Arable Farming articles from February 2006

Arable Farming archives from February 2006

COMMENT: LOOKING FORWARD.
February 13, 2006... Crops have generally failed to provide arable farmers with any meaningful return in recent years and current evidence suggests this is set to continue. So there has never been a better time for Arable Farming to provide you with the...

70 TONNE/HA IS POSSIBLE - BUT `NOT FOR EVERYONE'.
February 13, 2006... Achieving the British Sugar aim of 70 tonnes of beet to the hectare is possible, and would allow UK growers to remain viable under the proposed new regime, according to Robin Limb. Mr Limb has been seconded from his role with the company to...

TARGET TROUBLE.
February 13, 2006... The first case of target site resistance in black-grass to Atlantis has been confirmed on a farm in Essex. In 2004/05 a trial with a range of herbicide treatments and timings took place where black-grass with ALS target site resistance was...

IN BRIEF: SECOND DRY SEASON FOR FRANCE AND SPAIN.
February 13, 2006... French and Spanish growers have been told to prepare for the second successive dry season. Following on from last year's unusually dry conditions, the Spanish government has warned growers to expect impending water restrictions as the...

IN BRIEF: MILDEW OUTBREAKS.
February 13, 2006... United Kingdom Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey (UKCPVS) results for 2005 reveal early indications of a new race of yellow rust of wheat and a new race of mildew. For the first time in 2005 mildew was detected on Robigus in variety trials...

IN BRIEF: POLISH POTATOES.
February 13, 2006... The Polish potato area has fallen by 17% to 595,000 hectares, the largest single drop recorded in Europe. Although the production volume fell by 21.4% to 11 million tonnes, Poland is still Europe's largest potato producer. However,...

IN BRIEF: CULTIVATOR CLEVER.
February 13, 2006... Congratulations go to Chris Reeve who has won 12 months' free use of a Simba X-Press cultivator after entering a competition in Arable Farming in association with Simba and BASF. Mr Reeve, who farms with his father, David at Wetherden, near...

GRASS WEED OPPORTUNITY.
February 13, 2006... After one of the driest Januarys in the last 100 years, growers are being urged not to waste a golden opportunity to make a start in tackling any remaining grass weed problems. Lack of any significant rainfall has made main fields fit for...

IN BRIEF: Ergot research.
February 13, 2006... Interim results from HGCA-funded research suggest that ergots from certain grass species are less of a risk to wheat than are those from others. Researchers collected 160 individual ergot samples in 2005, from a total of 30 grass species....

IN BRIEF: CROP CONCERN.
February 13, 2006... Concern for crops across the globe is growing, according to the HGCA. While in Russia and Ukraine forecasts for extreme low temperatures have raised concern about winterkill, the US states of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma are facing extreme...

SMITH'S SOAPBIX: TRANSPARENCY.
February 13, 2006... Farming opinion from Essex-based Guy Smith One of the suggested proposals by the Royal Commission that looked at by-stander exposure to pesticides was to give householders access to farm spray records. I have no great problem with this. If...

SMITH'S SOAPBOX: THE HUMAN TOUCH.
February 13, 2006... Reading of news that a welsh college had scrapped its automated milking parlour because it failed to provide the labour economies hoped for got me thinking about that elusive arable mirage - the driver-less tractor. I must have been reading...

FINANCE: TAXING TIMES FOR FARM BUSINESSES.
February 13, 2006... Restructuring your business to the new Single Payment may have tax implications. Arable Farming asks Richard Sanders from Fisher German and Andrew Slack from Grant Thornton to look at the problems and opportunities arable farmers face. ...

Talking arable with our Cambridgeshire grower David Felce.
February 13, 2006... As I write this, the `coldest winter for many years', as it is constantly referred to, has yet to arrive, although there is still plenty of time to prove the `forecasters' right. One thing that is for sure is last year was the second driest I...

GM CROPS: THE EUROPEAN QUESTION.
February 13, 2006... GM crops could yet be a lifeline to UK and European growers facing the eventual end of subsidies and increasingly tough global competition. On the contrary, if the technology is adopted, farmers could be exposing themselves to a potential...

