Crops articles from October 2005

Crops archives from October 2005

Harvest hopes.(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... Harvest hopes. Seven of 36ha of Priscilla beet are harvested at PG Colwill and Sons' Rose Farm, Shotley, Ipswich. "We started lifting last week," says Edwin Colwill. "The beet lifted so far went to the factory within two days and we're awaiting...

Test: define marketing.(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... Do you market your grain or sell it? It sounds a bit like an exam question. The Crops / Syngenta Grain Marketing Challenge, which kicks off in this issue, pits a hand-picked group of industry figures against each other to sell a "virtual"...

Standing by.(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... Just as we thought, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report into pesticides and bystanders made uncomfortable reading partly because of what it didn't contain as much as what it did. While the report called for compulsory 5m...

Beet UK.(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... With EU sugar policy reform high on the political agenda, next week's Beet UK event in Lincs could not be better timed. Alongside the latest in beet harvesting, handling and business management, visitors will be able to quiz the experts on...

How ugly could a beet root be?(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... How ugly could a beet root be? It's what the National Trust's Ugly Veg Competition launched during British Food Fortnight aims to find out. With consumers used to the ruler-straight carrot, the challenge, which is open to seven age categories...

A machinery ring operating in Rhineland Palatinate in Germany has introduced a mobile workshop service.(VIEWPOINT)
October 15, 2005... A machinery ring operating in Rhineland Palatinate in Germany has introduced a mobile workshop service to convert conventional diesel tractors to be able to run on cold-pressed rapeseed oil. The mechanics change injectors and fuel piping, and...

Farm inspections.(VIEWPOINT)(Cartoon)
October 15, 2005... "All I said was I thought farm inspections were a load of nonsense"

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth: free advice is all very well, but does the government really know what it's doing? asks Stephen Carr.(FARMERFORUM)
October 15, 2005... "FREE farm business advice" declare the adverts in the farming papers. I suppose I should be grateful to DEFRA for the opportunity to invite some business consultant to advise me on how best to adapt to the changes sweeping over my farm--but I...

Time to process the options: sugar reform will drive radical change in the UK beet industry. And understanding the processor's situation should help growers evaluate how best they should negotiate, argues Richard Barker.(FARMERFORUM)
October 15, 2005... IF FARMERS want to grow beet they need British Sugar and if British Sugar wants to continue production in the UK it needs growers--both must make sufficient profit to make the exercise worthwhile. The shape of the new sugar regime is clear...

Harald Isermeyer: farming in Germany.(WORLDFARMING)
October 15, 2005... MILD PANIC broke out in the German farming sector at the end of September when we heard the news from Berlin that our "Green" farming minister Renate Kunast had decided to move up to higher posts within the environmental party and been replaced...

Shooting for better control: for the vast majority of growers grassweed killer Atlantis was excellent last season. But a Dorset grower was less than impressed. Are there lessons to learn? Mike Abram reports.(HERBICIDES)
October 15, 2005... TOO little, too late. For Dorset farm manager, and Farmers Weekly barometer farmer Giles Blatchford, last season's first experience with Atlantis left him disappointed. But the reasons behind the disappointment became clear during a...

Getting more from OSR: pushing oilseed rape for yield as growers would do with wheat should be the new focus, as Louise Impey finds out.(OILSEED RAPE)
October 15, 2005... GROWN correctly, oilseed rape should be producing yields of around 4.7t/ha, agree plant breeders and independent researchers alike. So why is the UK average yield struggling to make 3t/ha? As oilseed rape varieties have improved, the...

Speeding up breeding: improving varietal resistance to phoma stem canker should improve the rape crop's stability for the future. Sarah Henly reports.(OILSEED RAPE)
October 15, 2005... If you're growing oilseed rape close to last season's crop, unless you ploughed stubbles under well you've probably already found the telltale symptoms of phoma. Regular monitoring, and spraying once the threshold level of 10-20% of plants...

Notification of spraying.(AGRONOMYUPDATE)
October 15, 2005... FOLLOWING recent recommendations by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, there is growing concern about the potential impact of requiring spray operators to notify the public before spraying. Extra time, cost and unnecessary...

Not much of a summer in these parts.(FARMDIARY)
October 15, 2005... SUMMER? What summer? In East Norfolk we recorded rain on 15 of the first 25 days in August. Almost every grain of wheat was dried, and some was cut at about 24% moisture content. The gain in specific weight has usually outweighed drying costs...

Is that a geigercounter?(JUSTINMCDONALD'SDIARY)
October 15, 2005... MON So the tenacious Ms Downs has been heard by government. Her long-standing contention that her health has been adversely affected by living next to fields that have been regularly sprayed with pesticides for the past 21 years has been...

