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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

PULSES

Getting the most from intercropping: Your questions answered

Intercropping is becoming a popular option for arable farmers looking to reduce chemical inputs and enhance yields. Particularly as the Sustainable Farming Incentive pays £55/ha for companion cropping. Despite its…

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…

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Case studies

OILSEED RAPE

Why Devon farmer is growing oilseed rape again

Oilseed rape crops across parts of the UK started flowering a month ahead of usual, following favourable autumn weather and mild winter conditions. For Devon farmer Joe Mawle and his…

CROP SELECTION

How polycrop is paving way to premium feed market

No field is planted to just one type of crop at Paul Baker’s mixed farm in Devon – instead fields are planted to either polycrops, variety blends or companions. A…

MAIZE

How grain maize earns more profit than wheat for two growers

With yields approaching 10t/ha and gross margins currently exceeding those of wheat, grain maize can be a profitable break crop. However, the crop does have its challenges and requires good…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Hazelnuts offer new high-value crop opportunity

Arable farmers looking for a new, high-value crop suited to the changing climate should consider producing hazelnuts, says Suffolk farmer and Nuffield scholar Tom McVeigh. Grown in an agroforestry-type orchard…

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Insights

OILSEED RAPE

UK OSR crop: Why there's growing optimism in 2026-27

There is growing optimisim in the UK oilseed rape crop this coming harvest due to greater knowledge on managing cabbage stem flea beetle, ideal establishment conditions along with an industry…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Why demand for hybrid rye and maize is set to rise

The expansion of biomethane injection plants and on‑farm anaerobic digestion capacity is creating  long‑term demand for home‑grown feedstocks, offering growers new low‑risk routes to improve profitability and resilience. With 130…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Why Scottish growers are turning to winter linseed

What started out as a trial to test the winter hardiness of new winter linseed varieties has ended up being a springboard for the crop’s introduction on Scottish arable farms.…

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News

ROTATIONS

Free crop rotation planning tool launched for farmers

A new free-to-use crop rotation planning tool is designed to help growers weigh up the financial and environmental benefits of different crop rotation options. Based on data from hundreds of…

ARABLE

Gene editing gains momentum with field trials and new approval

Field trials of a gene-edited barley crop designed to improve livestock feed efficiency and cut methane emissions are now under way on farms in England. Developed by scientists at Rothamsted…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Premium Crops unveils record contract values for spring 2026

A specialist niche crop company unveiled its spring cropping offers at the CropTec event, including a record spring linseed contract of up to £600/t as well as premium market opportunities…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Crumpets made from 100% British regen wheat launched

Crumpets made from 100% British regeneratively farmed wheat are the latest product launch from regen food and farming business Wildfarmed. The launch marks the brand’s first expansion from bread into…

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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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