Arable Farming articles from July 2006

Arable Farming archives from July 2006

Crop Comment: Two bioethanol plants for south Humber bank.
July 10, 2006... Two companies have announced plans to convert wheat into bioethanol in plants to be built on the south bank of the Humber. Green Spirit Fuels, which is about to start construction of a 100,000 tonne facility at Henstridge in Somerset, has...

Crop Comment: Make HLS a target - by Robert Gooch.
July 10, 2006... The Environmental Stewardship scheme is struggling. Take-up of both ELS and HLS has been poor and Ministers at Defra are desperate to increase recruitment into the schemes so as to be able to announce some good news. The main problem has...

High MRL compliance.
July 10, 2006... British growers have continued to maintain high compliance to Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) according to the Pesticides Residue Committee's (PRC) latest research. More than 1200 samples of food including imported and home-grown apples,...

Pheromone traps cut out pesticide waste.
July 10, 2006... The use of pheromone traps in cereals has cut the level of unnecessary pesticide treatments for orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) control this season, according to ADAS.Reporting a very patchy incidence of OWBM activity, Jon Oakley, principal...

Fertiliser assurance.
July 10, 2006... Following its launch in January, interest in the Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS), is high with over 100 companies attending recent FIAS seminars and more than 30 businesses having applied formally to join the scheme, says AIC...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Ascochyta alert.
July 10, 2006... There have been a number of cases of apparent poor control of Septoria in commercial crops, several of which have been the result of severe flag leaf infection by ascochyta. This is a weak pathogen that probably established as a secondary...

ARABLE BRIEFS: OSR root problem.
July 10, 2006... Club root is becoming increasingly common in oilseed rape, particularly in Scotland, where oilseed rape is grown in short rotation or on land often used for swedes, according to a new HGCA Topic Sheet. "Club root is increasingly becoming a...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Powdery mildew makes a return.
July 10, 2006... Powdery mildew in cereals could be making a comeback after 15 years, according to leading agronomists. "Popular new varieties such as Solstice, Ambrosia and Brompton appeal for reasons other than mildew resistance. We have also seen an...

Making crop protection sense.
July 10, 2006... The European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) has launched the Sense+Sustainability Campaign, a European-wide campaign promoting the environmental, economic and social viability of the sustainable use of crop protection products. The...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Disease tools from SAC.
July 10, 2006... SAC has launched two new web-based tools to help growers and consultants manage crop diseases. They are: The Adopt-A-Crop database, which gives instant access to the growth development and the disease levels in commercial crops, and the...

Smith's Soapbox: Good riddance to bad rubbish.
July 10, 2006... Farming opinion from Essex-based Guy Smith I have never been a big fan of burning plastic. I don't like it when others waft noxious black smoke over me and so I avoid returning the un- neighbourliness to others. Instead once a year we fill...

Smith's Soapbox: Black-grass.
July 10, 2006... I enclose a photo which will hopefully cheer you up. I have long been of the view that the best way to spread joy in the farming community is to publicise one's cock-ups. There is nothing more pleasing to the eye than someone else's roadside...

Biofuels: `Carbon Certified' - a new standard for UK crops?
July 10, 2006... What will your farm's carbon number be? As the concept of the low carbon economy gathers momentum the need to measure and demonstrate carbon efficiency is becoming a practical reality. Teresa Rush reports on HGCA work on developing a carbon...

Talking Arable with our Cambridgeshire grower David Felce.
July 10, 2006... The 53mm of rain that we had in May, making it the wettest month of the year (175mm so far) has meant that crops locally look well, with good yield potential. Winter beans appear to have the edge on their spring counterparts, especially where...

Markets: Grain markets tied to energy price as ethanol gets lift off.
July 10, 2006... While much of the arable industry was attending the Cereals event in Lincolnshire last month, the International Grains Council (IGC) held its Grains Conference 2006 - `Responding to Industry changes'. Chris Lyddon reports. The world's...

Markets: Higher grain prices could hurt poorer countries.
July 10, 2006... The world trade talks are likely to mean a rise in grain prices, according to Rachid Mohamed, Minister of Trade and Industry of Egypt, which takes over the chair of the IGC for 2006/2007. He is worried about how poorer countries will cope. ...

Sugar beet: Rhizomania-resistant varieties now on an equal footing.
July 10, 2006... The volume of rhizomania outbreaks confirmed since the first case 20 years ago will be duplicated in Lincolnshire within 10 years and in Yorkshire and in the West Midlands soon after. This was the prediction of Tony Guthrie, sugar beet seed...

