Crops articles from October 2004

Crops archives from October 2004

Track record.(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... AT THE end of this month, European agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler stands down after 10 years in office. At the end of last month, he looked back over his term in a farewell report to the European Parliament. It's a period during...

Have your say.(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... BRITISH Potato Council levypayers will recently have heard about the five-yearly statutory review of the body being carried out by DEFRA. Growers are being polled on the need for, and future scope of, the Council. It's an important...

Better traffic management and a stronger focus on helping farmers cope with life under the single farm payment are among changes planned for Cereals 2005 on 15 and 16 June, at Rectory Farm, Guilden Morden, near Royston, Cambridgeshire.(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... Better traffic management and a stronger focus on helping farmers cope with life under the single farm payment are among changes planned for Cereals 2005 on 15 and 16 June, at Rectory Farm, Guilden Morden, near Royston, Cambridgeshire. With...

Fewer pesticides and more reliance on plants' natural self-defence mechanisms?(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... Fewer pesticides and more reliance on plants' natural self-defence mechanisms? It's the aim of a new project launched by the Dutch Scientific Research Organisation (NOW). Compounds emitted by plants as warnings or alarms are the focus of the...

Fuel for the future.(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... Fuel for the future. It's our new logo that gets its first outing in this issue of Crops. With increasing evidence that serious home production of biofuels from crops is finally getting under way, and hopes for improving demand for biomass, now...

The next era for oilseed rape?(VIEWPOINT)
October 2, 2004... The next era for oilseed rape? That's the plan behind new variety, Nexera, developed by Dow AgroSciences, 3,000t of which will shortly be crushed to produce a healthier oil, Natreon, free of transfatty acids. Growers this year receive a [pounds...

Time for the trash can: can a futuristic Stephen Carr be re-programmed to implement the new CAP reforms?(FARMERFORUM)
October 2, 2004... THE DEFRA re-programmer scratched his head. He'd faced some tough assignments but this was easily his most daunting. On the screen in front of him was the last e-mail of Mk1 Farm Automaton, SCARR. The screen simply read: "HELP". The...

Reform 'beet' gathers pace: with the stakes hotting up for reform of the sugar sector, the NFU's Helen Kirkman sets out the organisation's position.(FARMERFORUM)
October 2, 2004... LAST month, EU commissioner Franz Fischler declared that the status quo in sugar was no longer sustainable. That's a view largely shared by the NFU, and contrary to the flawed perceptions of many, most UK beet growers also acknowledge...

Harald Isermeyer: farming in Germany.(WORLDFARMING)
October 2, 2004... POST-HARVEST operations seem to get more hectic every year. The fifteenth of September sees us giving our combine fleet a thorough pressure wash before being sold or mothballed for next season. At the same time, the drills are being...

When times are tough ... difficult harvest ... difficult autumn? Caroline Hayes has some timely tips for crop establishment.(ESTABLISHMENT)
October 2, 2004... NO-ONE needs reminding how wet it was five weeks ago. Gathering the harvest was a major headache, but what about any residual problems: seed quality, compacted soil and seedbed quality? Before harvest, a good growing season left soils that...

Burn cereals, not biofuels.(ENERGY)
October 2, 2004... INCREASING pressure from Brussels to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels, promises to expand the market for UK wheat for bioethanol production by several million tonnes a year. But now one expert is claiming burning cereals directly...

No easy pickings: making money out of organic vegetables is a real challenge, as Julian Gairdner discovers.(ORGANICS)(Cover Story)
October 2, 2004... CONVERTING to field-scale organic vegetables will cost you money. That's the conclusion of a DEFRA-funded study, Conversion to Organic Field Vegetable Production, which has examined the impact on 11 farming businesses of converting from...

HGCA.(Research in Focus)
October 2, 2004... Project no. 2663: To find a way of using hot air dryers to disinfest stored grain, involving Central Science Laboratory, Silsoe Research Institute, and MAGB, from April 2003 to July 2004. HGCA perspective: When formulating its R &...

