Just days to go until Cereals 2007

Drop your plans for Wednesday and Thursday 13 & 14 June; come to Cereals! Join over 21,000 visitors who will be making their way to Vine Farm, near Royston for the Cereals event.

There will be over 300 exhibitors, 10ha of working machinery demonstrations putting the latest tractors and equipment through its paces and the latest arable R&D in dozens of crop plots manned by the UK’s leading crop scientists.

Also, Syngenta’s Sprays and Sprayers Arena will be hosting working sprayer displays and the HSBC Forums will be debating agriculture’s role in delivering a better rural environment and energy solutions.

Crop plots
Thirty exhibitors have crop plots at this year’s event demonstrating the latest science and agronomic innovations in action, including:

  • All the HGCA recommended list varieties for wheat, barley and oilseed rape in one place at one time; plus nabim will be joining the HGCA in their milling wheat plots to talk about market opportunities at this premium end of the wheat market
  • Head-to head comparisons of pre-em and post-em herbicides and T1 and T2 fungicide options will be on show in the Velcourt Crop plots
  • Rothamsted Research will be on-hand in their on-site nitrogen trials to answer questions in light of the RB209 review; plus their R&D team will be looking at oilseed rape and its susceptibility to light leaf spot and stem canker, septoria and other disease resistance in wheat, rhynchosporium resistance in barley and the impact of climate change on aphids
  • NIAB plots will get to the heart of cereal disease management with demonstrations on choosing a variety to reduce the risk of rust epidemics and ergot development; the latter being of greater concern with the increase in grass margins; and they say that small is beautiful – so NIAB will be showing you just how small you can go with dwarf wheats!
  • For pure wheat agronomy, go to The Arable Group’s plots; they have a winter wheat variety trial, arranged in ‘quality’ order and nitrogen trials to study the need for high N rates for high yielding milling wheats – a conflict with the cross compliance requirements or is it?

Working machinery demos
There will be 10ha of working machinery demonstrations on both days of Cereals showing the latest tractors, combines, cultivation and drilling equipment at work on Vine Farm’s light sandy soils.

Booms extended in the Sprays and Sprayers arena
There will be a wide array of the latest sprayers on show within Syngenta’s Sprays and Sprayers arena to suit even the widest boom requirements! Plus there are a host of new technologies to improve the precision of application and the environmental restrictions on sprayer wash down and packaging disposal. New for 2007 is a ‘high speed turning zone’ designed to test the machines to the full.

HSBC Forums tackle climate change drivers for UK arable production
The Cereal Event’s principle Sponsor the HSBC will be hosting a series of three stimulating forums, free of charge to all event visitors.

  • Richard Whitlock of Frontier and Graham Lacey from Centaur Grain discuss the current situation for biofuels and the decisions farmers are likely to face on issues like price, contract options and proximity to plants.
  • Caroline Drummond from LEAF and Guy Smith will debate ‘Does it pay to be green?’ Two of the industry’s leading lights on integrating farming and the environment debate the possible changes likely to ELS/HLS schemes, practical solutions for cross compliance and the financial implications of stewardship for arable farmers
  • The third HSBC forum will tackle the challenge to all UK arable producers; the issue of Carbon Neutral farming

Post-harvest technology
Given the ever-increasing importance of quality in harvested and stored crops, there is an area of Cereals dedicated to exhibitors specialising in pos-harvest technologies. There will be equipment and information on grain handling, drying, storage and marketing from 28 exhibitors.

Environmental Stewardship

  • Planning environmental schemes? Head to Velcourt’s stand to see Green manure options (fertility builders) e.g. buckwheat; an RSPB link-up on wild bird feed crops and a wetland feature area
  • Good bugs or bad bugs? Dow Agrosciences is also teaming up with Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), on options for margin management and the ever popular “Pest Clinic” helping growers to understand how to identify both beneficial and harmful pests in their crops.
  • Plus FWAG advisors will be on hand to talk you through ELS and HLS applications and options

Dow Agrosciences launches new cereal herbicide
Dow AgroSciences will have plots which replicate national trials to give you a sneak preview of their new chemistry, pyroxsulam, for weed control in cereal crops.

Beet, oats and pulses

  • For sugar beet growers aiming to meet British Sugar’s 70t/ha yield challenge, the British Sugar/BBRO plots will demonstrate improved crop recovery, fungicide options, 2008 variety selections, crop nutrition and soil management
  • Just Oats – the quiet revolution – Senova will be demonstrating oat innovation from breeding and research through to the highly diverse and growing end-market; is this crop the answer for those seeking a low-input regime?
  • Just pulses – then head over to Wherry & Sons – they have a range of marrowfat pea and winter bean varieties being trialled along with Arthur, a new variety to be launched this autumn and trials looking at plant populations/ sowing dates/sowing rates

The Cereals Event 2007 is sponsored by the HSBC

In line with its position as the industry’s leading arable event, attendees will earn 4 NRoSo CPD or BASIS points for attending either day of Cereals. For further information on exhibitors attending, what is happening and how to get there, log onto the Cereals website www.cerealsevent.org.uk which is regularly updated. Tickets can be purchased for £15 on the gate. Student concessions are available; please see the website for more details.

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