Arable Farming articles from January 2006

Arable Farming archives from January 2006

Unravelling the red tape.
January 16, 2006... Towards the end of last year the Government promised to cut the burden of red tape in this industry by a quarter by 2009. It said it was going to achieve this by rolling out a new strategy called `Partners for Success'. At the heart of the...

UK farmers are 'sacrificial lambs' in CAP.
January 16, 2006... NFU president Tim Bennett launched an attack on government farm policy at the Oxford Farming Conference, which took place in the first week of the New Year. Mr Bennett suggested farmers were being used as `sacrificial lambs' in government...

Change contract farming to account for new regime.
January 16, 2006... Strip the subsidy out of contract farming agreements and calculate returns on a crop-by-crop basis. This is the advice to arable businesses from Fisher German farm business consultants. "Many existing whole farm arrangements will not work...

HGCA oilseed rape workshops.
January 16, 2006... `Growing oilseed rape: Realising the potential' is the title of a series of HGCA winter workshops planned in association with Farmers Guardian. The series of workshops will, among other things, explore the issues limiting both yield and...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Podcasting on the podium.
January 16, 2006... Bayer CropScience's podcasting service `Four Seasons Live!' has won a gold medal in the company's Global Awards for Excellence. The service, which was launched last September, beat entries from Bayer's other global divisions - including...

Information boards.
January 16, 2006... Worcestershire LEAF farmer Jake Freestone's New Year's resolution is to explain his farming practices to walkers across the farm! And he is using LEAF's information boards to help him get his messages across. LEAF has 30 farm information boards...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Bulb fly alert.
January 16, 2006... The risk of wheat bulb fly is high for the second season running, according to ADAS and Dow AgroSciences. Field sampling in eastern England shows 50% of fields sampled are at `high' or `very high' risk of attack from wheat bulb fly. Of...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Click on.
January 16, 2006... Agrovista, the agronomy supply company, has improved its website. Users can now click-through to the most popular parts of the site straight from the home page rather than resorting to the menu buttons. Nick Rainsley, marketing manager...

VI improves performance of already `green' farmers.
January 16, 2006... Even farmers who are already keen to improve the environmental aspects of their land can benefit from applying the Voluntary Initiative's recommended best practice, according to research conducted by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group...

ARABLE BRIEFS: 2005 tractor registrations.
January 16, 2006... The total registrations of agricultural tractors (over 40hp) ended 2005 at 13,301 units, a decrease of 11.1% on the previous year, says the AEA. A primary factor behind this decline, it says, was uncertainty within the farming community...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Beet demo.
January 16, 2006... Sugar beet growers pay attention! Cambs-based Standen Reflex is showing off its latest tanker beet harvester, the Holmer Terra-Dos T3 at two public demonstrations. The venues and dates are: Tuesday, January 17 - 10am-2pm, Thompsons...

Smith's Soapbox... Porcupine alert.
January 16, 2006... Farming opinion from Essex-based Guy Smith Over the years some readers have been cruel enough to suggest that while this column is sometimes entertaining, seldom does it give them the technical knowledge they traditionally associate...

Smith's Soapbox... Year's end.
January 16, 2006... The turn of the New Year gives opportunity to review the weather of 2005 and check that I retain the title `Driest farm in the UK'. I enclose a bar chart of the year's rainfall. The total was 467mm. So therefore 2005 was by averages a `dry'...

Regulation roll out.
January 16, 2006... Arable Farming's snapshot of important deadlines and dates for the introduction of new regulations in 2006. Pin it on the office noticeboard! And look out for our quarterly updates throughout this year. CAP reform/WTO During 2006 (no...

Stewardship: MAKING THE MOST OF ELS.
January 16, 2006... Stubble trouble? In the seventh of our monthly ELS Options guides, Rural Development Service (RDS) adviser Geoff Howe and Bedfordshire-based Masstock Arable Group specialist Martin Harwood of Dalgety examine Over-wintered Stubbles (EF6)....

Spring cropping: True blue?
January 16, 2006... Gremlin or a good rotational choice? Alison Lea debunks some of the misconceptions around linseed. The height of the Area Payment boom for linseed, when it reached 200,000ha, briefly painted the landscape blue, but did little for many...

Potatoes: New erwinia threat to potatoes?
January 16, 2006... The incidence of a relatively rare bacterial disease is said to be increasing in UK potato crops. Teresa Rush reports. Concern is being expressed within the potato industry over increasing levels of the bacterial disease Erwinia...

Potatoes: New spraing label approval.
January 16, 2006... A new approval for Nemathorin (fosthiazate) for the reduction of spraing enables growers to opt for overall incorporation, or an in- furrow application. Nemathorin has been shown to effectively reduce the incidence of spraing, caused by...

Fertiliser: Essential Guide fertiliser.
January 16, 2006... In the second of Arable Farming's `Essential Guide' series we provide you with a comprehensive listing of companies involved in all things to do with fertiliser. Abbey Farm Equipment Ltd Well Road, Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland ...

Fertiliser: Lessons learned in milling wheat management.
January 16, 2006... Is your milling wheat getting enough potassium? New research by ADAS suggests that there may be benefits in applying K at levels over and above those required for pure maintenance. The findings come from a two year study on Xi19 at three...

Talking Arable: Kit Papworth.
January 16, 2006... From our North Norfolk-based farmer Kit Papworth of L. F. Papworth Ltd, Lower Farm, Tuttington, Norwich. December 31, 2005 Writing on December 31, and not having written since a September issue of Arable Farming, it seems that I have a...

Pulse varieties: On the pulse.
January 16, 2006... PGRO technical director Anthony Biddle comments on the market for pulses. All sectors of the pulse market are under supplied by UK production, according to PGRO data. "We are not overproducing by any means, and this is a great thing...

Pulse varieties: Pulsating!
January 16, 2006... Alison Lea rounds up the pea and bean varieties on the 2006/07 Recommended List for pulses. Five new pea varieties, no new spring bean varieties and one new winter bean have been selected to join the PGRO/NIAB 2005/06 Recommended List. ...

Talking Arable: Arthur Hill.
January 16, 2006... January 1, 2006 2006 has arrived with mild unseasonal weather which will at least make feeding the stock a little easier while the staff have their traditional break over Christmas. We did however load 400 tonnes of beet on December 30...