Turning up the heat: boil-in-the-bag weevils are helping experts pinpoint methods of killing grain pests in store using drying machinery. Sarah Henly reports.(STORAGE)
October 2, 2004... HOT NEWS from CSL--a grain dryer is all you need to kill pests in stored feed wheat. Given a little more tweaking it could be the answer for milling wheat and malting barley too. That such a simple process as heating can save rejection...

One enormous relief ...(FARMDIARY)
October 2, 2004... COMPARED to some people we had a drought in August; but it certainly didn't feel that way. Six-and-a-half inches (167.5mm) of rain fell during the month, making it the wettest harvest here since 1947. The rain finally fizzled out at the...

Sponsor's message.
October 2, 2004... Saaten-Union may not be a name that immediately springs to your mind when ordering autumn cereal or oilseed rape seed, but unbeknown to many UK arable growers the German based breeding company is responsible for some of the most familiar...

Holding treatment pays in blackgrass control.(AGRONOMY UPDATE)
October 2, 2004... USING interim grassweed control treatments before applying Atlantis in the spring gives an extra 1t/ha in yield compared with a single spring spray of Atlantis in Agrovista trials. That's despite 100% control of high levels of blackgrass...

Store blight on high risk.(AGRONOMY UPDATE)
October 2, 2004... CHECK potato crops carefully for tuber blight levels before they enter the store, warns the British Potato Council's Jeff Peters. "Blight's the big thing this season, particularly where it has been wetter this autumn. There are quite a lot of...

Plinth goes back to back in tank-mix.(AGRONOMY UPDATE)
October 2, 2004... ALTERNATIVE pendimethalin formulation Plinth, from Interfarm, now has back-to-back tank-mix agreements with grassweed herbicides Atlantis (mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium) and Lexus (flupyrsulfuron-methyl), the firm has...

Very sticky endnotes ...(FARMDIARY)
October 2, 2004... WE FINALLY finished harvest in the first week of September. Strange for a linseed grower to finish on wheat, but that's the way it was this time. And since we had left the wettest areas until last, harvest finished on a very sticky note. A...

Edging out brome: do you need to crop land where there are bad brome infestations? Mike Abram visits a Velcourt farm where they think not.(WEED CONTROL)
October 2, 2004... DON'T be afraid to treat headlands differently or even take land out of production if brome is causing major headaches. So says Velcourt farm manager Dan Matthews. Sterile, meadow and soft bromes have all been an increasing problem on the...

Spoilt for choice: the latest cultivation and drilling gear was showcased at the first of the annual Tillage events. Peter Hill highlights the Twycross event in south Leicestershire.(MACHINERY)
October 2, 2004... Working angle of the individually mounted 560mm diameter discs on Dal-Bo's Maxi Disc from LandMec Pittinger can be adjusted on the move from just 2deg for work on ploughed land to 20deg for aggressive stubble work, with angling adjusted to...

Mixing it up: most growers tend to run one make of tractor bought from one dealer. But northeast contractor Leslie Brown is prepared to put up with some inconvenience for the benefits of running a mixed fleet, as Peter Hill reports.(MACHINERY)
October 2, 2004... WITH a contract services portfolio that spawning forage harvesting, ploughing, cultivations, drilling and farm waste spreading, Durham contractor Leslie Brown needs a substantial fleet of tractors. At present, he runs around two dozen,...

Xerion adds to its features.(MACHINERY)
October 2, 2004... WITH a different engine and transmission and choice of cab configurations, Claas hopes its second attempt at the Xerion four-wheel drive tractor will meet with greater success than the first. Rather than promoting the tractor as a "systems"...

Don't ignore the set-up: bruised potatoes can seriously bruise your bank balance. Andy Collings discovers how correct harvester settings can minimise damage.(MACHINERY)
October 2, 2004... ACCORDING to the British Potato Council, bruised potatoes cost growers [pounds sterling]26m which, it says, equates to [pounds sterling]200/ha. It's a heady figure by any standards, and one which should jolt growers into taking prompt...

