Arable Farming articles from January 2005

Arable Farming archives from January 2005

Soil management workshops.
January 17, 2005... During the hands-on training element of an Environment Agency-organised soil, nutrient and track management workshop in Suffolk, NFU deputy president Peter Kendall talks through soil sampling with farmers attending the event. The workshop,...

Bushfire destroys 3,000 acres of crops plus house.
January 17, 2005... While the word `disaster' should be used in measured terms, particularly in light of the humanitarian tragedy that has unfolded in Asia (see tsunami appeal on opposite page), it seems that the last few days of 2004 also left their mark in a...

Resistance now in barley net blotch.
January 17, 2005... Scientists have revealed that resistance to strobilurin fungicides has been detected in barley net blotch, thereby adding another cereal disease to the growing list that has already developed resistance. Partially resistant isolates have...

Septoria resistance now `widespread'.
January 17, 2005... The Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) has released further results from its strobilurin resistance monitoring. The results indicate that the frequency of strobilurin resistance in Septoria tritici in wheat has increased. "Higher...

Stewardship.
January 17, 2005... A major new initiative to help farmers meet cross compliance, Entry Level and Higher Level Environmental Stewardship objectives will be launched by Farmacy agricultural advisers. "We have developed a sophisticated computer software...

More CAP reform - warning.
January 17, 2005... Food and Farming Minister Lord Whitty has warned farmers to expect further `fundamental' reform of the Common Agricultural Policy over the next few years. Opening the Oxford Farming Conference earlier this month, he said the new Single...

Use extended.
January 17, 2005... A label extension secured for the cereal grass weed herbicide Alpha Trifluralin 48EC means that growers can now use the product right through to GS 22 - the main shoot and two tiller stage of winter cereal crop development. "This is a real...

Tsunami disaster - farm appeal.
January 17, 2005... The farming community has responded to the tsunami disaster with a fundraising event that took place in Suffolk earlier this month raising #6,000. Grower, Chris Clements of Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds hopes that the event, which...

Two new fungicides launched.
January 17, 2005... Bayer CropScience has launched two new fungicides for the 2005 season, although it awaits final approval on one of them. A new azole fungicide, prothioconazole, will be sold as Proline. As AFwent to press, Bayer was still, however, awaiting...

Smith's Soapbox: The back foot.
January 17, 2005... Farming opinion from Essex-based Guy Smith As predicted, the carping has started. The moment the media caught significant wind of the new decoupled CAP payments where farmers got money "for doing nothing" they couldn't help themselves. One...

AGROCHEMICALS: Comprehensive stewardship for nematicide use.
January 17, 2005... Bayer CropScience has announced its 2005 stewardship plans for the aldicarb nematicide Temik. Teresa Rush reports. Bayer CropScience has announced a comprehensive programme of stewardship for its aldicarb nematicide Temik for the 2005...

AGROCHEMICALS: Stewardship essential for continued use.
January 17, 2005... Good stewardship has been key to the continued use of aldicarb, the active ingredient in the nematicide Temik, says Bayer CropSciences EU stewardship manager. Francis Gatineau says aldicarb was used on many different crops throughout...

AGROCHEMICALS: New closed transfer packs.
January 17, 2005... Temik supplied in Ultima closed transfer packs will come in 15kg pack weights rather than 20kg in 2005. Bayer CropScience says the refinement optimises the compatibility with applicator hoppers and reduces the storage area required by over...

RECOMMENDED LIST: New varieties of oilseed rape and pulses.
January 17, 2005... Here, in part two of our Recommended List coverage, Alison Lea introduces the new OSR and pulse recruits to the 2005/06 Lists. After a quiet 2004/05 Recommended List when Candidates struggled to match Winner's yield advance, 2005/06 sees a...

RECOMMENDED LIST: On the pulse.
January 17, 2005... Though 2004 was not a kind year for pulse growers, there are indications that cropping plans have not changed significantly for 2005 - the MTR watershed year. The RL programme for pulses is funded from the PGRO levy, and carried out by...

FERTILISERS: Nutrient placement route to yield and quality benefits.
January 17, 2005... Potato growers could reduce overall fertiliser use by a third and still improve yields and tuber quality with direct placement of phosphate and specifically tailored fertilisers in the seedbed, according to one crop nutrition specialist. ...

FERTILISERS: Precision application with no planting delay.
January 17, 2005... A new high capacity self-contained precision fertiliser applicator, launched by Techneat Engineering for the coming season, aims to enable growers to integrate precision fertiliser placement without any delays in planting. The 1.2 tonne...

Getting more from the nitrogen bag.
January 17, 2005... A new web-based N-calculator, which aims to refine N-timing and rates linked to crop status and available soil nitrogen, is helping a Northamptonshire grower get more from bagged nitrogen. Arable Farming reports. With a number of mills on...