Sugar beet: High hopes for new variety.
July 10, 2006... Feed-back from farmer trials of a new sugar beet variety on the BBRO- funded, NIAB Provisionally Recommended (PR) List have been very positive, says English Sugar Beet Company of its latest offering to the market - Justina. Bred by KWS,...

Sugar beet: Zero tolerance approach to weed beet this season.
July 10, 2006... A zero tolerance to weed beet should be high on any sugar beet grower's agenda this season as the distractions of sugar reform rumble on. While the need to drive up yield has never being greater, experts say that that the control of weed beet...

Talking Arable with our North Lincolnshire farmer Ambrose Fowler.
July 10, 2006... Cereals continues to be the showcase for the arable sector within our industry and this year's event near Lincoln was no exception and there seemed a great deal to look at. I was working both days on the J. H. Walter stand with whom I have...

Cereals 2006: Hard feet wheats for a better balance.
July 10, 2006... Arable Farming brings you highlights of last month's Cereals event, Nocton, Lincolnshire. CPB-Twyford chose the Cereals event to launch two high-yielding hard feed wheats that promise to provide a better balance to a Group 4 category...

Cereals 2006: Adding value from non-food crops.
July 10, 2006... Evaluating the potential of `on-farm' production of biogas, biofuels and industrial and high value oils, is the current aim of the National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC). "Non-food crops now have a real commercial opportunity in the UK but...

Cereals 2006: Managing the mycotoxin risk in the field.
July 10, 2006... New EU legislation has come into force setting legal limits for mycotoxins affecting the ears of grain for human consumption.At the Cereals event, the HGCA launched a new topic sheet entitled: Managing the fusarium mycotoxin risk in wheat. ...

Cereals 2006: Free CD offers complete cereals industry guide.
July 10, 2006... An `encyclopedia for the cereals industry' was launched at the Cereals event. Targeted at growers and others in the grain chain, the interactive CD-Rom entitled `Cereals Industry Resource Centre', covers questions or issues that commonly arise...

Cereals 2006: Soil test is only way to gauge N.
July 10, 2006... It is not true that that heavy soils hold more nitrogen, according to soil scientist Mechteld Blake-Kalff. "There is a perceived wisdom that heavy soils contain more nitrogen. In fact it's just dogma," she said. Dr Blake-kalff, formerly a...

Cereals 2006: Post-em limitations at late timing.
July 10, 2006... The hidden strengths and weaknesses of a range of grass weed herbicides when put under pressure were shown on the Velcourt `What's new in arable farming' demonstration area at the Cereals event. In a comparison of pre-emergence products...

Cereals 2006: Drill and cultivator focus on machinery lines.
July 10, 2006... Andy Collings and Mervyn Bailey report from the event. Widest drill option If it's output you want, then a 12m drill could go some way to meeting your requirements. Lemken's stand at Cereals was dominated by what is now the widest...

Cereals 2006: Mounted drills expanded.
July 10, 2006... He-Va has expanded its mounted drill offering with the Fanterra. In two specifications, the new hydraulic folding drills are available in working width of 4m and 6m, each equipped with a 1,500 litre hopper. Considered, on some soils, to be...

Cereals 2006: 4m trailed drill unit added.
July 10, 2006... Pottinger's Terrasem range of combination trailed drills now includes a 4m version. The Terrasem 4000, which folds hydraulically to a transport width of 3m, has a choice of a twin-row rotary star type cultivator or a disc harrow as its primary...

Cereals 2006: Drill range has three builds.
July 10, 2006... Joining the Amazone line-up of pneumatic drills is the Citan range which is offered in 8m, 9m and 12m builds, the latter requiring a minimum of 250hp to operate. Starting at the tractor end, the drill is attached to the tractor's lower...

Cereals 2006: 12mm tines and wide stagger.
July 10, 2006... Spreading straw the full width of the combine header can be difficult and there are potential penalties for the following crop. This is why Opico has taken the decision to import the straw harrow from Hatzenbichler. James Woolway says that...

Cereals 2006: Sumo Trio with auto-reset.
July 10, 2006... Sumo has developed an auto-reset system for its Trio. Each of the soil- loosening tines use a hydraulic ram connected to an accumulator and the leg rises through an arc when it has encountered an obstacle. This means the Trio is the same...

Cereals 2006: Alpego's Craker imported.
July 10, 2006... Italy has proved to be a valuable source of machinery for a number of UK companies.Maintaining this tradition is now Lynx Engineering which is importing the Craker cultivator built by Alpego. At first sight the framework looks a little on the...

