…

PULSES

Cereals-pulse intercropping project seeks UK trial farmers

A new project investigating the potential for legume-cereal intercropping across Europe is looking for 20 UK growers to host on-farm trials. The leguminose project aims to increase the uptake of…

ARABLE

Planting and variety survey 2023 now open

The AHDB planting and variety survey which aims to provide an estimate of the area of cereals and oilseed rape intended for the UK harvest 2023 is open. The survey…

ARABLE

Trial sees 9.7t/ha yield from zero-input bean-oat bicrop

A crop of oats grown with no inputs apart from seed and a companion crop of winter beans has produced an exceptional yield in a Northamptonshire trial. Bicropping is gaining…

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Video

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Video: UK agroforestry system integrates fruit and arable

First-generation tenant farmer Stephen Briggs planted the UK’s largest agroforestry system, integrating fruit trees and arable cropping to boost land productivity. More than a decade after the 4,500 apple trees…

HARVEST

Video: Spring barley cut ahead of wheat in Cambridgeshire

Spring barley is being cut ahead of of winter wheat on James Peck’s Cambridgeshire farm and showing a good yields of 7.5-8t/ha. Mr Peck had cut some wheat for a…

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