Potatoes under pressure: what progress is being made with the potato harvest, and what's the impact on the markets? Suzie Horne finds out.(BUSINESS)
October 2, 2004... AT NEARLY 131,900ha this season, the GB planted area of potatoes is 4.6% higher than in 2003, and in continental Europe, the crop is an estimated 8% larger than last year. This, coupled with higher wastage than usual, points to price pressure...

Safe haven for ring rot.(LASTWORD)
October 2, 2004... VOLUNTARY safe haven areas are continuing to be developed as a strategy for minimising the risk of further ring rot outbreaks, confirms the British Potato Council's lain Dykes. It follows a recommendation in DEFRA's recently published...

Payments first to wet areas.(LASTWORD)
October 2, 2004... ARABLE area payments will be made first to growers in areas worst hit by the summer rains, which affected quality and value of combinable crops, and increased harvest costs, DEFRA has announced. Government ministers have agreed with...

Two-day unloading advantage.(LASTWORD)
October 2, 2004... NEW CIPC formulation, Gro-Stop 100, can be applied to stored potatoes as little as two days prior to unloading the store, says manufacturer Luxan, giving growers the opportunity to supply an order for either fresh or processed markets at short...

Pre-em sprays missed.(LASTWORD)
October 2, 2004... SPRAY as soon as possible after oilseed rape crops have reached fully expanded cotyledon to control broadleaved weeds where pre-emergence sprays were missed, says Banks Cargill's Bob Mills. But even then growers could struggle to control...

Suffolk.(LASTWORD)
October 2, 2004... Congratulations to Suffolk farmer James Foskett, who correctly identified this pest as the larval stage of the Colorado beetle (see Crops, 18 Sept). A [pounds sterling]50 cheque is in the post, James

Fuzzy Fischer Boel.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... IF EVER there was a time for strong leadership, it is now. With mid-term review bringing about a revolution in the way agriculture is supported, farming is going through enormous change. Whether that message has got through to Marian...

Pink problems.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... PINK grains may only affect a small area of the UK--mainly around The Wash--this year, and the problem may generally only occur no more than one in every five years. So why is the issue creating such a rumpus? Legislation and trust, that's...

Keep it up.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... GOOD NEWS on VI. The National Register of Sprayer Operators is well on target to beat its coverage target six months ahead of the March 2005 deadline. And the National Sprayer Testing Scheme is also on schedule to meet its goal of 50% of the...

Early birds catch the worm.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... Early birds catch the worm. True if you're registering for the British Crop Protection Council's seminars in Glasgow (1-3 November). The Council is subsidising advance delegate registrations received before the end of October. Good news for...

The greatest threat to worldwide biodiversity comes from modern agriculture.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... The greatest threat to worldwide biodiversity comes from modern agriculture. The dubious conclusion of work carried out by scientists for English Nature and the RSPB which has spun organic farming heavily against conventional agriculture. The...

GM food labelling regulations.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... GM food labelling regulations will not be enforced properly in England because insufficient resources have been allocated by the Government, Friends of the Earth says. If true, it's a worrying development when it must be in all stakeholders'...

Global warming causing carbon sinks to start producing C[O.sub.2] could be responsible for recent rises in levels of the gas levels rather than the additional burning of fossil fuels, research in Hawaii suggests.(VIEWPOINT)
October 16, 2004... Global warming causing carbon sinks to start producing C[O.sub.2] could be responsible for recent rises in levels of the gas levels rather than the additional burning of fossil fuels, research in Hawaii suggests. While the findings are not...

Now, that was worth hearing: what value do conferences have? Marie Skinner has some tips for sorting the wheat from the chaff.(FARMERFORUM)
October 16, 2004... WHO Wants To Be a Millionaire' comes to agriculture. Well, not quite... At the HGCA October Conference last week, all delegates were given a handset on which they could select answers to questions, just as happens on the TV programme,...

Plight of the bumble bee: environmental stewardship may still be a little way off, but it's not too soon to get up to speed, says Marek Nowakowski.(FARMERFORUM)
October 16, 2004... THESE are exciting times. For 30 years as an agronomist, and several before that, I've harboured the notion that food production and the environment go hand in hand. Despite this, agricultural policy has been geared towards feeding the...