Cereals 2006: 8m Tandem unveiled.
July 10, 2006... The Moore Unidrill story continues and the latest development is to provide an 8m version of the company's Tandem Model DPA series. Moore has retained its split folding system and then, to reduce the height of the raised wings, folded the...

Europe: Continental column - Spain reaps better harvest.
July 10, 2006... Arable farms might have moved down the high-tech route but at the end of the day the arable sector is still at the mercy of the elements and nowhere is this better highlighted than in Spain. This year's favourable weather conditions means that...

Europe: Continental column - Swedish land prices stabilise.
July 10, 2006... The combination of poor incomes, increasing interest rates and uncertainty surrounding the sugar sector was tipped to have led to a drop in Swedish land prices last year. In the event, nothing could have been further from the truth as the...

Europe: Continental column - Romania feels the cold.
July 10, 2006... The effects of severe cold weather during January and February are still being felt by Romanian arable units as the OSR area has been decimated by as much as 50%. The situation appears to be so severe that only 90,000 of the 175,000-hectares...

Europe: Continental column - German winter OSR increase.
July 10, 2006... The growing interest in bio-diesel in Germany is thought to be the main reason for the sizeable increase in the country's OSR area. Figures from the country's statistics bureau confirm the winter OSR area is up by 6.2% (82,000ha) to 1,404,500...

Europe: Continental column - Downward trend for potatoes.
July 10, 2006... News from the country's NAK potato approval service confirms the Dutch seed potato area continues on a downward trend. This year's area is down 6.4% from 38,685 to 36,207 hectares, a figure that compares with 39,432 hectares during 2004....

Management: Combine costings highlight harvest management value.
July 10, 2006... UK cereal growers could cut more than #2/ per hectare from their combining bill alone by better harvesting management, according to the latest calculations from a leading combine specialist. Improvements in harvest management could deliver...

HARVEST MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES.
July 10, 2006... * Roundup must only sprayed once the grain is mature - with a moisture content of less than 30%. This is necessary to avoid compromising yield, causing shrivelled grains or increasing the risk of glyphosate residues. * The grain is ready...

Winter cropping: Brighter future for barley?
July 10, 2006... Wondering whether to plant winter barley this autumn? Market changes plus margins from newer varieties could make it a better option than you think. Winter barley might have fallen out of favour on some farms, but could it be about to make...

Winter cropping: Planning ahead with greater market optimism.
July 10, 2006... Cropping decisions for the coming year certainly won't be easy. But, unlike the past two seasons, this is because UK growers find themselves facing far better market opportunities on several fronts, believes a senior adviser. "Feed wheat...

Machinery: Engine change for 3200 Fastrac series.
July 10, 2006... JCB has given the top two 3000 series Fastracs an engine transplant, increasing power and low-end torque.The Stage III compliant Cummins QSB6 engine is found in the 3200 and 3230 that replace the 3190 and 3220 respectively. But those who...

Machinery: Extra features to get more from 8250 transmission.
July 10, 2006... The flagship 8250 has just received some more features to make the most of the continuously variable transmission. Rev Hold records the current engine revs and then reduces the forward speed at an operator set point. Speed Hold looks...

Weed control: Blasted weeds!
July 10, 2006... Keeping on top of weeds within the row in organic crops, or seed onions and sugar beet, is an expensive task. One Dutch contractor reckons to have come up with a cheaper solution which uses air pressure to literally blast weeds out of the crop....

Machinery: Challenging for the future.
July 10, 2006... Next year's French SIMA show will be used as the premiere for a number of new Agco products, one of which includes a hybrid combine. In addition, the Challenger line-up will be boosted with its first articulated wheeled tractor and next...

Machinery: New developments.
July 10, 2006... The spotlight might have been on Agco developments, but it was an Ag- Chem event, with a number of new developments on the Challenger Terra- Gator and RoGator front. The Ag-Chem meeting clearly highlighted that further integration of Ag-Chem...

Machinery: Biggest Michelins available.
July 10, 2006... The five tyres fitted to the 9205 are billed as the biggest Michelins currently available. Replacing the previous 1050/50 R28 versions, the new 1050/50 R32 tyres each have a capacity of 10 tonnes at 1 bar pressure. Copyright: CMP...

Machinery: Visitors with keen eye.
July 10, 2006... Visitors with a keen eye might have seen the successor to the current 2204 in the workshop, which in Europe is the best selling Terra-Gator. Dubbed the Challenger 2244, along with the 9205, the newcomer forms the basis of all new future...

