Crops articles from January 2007

Crops archives from January 2007

eNhance aims to take the pressure out of N planning: nitrogen fertiliser applications are coming under growing scrutiny as much for environmental as economic reasons. Over the next three pages, Andrew Blake checks out the support tools on offer.(TECHNICAL)
January 27, 2007... New for this season is Terra's free eNhance fertiliser recommendation computer program, a decision-making tool allowing users to show how they arrived at specific field recommendations. The system is currently confined to winter wheat,...

Free Planet software offers routine nutrient management on every field.(FERTILISER TOOLS)
January 27, 2007... Planet is the nutrient planning software developed by ADAS from the "fertiliser bible" RB209. Funded by DEFRA, it was launched two years ago and is available free to farmers and advisers. About 6000 stand-alone versions have either been...

Biofuel advice in Yara N Plan program.(FERTILISER TOOLS)
January 27, 2007... Recommendations for wheat grown for biofuel and for oats and sugar beet are new features of Yara's N Plan nitrogen management program for 2007. Already catering for winter and spring cereals, oilseed rape, and potatoes, the software is...

EnCompass gives recommendation to fit compliance.(FERTILISER TOOLS)
January 27, 2007... Kemira GrowHow's nutrient planning and recording system, EnCompass, has been in regular use for eight years, providing recommendations on more than 80,000ha, says the company. Unlike some nutrient planning systems, EnCompass is mainly a...

Microbe mix aids nitrogen delivery: new eco-fertiliser products are a hot topic, but do they really work? Olivia Cooper and Paul Spackman examine two newcomers to find out.(NUTRIENT ENHANCERS)
January 27, 2007... Afreeze-dried nitrogen-fixing soil improver from Australia, TwinN, is being trialled in the UK as a nitrogen replacer. Mapleton Agri BioTec says its product is based on a mix of microbes. Bacteria fix nitrogen in the plant, while other...

Plocher range lowers artificial input costs.(NUTRIENT ENHANCERS)
January 27, 2007... A novel product said to improve the availability of soil nutrients could help cut reliance on artificial fertilisers and sprays, if claims from its manufacturer are to be believed. Use of the Plocher range of products together with organic...

Making the most of your spray applications: applying pesticides efficiently and accurately makes sense, not only to the pocket but to the environment, too. TAG's technical director Jim Orson explains how best to go about it.(SPRAYING)
January 27, 2007... The reduction in labour and machinery on farms and the need for technical excellence to optimise yields are uncomfortable bedfellows. The inability to apply pesticides on time can hit financial margins hard, particularly with the advent of...

Agronomy holds the key to unlock OSR yields of 5t/ha: oilseed rape yields were debated at the recent AICC conference. Paul Spackman asked the breeders to explain further how yields could be improved.(OSR AGRONOMY)
January 27, 2007... Most modern oilseed rape varieties have the genetic potential to yield over 5t/ha, yet the current UK average is 3.4t/ha. So what's holding us back? "The key to making the leap is an understanding of crop requirements and attention to...

Scots move towards a sustainable future: Arable Cropping in Scotland--Towards a Sustainable and Secure Future is a must for farmers north of the border.(SCOTLAND CONFERENCE)
January 27, 2007... Just how will arable farming in Scotland develop over the coming years? What are the pressures? What are the opportunities? How can new technology and new techniques help growers prepare for the future. Arable Cropping in Scotland--Towards...

Enthusiasm grows for variable rate technology: fertiliser broadcasting used to be a pretty basic operation--choose your rate, calibrate the spreader and off you go. Now hi-tech is helping growers make the most of increasingly costly nutrients. Peter Hill reports.(MACHINERY: SPREADERS)
January 27, 2007... Variable rate fertiliser application to make optimum use of an increasingly expensive input is still a relatively new technology. But it's one that growers are beginning to adopt with greater enthusiasm. One such grower is Kelso-based...

Spreader marks 70 years.(MACHINERY: SPREADERS)
January 27, 2007... French equipment manufacturer Sulky is marking its 70th anniversary with a full-spec spreader at a special price of [pounds sterling]3695 from importer Ruston's Engineering. Features include stepless width adjustment from 12m to 24m using...

Controlling calibration.(MACHINERY: SPREADERS)
January 27, 2007... A simpler and lower-cost electronic control system for Bogballe L2, M2 and M3 fertiliser spreaders performs fewer functions than the unit it replaces but costs less and has a brighter, larger screen. The Calibrator Icon controller can be...

Landquip extends its range.(MACHINERY: SPRAYERS)
January 27, 2007... A larger capacity--1500-litre--sprayer added to Landquip's Cropmaster range has an uprated frame with strengthening around the lower and top linkage mountings. It joins 800- and 1000-litre sizes with standard equipment that includes a low-set...

