Soil

A farmer from Forfar has maintained profitabilityandimprovedsoilhealthafter introducing sheep to his arable rotation.

Simon Nelson, Agrovista agronomist covering the northwest is encouraging growers to consider early nitrogen applications for late spring crops and advises on wheat and barley spray timings approaching this season.

Farmers in priority catchment areas are now able to apply for Severn Trents Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) to achieve up to 30,000 to improve water quality.

Potato growers are facing a different proposition when it comes to weed control this spring compared to 2022 following delayed planting of much of the UK’s maincrop.

Potato giant, PepsiCo has been trialling CCm Growth for the last three years and for the first time this season the company is rolling out trials commercially.

With climate change and increasing temperatures , there comes an increasing opportunity to grow sunflowers in the UK.

After taking over Hope Farm in 2000, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is using the land as a testbed to demonstrate how farmers can transition to more nature-friendly practices while remaining commercially profitable.

If heavy rainfall and challenging ground conditions prevent T0 fungicide applications, industry experts advise growers to increase T1 application rates 

Arable farmers are being encouraged to make early foliar phosphate applications to give crops a much-needed development boost this spring.