Velcourt is promising a busy stand at Cereals with activities and information encompassing succession planning, agronomy, R&D and biodiversity.

Its Cereals Challenge, being run in conjunction with HL Hutchinsons, will see students from six agricultural colleges – Askham Bryan, Harper Adams, Royal Ag College, Hartpury, Riseholme and Writtle – fight it out in a challenge to grow a plot of wheat. Colleges pitched to take a plot and enter the competition which will be judged at Cereals.

The variety is Glasgow and the students have needed to manage the plot all year for agronomy, including fungicides, PGRs, nitrogen and herbicides.

The best plot will be judged on head counts, the approach the team took to managing the plot, the decisions they made. The winning team will receive a cash prize and a trophy.

There will be small plot variety trials – with half the plot left to the elements, half treated with Bayer’s new fungicide 869, a mix of the new carboxamide bixafen and prothioconazole. The varieties are: Dxuford, Oakley, Robigus, Zebedee, Panorama, Cordiale, Hereward and Gallant.

Velcourt R&D in focus will feature a poster display on the extent of what the company does, who they work with, the LINK projects they have and are involved in and TSB tenders they have submitted.

The Waste and Resources Action Plan project (WRAP) will feature a demonstration of anaerobic digestate on spring barley as a compost and fertiliser. This demonstration will show that this is a safe nutrient source.

The centrepiece, a block of wheat and sacks of wheat, will have sacks to represent the yields 25 years ago, the yields last year and the yields needed in 25 years to feed the growing population.

This display will outline technology change, innovation, developments – where has it come from and what needs to be done to keep these improvements and advances going.

This exhibit will also include facts and figures on prices, costs of oil, cost/use of labour, machinery requirements and mechanisation changes.

A virus-infected oilseed rape plot will show rape that has been innoculated with TuYV and treated with the seed treatments Cruiser, Modesto and a non-fungicide seed treatment.

The RSPB area will highlight different wild flower, pollen and nectar mixes and other ELS options. The spray nozzle and application demonstration will show how the operator can influence the amount of spray deposition and efficacy on target.

Velcourt will also be profiling the Househams semi-automated system that allows nozzle changes on the move. And there will be details of Velcourt variable rate nitrogen work and its evaluation.

*Cereals 2010 exhibitor information as supplied by Velcourt.