GM crops around the world.
February 13, 2006... * The estimated global area of approved biotech crops for 2004 was 81 million hectares, up from 67.7 million hectares or 167 million acres in 2003. * Biotech crops were grown by approximately 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries in 2004,...

WEED CONTROL: MORE SEA POWER.
February 13, 2006... A new spring herbicide, derived from Atlantis, will provide growers with a tool to eradicate brome - but that's just one of a spectrum of weeds it gets to work on, finds Alison Lea. Bayer CropScience has launched a new spring herbicide for...

A WEEDY WAY TO GO.
February 13, 2006... Weed control increasingly requires us to differentiate between `good' weeds and `bad'. But which weeds to target and how? Teresa Rush reports. `Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet' wrote Gerald Manley Hopkins in the poem...

DISEASE CONTROL: RUST RISK REQUIRES TAILORED T0.
February 13, 2006... With disease pressure already high T0 fungicide sprays are likely to be needed to keep a lid on Septoria and rusts this spring. Teresa Rush reports. After last autumn's early start to drilling and the relatively mild winter thus far, many...

WEED CONTROL UPDATE.
February 13, 2006... * Axial, available for the first time this spring, brings new levels of wild oat and rye-grass control in wheat and barley, claims manufacturer Syngenta. Based on the active ingredient pinoxaden, Axial comes with application rates of 0.3...

SOIL MANAGEMENT: DOWN TO EARTH ADVICE.
February 13, 2006... Alison Lea reports on how to avoid getting buried by cross compliance concerning soil this year. With the introduction of cross compliance last year, so began the rollout of new standards designed to protect soils. Soil is an important...

SOILS IN CROSS COMPLIANCE: A SEASON BY SEASON CHECKLIST.
February 13, 2006... * Late winter Late harvested fields e.g. sugar beet: as soon as possible should be ploughed or cultivated to loosen soil, and left in 'rough condition' for the rest of the winter. Complete Soil Protection Review, and take action where...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: PRODUCTIVE YEAR FOR CZECH REP.
February 13, 2006... With some Czech potato growers lifting in excess of 30tph, 2005 will be remembered as a highly productive year. In fact, the country's potato sector lifted a record 995,000 tonnes, a 15.4% increase (133,000 tonnes) on 2004 levels. The downside...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: RUSSIAN RECORD OUTPUT LEVELS.
February 13, 2006... Improved growing techniques and the use of modern varieties helped the Russian sugar beet sector to achieve new record output levels last season. Despite a 4% fall in the area, the 2005 campaign was the best ever and it is tipped that the...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: WHEAT INCREASE FOR FRANCE.
February 13, 2006... French figures show that the country's winter oilseed rape area is up by 100,000ha this year to 1.3 million hectares. Other notable increases are reported in the case of hard winter wheat, the area of which is up by 20,000ha to 4.9 million...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: GERMANS SWITCH TO WINTER CROPS.
February 13, 2006... An increasing number of German cereal growers are switching from spring to winter sown crops. Recent figures show that although the winter barley area has stabilised at around 1.35 million hectares, the winter wheat area is up by 1.5% to 3.24...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: NICHE POTATO MARKET DISCOVERED.
February 13, 2006... Falling demand for the use of potato starch in the textile sector is forcing the likes of Avebe to look for new ways to make use of the product. The Dutch-company appears to have tapped into a niche market and although it sounds an...

CONTINENTAL NEWS: BELGIAN PRODUCTION SLUMP.
February 13, 2006... Belgian potato production slumped by 17% in 2005. That is the claim from the country's National Institute for Statistics, which suggests total production fell from 3.23 million tonnes in 2004 to just 2.65 last year. A survey of growers...

STEWARDSHIP: MAKING THE MOST OF ELS - NO CHICKEN FEED.
February 13, 2006... Experienced Rural Development Service (RDS) adviser, Geoff Howe and Ludlow-based, Masstock Arable Group agronomist, Paul Doyle of Prince, Doyle & Jenkins provide practical advice on Wild Bird Seed Mixtures (EF2) in the eighth in our series of...