Butterflies on a roll: many more fields will be sown to grass margins following CAP reform. But can they help arrest the UK's butterflies' dwindling numbers? Andrew Blake finds out.(ENVIRONMENT)
October 15, 2005... WITHOUT butterfly-friendly plant species cross-compliance, ELS and HLS field margins are unlikely to do much to help populations of some common butterflies such as the browns and skippers even though their caterpillars feed on grass leaves. ...

Play the grain game: track the moves of the experts in the Crops/Syngenta Grain Challenge, reports Debbie Beaton.
October 15, 2005... WOULD YOU be brave enough to take on an independent grain broker at his own game? Crops and Syngenta have pursuaded the NFU's Arthur Hill, Crops writer John Fenton, Farmers Weekly writer John Lambkin, the HGCA's Alastair Dickie, Hants farmer...

Time to work together.(COLLABORATION)
October 15, 2005... INTERESTED in collaborating? Need to cut costs? Want to improve output? A Yorkshire farmer is achieving all this and is still enjoying farming. Nick Baker farms at Bainton Heights near Driffield in East Yorkshire. For the past three years...

Seizing control--creating success in a global market.
October 15, 2005... Supported by Kemira GrowHow, John Deere, Agrovista and Saaten-Union Farming in the UK has a positive future--there can be little doubt about that. But it isn't going to be easy. De-coupling demands a change in focus. Production techniques...

Fastrac gets faster: JCB Landpower reckons adding a stepless transmission and a lot more power to the familiar Fastrac formula produces the ultimate high-horsepower tillage tractor. Peter Hill climbed aboard to find out.(MACHINERY)(Cover Story)
October 15, 2005... ALL of a sudden, the Fastrac 3220 looks a bit puny. Because with its wider and taller tyres and the prominent bonnet housing a more powerful engine, the mid-range Fastrac's new big brother certainly has an imposing presence. The 8250 takes...

Control black-grass early--best option.(Advertisement)
October 15, 2005... Black-grass programmes must start at either the pre or periemergence stage of the crop when weeds are small and actively growing, using robust tried and tested residual and contact acting chemistry. "Waiting until the spring is too late...

Extra muscle from the new 'Plus' range.(MACHINERY)
October 15, 2005... GREATER economy is promised from a new transmission option for "Plus" versions of the New Holland TS-A, which can also now be had in lower-spec "Delta" form for operators wanting a simpler tractor. As before, there are five power outputs...

A cultivated event: growers visiting this year's Tillage 2005 events were treated to a perfect overview of the latest in cultivation and sowing hardware. Peter Hill picks out some highlights.(MACHINERY)
October 15, 2005... IT may mean working a little narrower because of the extra power needed. But using a combination of tines and discs to work stubbles produces a tilth with free-draining, fissured soil beneath from one cost-saving pass. That was the message...

Mouldboard ploughs still making progress.(MACHINERY)
October 15, 2005... THE cultivations spotlight may still be firmly on minimum tillage machinery, but development of the mouldboard plough continues to make progress. Kverneland's radical design, the Ecomat, is said to offer the best of both worlds as an...

Contractors alone right way? Producers looking at the economics of using contractors may be worried about losing control. But Wendy Short finds the right agreement will add to the bottom line.(BUSINESS)
October 15, 2005... AT the University of Lincoln's Riseholme Park farm, a contract agreement drawn up three years ago has reduced fixed costs by almost 30%, putting the business on a more secure footing. Contracting out arable operations can lower risk,...

Euro loans may be risky.(BUSINESS)
October 15, 2005... SWITCHING debt into euros at lower interest rates than Sterling borrowing sounds attractive. But consultants warn that the risks are a bigger consideration than the benefits. "Borrowing in euros is usually through a term loan which can run...

Little variation in wheat quality--hagbergs high.(LASTWORD)
October 15, 2005... WHEAT QUALITY has held up much better than many dared hope after August rains delayed combining in many areas of the UK, according to the latest results from Grainfarmers laboratories. "In general, it has been a very good year," such as...

Set-aside rate unchanged.(LASTWORD)
October 15, 2005... THE SET-ASIDE rate for 2006 will remain unchanged at 8%, DEFRA has announced. While the announcement comes late for most growers who have already committed their planting area for harvest 2006, it is reassuring, says Strutt & Parker's George...

Backing industrial crops.(LASTWORD)
October 15, 2005... CEREAL GROWERS are being encouraged to apply to the HGCA Enterprise Awards, which back the development and marketing of industrial products using grain. Match-funded grants of up to [pounds sterling]50,000 are available for companies using...

Are you [H.sub.2]OK with water?(LASTWORD)
October 15, 2005... AS PART of the Voluntary Initiative's [H.sub.2]OK autumn campaign, an A5 postcard is being sent out to farmers urging them to stay focused on protecting water quality when using pesticides. The card highlights individual areas of best...