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Know How / Variety selection

There are many factors to consider when selecting the right crop variety. Find out which varieties are performing well and proving their worth for the intended market, whether wheat for milling or feed, barley for malting or oilseed rape for specialist uses. With disease resistance becoming ever-important with a declining amoury of pesticides, see how new varieties can help.

Case studies

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OILSEED RAPE

How drought and pests have challenged our four OSR growers

Very dry soils and persistent cabbage stem flea beetle activity have made oilseed rape establishment more challenging than expected for most of our Oilseed Rape Masters this season. In the…

ROTATIONS

Added-value crops help manage risk on variable soils

Growing crops for added value premiums allows Northampton farmer Rick Davies to offset the extra income against the effects of cropping highly variable soils. With 404ha of combinable crops being…

VARIETY SELECTION

Why two growers have warmed to German high-protein wheats

High-protein German wheats are now part of Essex farm manager Mark Tubby’s rotation as they have increased his profits and given him an extra tool to fight blackgrass. The wheat…

ARABLE

Bold rapeseed variety choice secures profitable future

Since estate manager Toby Hogsbjerg made the radical decision to completely switch to Clearfield oilseed rape varieties, the estate's rapeseed crops have yielded almost 1t/ha more. A serious charlock problem…

BARLEY

Switching barley varieties yields better profits in Norfolk

Spring malting barley is the most profitable cereal crop on one north Norfolk farm and in a bid to improve returns further just one new high-yielding variety is being grown.…

ARABLE

Farmers' verdicts on 2017 wheat disease strategies

Yields and quality have proved to be better than anticipated for the farmers, considering the very dry spring and prolonged harvest, along with the disease threats. While responses to fungicides…

Practical advice

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DRILLING

Which wheat varieties to consider for late drilling

Cereal growers looking for wheat varieties most suited to later drilling dates should opt for those that are more vigorous, with good tillering ability and a rapid speed of development.…

VARIETY SELECTION

Three potato varieties show more tolerance to nematodes

Newer potato varieties such as Royal, Lanorma and Iodea are showing useful levels of resistance to the spud industry’s biggest pest problem, potato cyst nematode (PCN). Graham Tomalin, agronomist at…

VARIETY SELECTION

What the 2018 winter wheat varieties offer growers

Most of the newly recommended winter wheat varieties for this coming autumn have more yield to offer, but that’s considered unlikely to be enough to tempt growers to make sweeping…

CROP SELECTION

Oat market offers opportunity for farms in the right areas

Oats are the UK’s third largest home-grown cereal crop, behind wheat and barley, and they can be a profitable addition to arable rotations. They are a useful low-input cereal break…

VARIETY SELECTION

Expert pointers on winter barley variety choices

Winter barley has fallen out of favour on many British farms in recent years due to a combination of its unattractive gross margins and farmers turning to spring cropping to…

VARIETY SELECTION

Advice on picking OSR varieties to drill this autumn

The new format of the winter oilseed rape Recommended List can’t disguise the fact that growers have never had such a good range of varieties to choose from. While the…

Insights

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VARIETY SELECTION

Cereal varieties: Winners and losers at harvest 2018

During the 2018 cereal harvest, wheat varieties were more likely to perform slightly below their long-term averages than to exceed yield expectations.  That’s why most of the 2018 results shouldn’t…

VARIETY SELECTION

Three potato varieties show more tolerance to nematodes

Newer potato varieties such as Royal, Lanorma and Iodea are showing useful levels of resistance to the spud industry’s biggest pest problem, potato cyst nematode (PCN). Graham Tomalin, agronomist at…

HARVEST

Harvest 2018: The 5 top-yielding winter barley varieties

Throughout the harvest season we are updating our handy map with the latest data from 2018’s AHDB winter barley Recommended List harvest results. Use the map below to find the…

OILSEED RAPE

Rapeseed needs a price hike to prompt a bigger area

Rapeseed prices will need to tick higher to encourage a bigger oilseed rape crop to be drilled this summer as growers watch their crops struggling in the current wet weather.…

ARABLE

What the 5 new sugar beet varieties offer

Five newly recommended sugar beet varieties offer growers up to 7.6% extra yield, as well as a step up in yield for a specialist variety for fields infested with rhizomania.…

HARVEST

Harvest 2017: The 5 top-yielding spring barley varieties

Throughout the harvest season we’ll be updating this handy map with the latest data from this year’s AHDB spring barley recommended list 2017 harvest results. Use the map below to find…

HARVEST

Harvest 2017: The 5 top-yielding winter wheat varieties

Throughout the harvest season we’ll be updating this handy map with the latest data from this year’s AHDB winter wheat recommended list 2017 harvest results. Use the map below to find…

HARVEST

Harvest 2017: The 5 top-yielding winter barley varieties

Throughout the harvest season we are updating this handy map with the latest data from 2017’s AHDB winter barley Recommended List harvest results. Use the map below to find the…

HARVEST

Harvest 2017: The 5 top-yielding oilseed rape varieties

Throughout the harvest season we will be updating this handy map with the latest data from this year’s AHDB oilseed rape Recommended List 2017 harvest results. Use the map below to…

OILSEED RAPE

Growers spoilt for choice with new oilseed rape varieties

Conventional oilseed rape varieties may continue to set the pace for gross output, but there is plenty of interest in hybrids and specialist types, especially the Clearfield varieties, according to…

WHEAT

Distorted milling wheat market puts agronomics in spotlight

Wheat growers now have a head-spinning 41 varieties to choose between when they study the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds’ mammoth Recommended List, meaning it’s trickier than ever before to make…