Black-grass

Assessment of a high number of black-grass seed samples shed this summer and collected from winter cereals has shown that dormancy is high at 24 per cent germination.

The window before harvest is an opportunity to check and map the black-grass situation to plan for the months ahead. Bayer’s Darren Adkins gives his top tips on what farmers can be doing right now.

BYDV management, yield expectations and drilling dates were among the topics raised at the AHDB East Anglia Monitor Farms summer meeting.

Recent rainfall throughout much of the country is likely to cause a flush of weeds, particularly where pre-ems could not be applied because it was either too wet or too dry.

The threat posed by potential resistance to key residual herbicide, flufenacet, could bring harvest weed seed management further to the fore in the UK

Keeping on top of weeds will be particularly important this spring after difficulties with autumn control and a wet, mild winter. But a new herbicide is at hand to help.

Developments in plant transformation and insights gained from the pharmaceutical sector are helping to give a deeper insight into herbicide resistance in black-grass and how it might be combatted.

Sodden soils have severely hampered early weed control opportunities this season, and a wet and mild winter, which is typically followed by higher spring grass-weed populations, could make the challenge even greater.

An ag-tech start-up looking for crowdfunding for ‘weed zapping’ robots reached its target of £700,000 within just two days of launching the campaign.