Arnaud Vecten: farming in France.(WORLDFARMING)
October 16, 2004... I'M quite sure that my low-cost approach to sugar beet production here has neighbouring farmers--and visiting Crops readers--doubting my sanity sometimes. A single pass with our Vaderstad Carrier after the combine followed by one or two chisel...

Control without cost: Atlantis everywhere? Not for one Cambridgeshire grower where only on the most difficult blackgrass does it make financial sense. Mike Abram report.(BLACKGRASS)
October 16, 2004... TARGETING Atlantis only at his most challenging blackgrass is how Cambridgeshire farm manager Russell McKenzie plans to use the new, and so far, highly effective grassweed killer, without driving up his costs. "We've worked hard to back bad...

Putting weeds first? Sustainable weed management was the theme of an Association of Applied Biologists conference last month. Herbicide regulation and promoting agri-environmental schemes stood out for Julian Gairdner.(ENVIRONMENT)
October 16, 2004... FEARS that pesticides could be subject to even more rigorous regulation to protect farmland birds could be realised as the result of work commissioned by the Pesticides Safety Directorate. The Central Science Laboratory study, which...

Future less than sweet: with the reform proposals for the sugar sector under discussion, Julian Gairdner looks at the on-farm economics.(SUGAR REFORM)
October 16, 2004... INEFFICIENT sugar beet growers stand to lose at least [pounds sterling]65/ha if reforms cut A and B beet to [pounds sterling]18 a tonne. That's the conclusion of figures provided by farming consultants Bidwells that suggest holding quota...

Product decision tree high volume residual herbicides.
October 16, 2004... Following this decision tree will help to prevent pollution of surface water arising from the use of high volume autumn residual herbicides whether it be via field drains or direct access from the sprayer filling site. IPU, chlorotoluron...

Clean up the water: crops has joined forces with VI to bring you this decision flow chart opposite. It is a simple guide to preventing autumn herbicides literally going down the drain. Debbie Beaton explores the issues.
October 16, 2004... THE future of autumn residual herbicides, such as ipu and chlorotoluron, lies in your hands. Both, along with simazine, are still regularly detected in rivers and streams up and down the country. This is despite an IPU stewardship...

Demise of the driver: is the day approaching when tractor drivers will become redundant and their machines controlled by computers? Andy Collings discovers just how close we are.(MACHINERY)
October 16, 2004... DRIVERLESS tractors are an interesting concept. Few could argue that, with modern control systems, it would not be possible to achieve such an aim, but when factors such as safety, reliability and cost are taken into account, we are perhaps...

Dedication keeps schedule on track.(FARMDIARY)
October 16, 2004... THE past month seems to have been non-stop. No sooner had we completed harvest, we turned our attention to drilling oilseed rape. At Elmswell conditions were ideal. Seed, which was in direct contact with moisture, germinated within days and...

Quality proves a big disappointment.(FARMDIARY)
October 16, 2004... HARVEST is finally all gathered with the 12ha of Victor beans harvested on 21 September. Given the season we have witnessed, a yield of 4.2t/ha is quite acceptable and should prove a useful protein source for the cattle through the winter. ...

Sponsor's message.
October 16, 2004... As the world's largest supplier of farm equipment, John Deere is committed to finding intelligent solutions to farming problems. Extensive staff and dealer training, coupled with industry leading investment in research and development, new...

Spread vetting: accurate application of fertiliser demands more than sophisticated gizmos on spreaders--it requires a basic understanding of the make-up of different materials and their likely spreading characteristics. Peter Hill reports.(MACHINERY)
October 16, 2004... ELECTRONIC monitoring and adjustment of fertiliser spreader calibration settings is welcome for making the lives of operators easier--but then with increasing use of fertilisers with inconsistent spreading characteristics, it could be said they...