Machinery: Ag-Chem claims.
July 10, 2006... Ag-Chem claims that it has already sold a number of its multi-purpose RoGator to customers in the Czech Republic. Dubbed the RoGator 418 or 618 Multi-Carrier, the system allows the spray tank to be replaced with a Bredal spreader. On show for...

Machinery: Interest in self-propelled sprayers.
July 10, 2006... Ag-Chem hopes that new work from Germany could help to stimulate interest in its Challenger RoGator and Spra-Coupe self-propelled sprayers. Work conducted by the German NU Agrar advisory service, which covers over one million hectares in...

Ploughs/cultivators: New fully-mounted 7-furrow.
July 10, 2006... Plough development at Gregoire Besson continues with the introduction of a fully mounted seven furrow plough. The RW9 features twin depth wheels that have a central pivot point - similar to a tandem axle on a trailer. This arrangement is...

Ploughs/cultivators: Wagon ploughs introduced.
July 10, 2006... Kverneland has introduced the RW shear bolt and PW auto reset wagon ploughs. These seven to 12 furrow ploughs use the same principal as the PT and RT range in that the rear plough can be removed and used independently. Alan Jones says this...

Ploughs/cultivators: Hydraulic auto-reset version.
July 10, 2006... Spaldings showed a hydraulic auto-reset version of its Flatlift soil loosener at Cereals. The system relies on a hydraulic ram connected to each leg. A unique spherical bearing mounting allows lateral movement and minimises stresses. If a leg...

Global view: Chinese `Green Food' revolution is growing.
July 10, 2006... China's organic food market is growing and the country's affluent middle class is getting bigger. But organic food is still an expensive buy for many of them, according to two new reports. "China has the potential to become a world power in...

Global view: Arable Post - CAN confusion.
July 10, 2006... Your article `Alternative N application to reduce the costs' on page 16 of Arable Farming June 5 refers to agronomic benefits for CAN over AN which I feel we should correct: * There is no such product as calcined ammonium nitrate, they are...

Crop Comment: `Whose Countryside is it Anyway?'.
July 24, 2006... "Farming is not only good for the countryside - it is also good for the country," said secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs David Miliband earlier this month. In his keynote speech at the ADAS-sponsored conference...

Crop Comment: Added value treatment by Paul Rooke.
July 24, 2006... Even with grain prices showing some signs of recovery, the focus this autumn will be on cutting costs wherever possible. But, when it comes to seed treatments, one has to decide if it is cost cutting or false economy? After all, seed is the...

Crop Comment: Go soft for alcohol, says breeder.
July 24, 2006... Growers signing up to bio-ethanol contracts should be choosing wheats with high alcohol extraction rates. That means selecting from the range of soft wheats already on the market and growing them to meet the needs of the industry. ...

Crop Comment: Winning ways.
July 24, 2006... You may recognise this happy young chap from his regular scribblings on page 4 of every edition of Arable Farming. Essex arable farmer and AF columnist Guy Smith has won the Guild of Agricultural Journalist's Netherthorpe Award, presented to...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Cereals area slightly up.
July 24, 2006... THE total area sown to cereals in Great Britain over the last season shows a slight increase according to the 2006 HGCA Planting Survey, the first comprehensive estimates of winter and spring cereal and oilseed plantings for the 2006 harvest....

Crop Comment: A safe and smooth harvest.
July 24, 2006... Make time for regular machinery maintenance during the wheat harvest - it can save time and trouble in the long-term says NFU Mutual Risk Management's David Leavesley in a timely warning as the key harvesting period approaches. Regular...

ARABLE BRIEFS: Organic veg opportunity.
July 24, 2006... Organic vegetable farmers will have an opportunity to share their experiences of pest, disease and weed management during an HDRA open day at a Herefordshire farm. The "Innovations in Organic Pest, Disease & Weed Management" open day will...

ARABLE BRIEFS: The Andes come to Scotland.
July 24, 2006... SCRI scientists will take visitors to `Potato in Practice' at Gourdie Farm, Dundee on a journey through time to experience the beginning of the world's fourth most important crop. This follows the publication last year of molecular studies...

Crop Comment: 2006 tractor registrations up.
July 24, 2006... The total number of UK tractor registrations, including compact tractors, rose 5% to 7,874 in the first six months of 2006. The regional analysis shows some significant variations, although these are difficult to align to particular sectors...

ARABLE BRIEFS: New control options for organic growers.
July 24, 2006... A SLUG pellet and an insect control treatment have gained organic status from organic certification body Organic Farmers and Growers (OF&G). Ferramol, launched earlier this year by Certis for use on all crop types, is a slug control treatment...