Talking arable with our North Lincolnshire farmer Ambrose Fowler.
February 13, 2006... "Money, so they say, is the root of all evil, but if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're giving none away". Track 6, The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973. One of the greatest LPs of all time. So, here we are 36 years...

GLOBAL REPORT FROM OUR AUSTRALIAN FARMER COLUMNIST NEIL UNGER.
February 13, 2006... Our Australian farmer/ columnist, Neil Unger, is fast coming to the conclusion that Australia means, `land of continual disaster'. The century so far: 2000 - frost; 2001 - frost; 2002 - drought; 2003 - drought and a grasshopper plague; 2004 -...

SUGAR BEET: LIFTING EFFICIENCY KEY IN BEET REFORM.
February 13, 2006... In light of forthcoming reform of the sugar sector resulting in a drastic cut in margins to be made from beet, Steven Vale looks at one way contractors in particular can look at improving efficiency when harvesting the crop. The Logibeet...

SUGAR BEET: BEET HARVESTER LIFTS 2ha/hr.
February 13, 2006... The news about sugar beet price reductions was not quite as bad as many growers and contractors feared, according to Alex Mathias of Standen Engineering, and there is even a touch of optimism that the beet-for- ethanol scheme could be a bonus....

LAMMA 2006: POSITIVE SELECTION FROM JONES ENGINEERING.
February 13, 2006... Doncaster-based Jones Engineering never fails to introduce new technology at events and they did not disappoint. Designed to harvest parsnips, the Positive Selection self-propelled unit can be adapted to harvest other root crops but was...

LAMMA 2006: UNIVERSAL AUTO TRAC.
February 13, 2006... Universal Auto Trac from John Deere is an addition to its conventional Auto Trac self-steering tractor system and can be retro-fitted to its older models as well as to those of competitors. By removing the tractor's steering wheel, an Auto...

LAMMA 2006: KRM FERTILISER SPREADERS.
February 13, 2006... KRM launched the L1 and L2 discs fertiliser spreaders. These are produced by Bogballe with the L1 having a capacity of 700 to 1,600 litres and a spreading width of 18m. The L2 is able to take 700 to 2,050 litres and spreads fertiliser to 28m....

LAMMA 2006: COMBI-LIFT SOIL LOOSENER.
February 13, 2006... The Combi-Lift from He-VA is a soil-loosening implement that can be coupled to the firm's 3m rigid Disc Roller. The six legs are protected by a hydraulic auto-reset system, although there is also a shear bolt version and have a maximum working...

LAMMA 2006: SIMBA ROLLER.
February 13, 2006... Simba's Cross Compliance roller follows hot on the heels of its other `environmental tool' - the Aqueel. Whereas the Aqueel was more suited for root crop and vegetable beds and well-tilthed land - creating a dimpled effect in the soil to reduce...

LAMMA 2006: DISINFECTING WATER.
February 13, 2006... UV03 use ultra violet light to disinfect water, which will be of particular interest to growers irrigating crops and have to treat bacteria with chemicals. Andrew Langford, of the Cambridgeshire-based company, says water passes though a...

LAMMA 2006: FARM FORCE MEGA MATE.
February 13, 2006... The Mega Mate from Farm Force is a pre-cultivator for using in front of a power harrow drill combination or for deep soil loosening of vegetable ground. The #3,600 3m version uses six legs with shear bar protection. Working depth is...

LAMMA 2006: SMS CULTIVATOR RANGE.
February 13, 2006... The SMS range of cultivators hail from the Czech Republic and are being imported by Willow Farm Machinery. The range includes discs, subsoilers, rolls and tine cultivators. The shallow disc cultivator uses two rows of scallop discs with...

LAMMA 2006: QUIVOGNE JUPITER CULTIVATOR.
February 13, 2006... Quivogne's Jupiter cultivator is aimed at farmers who prefer tines to discs. It is available in working widths of 6.3m and 8.1m and uses three rows of heavy duty curved tines followed by three rows of following tines that can be set...