Trend for more capacity.(MACHINERY)
October 16, 2004... SPREADER manufacturers have been busy reengineering their machines to take larger quantities of fertiliser. In some cases in response to the increase in the size of bulk bags from 500kg to 600kg; in others to meet demand from growers who want...

Fendt Vario TMS.(MACHINERY)
October 16, 2004... FENDT tractor drivers who fancy the hands-off approach are being catered for with the development of Auto-Guide automatic steering for all Favorit Vario models kitted out with TMS engine and transmission control electronics. Based on the...

Justin McDonald's diary.
October 16, 2004... Monday It's as if someone is having a cruel joke on arable farmers this autumn. Just as our IACS production incentives are removed, we see the feed wheat price fall to its lowest point in modern history. Fifty-five pounds a tonne is a...

Planning to avoid the risk: a difficult trading season ahead means growers will have their work cut out when it comes to marketing their crops as Julian Gairdner and Suzie Horne discover.(BUSINESS)
October 16, 2004... GROWERS need to spend more time protecting their grain price and less time predicting it, according to speakers at this year's HGCA Grain Market Outlook Conference. The likelihood of continued volatility in cereal markets means growers need to...

Not-so-sophisticated Americans.(BUSINESS)
October 16, 2004... DESPITE the image of US growers as sophisticated users of futures and options, many still have a problem selling their crop before they have got it in the barn, says maize and soyabean grower Dale Crawford. Farming 445ha in central...

Gloomy outlook for wheat.(BUSINESS)
October 16, 2004... LITTLE prospect of a rally in wheat prices is confirmed in harvest figures released by Allied Grain showing an extra million tonne exportable surplus compared with last season. With the wheat crop estimated at 15.76m tonnes but quality...

Malting barley on a knife-edge.(BUSINESS)
October 16, 2004... THE FUTURE of the malting barley industry in the UK is on a knife-edge, Allied's 2004 harvest estimate figures suggest. With poor returns prompting the lowest planted area (1m hectares last autumn) in 40 years, and yields generally down on...

Blackgrass sequence warning.(LASTWORD)
October 16, 2004... DO NOT be tempted to use the non-approved sulfonylurea sequence of Atlantis (mesosulfuron-methyl + iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium) preceded by Lexus (flupyrsulfuron-methyl) for blackgrass control this season, AICC chairman Patrick Stephenson warns....

Pink grain confusion continues.(LASTWORD)
October 16, 2004... ANIMAL feed compounders have decided not to relax the current rejection standard of no more than five pink grains a kilo immediately, following inconclusive results in a recent HGCA/AIC survey. No definitive link between numbers of pink...

Rhizomania has been confirmed on two fields at Rothamsted's Broom's Barn sugar beet research station in Suffolk.(Briefly)
October 16, 2004... Rhizomania has been confirmed on two fields at Rothamsted's Broom's Barn sugar beet research station in Suffolk. Virtually all further research will be carried out using rhizomania-tolerant varieties.

East Anglia.(Briefly)
October 16, 2004... The detection of rhizomania on samples taken from some fields growing rhizomania-tolerant varieties in East Anglia does not mean the breakdown of the resistance gene, British Sugar stresses. Patches with rhizomania-like leaf symptoms within...

Make sure winter bean seed has been tested for seed-borne leaf and pod spot (Ascoschyta fabae) before planting.(Briefly)
October 16, 2004... Make sure winter bean seed has been tested for seed-borne leaf and pod spot (Ascoschyta fabae) before planting. Levels up to 20% have been found this season. "Growers planting untreated seed with more than 1% infection can expect problems, and...

HGCA.(Briefly)
October 16, 2004... More than half the growers attending HGCA's market outlook conference will take land out of production if wheat prices remain at [pounds sterling]60-70/t. In an interactive vote, 57% of growers suggested they would reduce wheat area.

Strob price cuts look doubtful.(LASTWORD)
October 16, 2004... STROBILURIN fungicide price cuts are unlikely for next season, according to BASF's Tony Grayburn. "They are still cost-effective at current prices so I don't see any movement in that direction, although the market will determine their value."...