Combining functions.(MACHINERY: SPRAYERS)
January 27, 2007... Switching to digital CAN-Bus electronics with a new cab provides simpler wiring, easier fault-finding procedures and a new vehicle/sprayer monitor and controller on Househam's AirRide self-propelled sprayers. The touch-screen monitor...

Chafer replaces E Series sprayers.(MACHINERY: SPRAYERS)
January 27, 2007... Chafer Machinery's new Guardian trailed sprayer replaces the long-serving E Series with boom widths up to 30m and tank sizes of 3000, 3500 and 4000-litres. Twin bag air suspension, a stepped chassis that lowers the centre of gravity by 35%...

Wide and high for tall crops.(MACHINERY: SPRAYERS)
January 27, 2007... Modifying the pantograph lift system to give the first 36m boom from GM-R Sprayers maximum clearance of 2.6m from the ground helped growers cope with the exceptionally tall oilseed rape and bean crops seen last year, says the Stowmarket,...

Field maps from Kemira.(MACHINERY: SPRAYERS)
January 27, 2007... For a [pounds sterling]500 initial payment and [pounds sterling]5/ha per treatment fee, growers can purchase variable rate nitrogen application maps generated by Kemira GrowHow's Loris software. The service has been introduced after seven...

We don't need another Blair clone: the technology's here. But where should we look to clone our politicians? asks Stephen Carr.(CARR'S CORNER)
January 27, 2007... "A report in one national newspaper that "Clone Farming Has Arrived" in the UK was largely dismissed as scaremongering. You may remember the story--all about the birth of a Holstein calf that was imported into the UK as an embryo taken from the...

Firing the biofuel revolution: biofuels need farmers' commitment, says Malcolm Parkinson.(Podium)
January 27, 2007... "It is very rare that an industry such as ours is offered a business opportunity that not only provides security for farmers, but also has the potential to revolutionise farming in the UK. And yet that is exactly the opportunity being...

Farmers should be paid to compost.(BRIEFING)
January 27, 2007... Dear Editor, I read with interest an article on compost for arable farmers in your 18 November issue of Crops. While I would not disagree with any of the benefits to the soil that compost brings, I would like to remind farmers that it is...

FWi hit parade.(BRIEFING)
January 27, 2007... Crops' website, www.fwi.co.uk, averages 180,000 visits a month. Listed below are the top five most popular arable stories from the past six weeks. Visit www.fwi.co.uk to catch up on these and a host of other valuable stories: 1 Run on...

Biofuel sector hits crunch time.(VIEWPOINT)
January 27, 2007... Biofuel bonanza or biofuel blunder? Are energy crops destined to bring UK farmers better profits, or shackle them to yet another commodity market with all the price pressure that brings? The reality, of course, is somewhere in between. Yes,...

Amalgamation is the way forward.(JUSTIN MCDONALD'S DIARY)
January 27, 2007... MONDAY It was, for me at least, a surprisingly emotional meeting. After 40 years the members of my local farming co-operative gathered together to vote for amalgamation with a much larger co-operative based two counties away. Most of...

Russia on the rise, but beware the pitfalls: going east? Think carefully before you set out to make your fortune, warns Robert Covell, a producer with a wealth of first-hand farming experience in Russia.(PERSPECTIVE)
January 27, 2007... UK farmers might be forgiven for thinking all is wrong with the world. Prices are lower than your bankers need, red tape is strangling you and even your own government is doing "the cheque is in the post" routine with your subsidy money. ...

Farmer of the year 2006: farming because he wants to farm; Hertfordshire grower Robert Law won the arable category in the 2006 Farmers Weekly Awards--and went on to take the overall title of farmer of the year. Louise Impey finds out what makes the man--and his business--tick.(YOUR BUSINESS)
January 27, 2007... Robert Law looks back at 2006 as a year of long-overdue consolidation. Rapid expansion in the four preceding years saw him take on three more farms, increasing his farming area to 1244ha (3000 acres), as well as introducing various...

Fuel contracts make business sense: climate change is now driving the UK biofuels market, even though doubts are surfacing about how much of the planned domestic infrastructure will be built. Louise Impey reports.(BIOFUELS CONFERENCE)
January 27, 2007... Biofuel contracts linked to oil prices. Is that the best way to get UK farmers to sign up to a developing industry? It's certainly one possibility, says Paul Temple, NFU vice-president, who believes the rising wheat market is a challenge to...

Looking into the future for the web: the web has expanded dramatically over the past decade. Paul Spackman talks to representatives from three key industry sites to see where it is heading.(WEB GUIDE)
January 27, 2007... What's been the most popular feature of your site over the past year? HGCA In mid-2006 we released a revamped Markets page. This provides live crop prices, exchange rates and conversion tools, latest market news and analysis. FWi...

What's out there?(WEB GUIDE)
January 27, 2007... Following on from the success of last year's web guide (Crops, 28 January), we've highlighted some more topical sites, covering biofuels, waste and the weather. The full, updated list is available at www.fwi.co.uk. Biofuels British...