Managed N performs well.
January 17, 2005... Kemira GrowHow Arable Agronomist Allison Grundy recommends a managed approached to nitrogen applications. New research, conducted by Rothamsted as part of our 2004 research and development programme has shown both lodging and grain N...

SUGAR BEET: Less nematicide, no less performance.
January 17, 2005... At a time when cost cutting is paramount and a reduction in the use of pesticides is seen as being environmentally desirable, sugar beet growers may welcome the implementation of a system which, already used extensively in Belgium, enables...

Talking Arable with our Cambridgeshire grower David Felce.
January 17, 2005... Happy New Year and welcome to the `brave new world' of Single Farm Payment. By the time you read this, Christmas will be a distant memory of over-eating and over-spending and now we have to face up to the reality of `The Mid Term Review' of the...

Talking Arable with our North Lincolnshire farmer Ambrose Fowler.
January 17, 2005... December 23 2004 I have just a few good memories of 2004. One is a year ago my wife, daughter and I flew to Mexico to see our son who was taking a life- enhancing experience of spending one of his 4 years at university on an exchange with...

SPRING BREAK CROPS: Give us a break!
January 17, 2005... Growers in the south of the country should consider hemp as a true spring break crop. Alison Lea reports. There is a saying that there is nothing new under the sun. That would certainly apply to hemp, which has been grown on UK farms for...

POTATOES: Potato service from seed to sale.
January 17, 2005... In Somerset the contracting business of Nick Bragg has spawned a new generation of potato growers, who would otherwise have never been able to afford the costs of setting up in the specialist business. Providing a package from seed to sale has...

POTATOES: Direct placement increases effectiveness.
January 17, 2005... Last year the group looked at Amistar in seeking, primarily, to improve skin finish at harvest for the high-value salad Charlotte crops, and also to achieve a consistently higher proportion of premium baker size tubers from the Estima crops....

POTATOES: Packing premium.
January 17, 2005... The Frogmary Farm packing facilities now include a high capacity cleaner and grader, along with washing, bagging and boxing equipment. While most of the crop is sold in bulk to the retail and supermarket customers, Mr Bragg reports there are...

POTATOES: New growers benefit.
January 17, 2005... Paul Harris was one of the new generation of potato growers created by the formation of the Isle Valley Potato Group, set up by Nick Bragg, along with Nick and John Sherwin of J&G Produce. He now grows around 30 hectares of potatoes as an...

FERTILISER SPREADERS: Automation and accuracy key for spreader sales.
January 17, 2005... The market for fertiliser spreaders in 2004 accounted for 3,500 units, nearly 400 more than the previous year, according to the Agricultural Engineers' Association, which collects figures from the major suppliers. Manufacturers say there...

Telehandlers: A future for rear-lifts?
January 17, 2005... Bolt-on telehandler rear linkage/PTO combinations have come and gone but the Merlo Multifarmer enjoyed the unique position in that it was the only telehandler that is fitted with a truly integrated rear linkage/PTO. Not any more, writes Steven...

Future: Can major players ignore this new breed of telehandler?
January 17, 2005... Swill this new breed of vehicle, a cross between a telehandler and a tractor will catch on in significant numbers? After all, compared with the comfort offered in the cabs of most of today's hi-spec tractors, the telehandler cab does not...

COLIN MYRAM'S CROP TALK: Merchant consolidation.
January 17, 2005... Before looking forward to 2005 it is perhaps worth looking back at some of the happenings of 2004. We have witnessed the continual `rationalisation' of the grain merchants and suppliers, with Grainfarmers (having acquired Dalgety grain)...

COLIN MYRAM'S CROP TALK: The paper trail.
January 17, 2005... We have seen the uncertainties surrounding the Common Agriculture Policy reform by the EU commission and Her Majesty's governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The process of piecemeal drip feeding of proposals by Defra...

COLIN MYRAM'S CROP TALK: Crops come good, prices go bad.
January 17, 2005... On a somewhat brighter note, most winter cereal crops last season recovered well from the extreme dry drilling conditions. This was just as well in view of present prices! This last autumn has seen opposite conditions but most crops have...

COLIN MYRAM'S CROP TALK: Breakthrough with new inputs.
January 17, 2005... The introduction of Atlantis for black-grass control came in 2004 - which was in the nick of time as resistance continues to increase. IPU, although it performed quite well in 2004, is under the cosh because of getting into drinking water....

COLIN MYRAM'S CROP TALK: `Do-gooders' do not help.
January 17, 2005... However it is depressing to see the Soil Association yet again trying to shoot British agriculture in the foot by suggesting that conventionally-produced food is not safe to eat - what rubbish as we try to feed the world. One assumes that sales...