Smith's Soapbox: Combines and car conundrum.
July 24, 2006... Farming opinion from Essex-based Guy Smith Although my father is not exactly some modern day Methuselah, he can remember the world when it was very different to the way it is now. One of his reminiscences is of how he and his father...

Smith's Soapbox: Haywain to Hi-Tech.
July 24, 2006... As the combines start to roll, the show season comes to a close for me. It has not been the best show season in terms of the weather. The Essex young farmers showground resembled Passchendaele as we slipped and slooped through the mud in mid...

Water: Every drop counts.
July 24, 2006... An irrigation demonstration hosted by Elveden Farms, near Thetford, gave growers a rare opportunity to catch up with all the latest water use policy and technology. Tia Rund reports. Growers need to put their business heads on and take a...

Water: Efficiency gains from water.
July 24, 2006... Big efficiencies in water and energy use exist for those prepared to interrogate their own irrigation techniques, said mechanisation consultant Bill Basford - an increasingly important factor given the recent hike in diesel prices and the...

Oilseed rape: Is `optimum biomass' the answer?
July 24, 2006... The case has been made in recent seasons for low biomass oilseed rape varieties. Now it's the turn of optimum biomass. John Parry reports. Oilseed rape varieties defined as having optimum biomass will continue to offer growers greater...

OSR/wheat: Precise should be nice for OSR.
July 24, 2006... It seems more than likely that oilseed rape will respond well to variable fertiliser applications, says GrowHow Adviser Robin Thompson. Logic suggests that oilseed rape should respond well to variable fertiliser applications. You only have...

OSR/wheat: Wheat development time is cut in half.
July 24, 2006... Teresa Rush reports from a technical briefing at the Nickerson-Advanta breeding station at Woolpit in Suffolk. A combination of biotechnology and conventional selection techniques are the way forward for wheat breeding, according to Advanta...

Environment: Reducing the environmental impact.
July 24, 2006... NetRegs programme manager, Richard Martin, explains how the NetRegs website provided by the Environment Agency and its partners can help arable farmers address the challenges of reducing their environmental impact. Changing legislation,...

Talking Arable with our South Devon-based organic farmer David Pearson.
July 24, 2006... July 10, 2006 Readers may well be somewhat surprised to see another article from Devon - the recent choice of photograph in Arable Farming June 5 for my piece certainly made me appear more of a ghost than a human being! I wait with some...

Sugar beet: Rhizomania survey switch.
July 24, 2006... The British Sugar/NFU aerial survey of sugar beet crops takes place in August each year. Edward Long looks ahead to this season's crop fly- over. The purpose of the aerial survey of beet fields is to look for the tell- tale symptoms of...

Sugar beet: Disease and weeds focus at beet day.
July 24, 2006... Teresa Rush reports from a BBRO open afternoon at Broom's Barn in Suffolk earlier this month where the focus for growers was very much on agronomy, rather than reform. Every sugar beet grower should apply a triazole or strobilurin...

Sugar beet: Optimal timing for good control.
July 24, 2006... Trials comparing the performance of simple, cheap phenmedipham and more expensive co-formulated products have demonstrated that straight phenmedipham can give good control of weeds if they are small and herbicide timing is optimal. ...

Metamitron resistance detected.
July 24, 2006... Weed experts at Broom's Barn are keeping an eye on the activity of the herbicide metamitron on fat hen. Resistance to metamitron has been detected in fat hen populations in Belgium, although this appears to be associated with rotations that...

Potatoes: Avoiding potato damage to optimise crop potential.
July 24, 2006... As the 2006 harvest approaches, potato growers can still have a big impact on the quality of crop going into their stores. Damage and bruising incurred during lifting and grading are major sources of crop loss and defects. Here, David Nelson,...

Seed treatments: Saving costs but increasing risk?
July 24, 2006... The benefits offered by appropriate use of seed treatments are widely recognised, but do growers make best use of seed treatments and is there in fact scope for cost savings? In the first of a two-part series, we consider some of the...

Talking Arable with our Borders-based farmer Guy Lee.
July 24, 2006... July 10, 2006 I have just returned from two days judging farms for The Hampshire Farms and Conservation Competition. It was time well spent and thoroughly enjoyable, although on the first day we got soaked, which was unexpected as Southern...

Potato agronomy: No more acid.
July 24, 2006... How to meet customer demands by reducing pesticide use and minimising residues in the potato crop was the main theme of the QV Foods/British Potato Council open day at Top Farm, Holbeach Hurn, Spalding. John Parry reports. After five years...