Archive Article: 2001/08/22
• Provisional sugar beet factory opening dates are announced by British Sugar. First in line is Wissington on 25 Sept, then its 1 Oct for Cantley and Newark, 2 Oct for Bury and York, 4 Oct for Kidderminster and 9 Oct for Allscott.
• If youve a conservation project on the farm, why not try for an award to help fund the cost? The NFU Presidents Awards, sponsored by English Nature, offers up to £6,000 for the winner of the biodiversity competition; entry forms from local NFU offices.
• Theres grim financial news from East Anglian accountants Larking Gowen: many farmers in the region are now living off borrowings and effectively working for nothing, according to the companys survey, based on figures from the end of financial year in March 2001, and covering 87 farms. Copies available from 01603 624181.
• Make a note of the date: 5-6 December, and the venue: the NAC at Stoneleigh, Warks. The event is AgriVision – a farm business show which is focusing on the industrys future and the food chain. Theres more info on its own website: www.agrivision.org.uk
• British Potato 2001 at Newark this month attracted 6,500 visitors, says the British Potato Council, which is delighted with the response.
• If youve a bright idea for using up wheat, barley, oats or rye as a commercial venture – it might be a new specialist food item, for example – then apply for the HGCA Enterprise Awards 2002. On offer is up to £50,000 to help launch, research or market products or processes that will increase grain use. Details on www.hgca.com/enterprise
• The Soil Management Initiative has put together this excellent guide on establishment with the most common questions – and answers – asked of moving to minimal or direct drilling systems. The SMI includes organisations representing the agrochemical and machinery industry as well as research. Obtain a free copy by contacting SMI on 01244 881815 or www.smi@smi.org.uk.
• Further uncertainty is cast on the Governments farm-scale GM crop trials following a critical report from the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission. Greater separation distances, more consultation and less secrecy are needed. Meanwhile, UK retailers announced new guidelines on the technical standards and checks required to keep GM ingredients from the food chain; copies are available from the Stationery Office on-line bookstore on www.clicktso.com or 0870 600 5522.
• The row over whether farm-saving seed might jeopardise IACS claims takes another turn. After clarification was demanded by the NFU, the latest announcement from DEFRA is that there is nothing to prevent the legal use of farm-saved seed on more than one holding. And under the Plant Varieties Rights Act, two separate farms owned by the same farmer, but distant from each other, would still together be the "own holding".
• Grainfarmers (the new name for SCATS Grain) is to merge with the Organic Arable Marketing Group to handle organic combinable crops throughout the UK. MD Tim Pollock expects the joint venture to market more than 25% of UK organic cereal production this year.
• GM science moves on with the development of a system of gene insertion into tomatoes which does not involve the cells nucleus DNA. This means the GM trait is not then passed on to progeny, so limiting any risk of gene spread. This discovery will help the development of edible plant vaccines and pharmaceuticals, says Dr Peter Lutman of the bioscience information body CropGen.