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Every year seems to be different when it comes to the challenges that face our cereal crops. 2012 was a difficult year disease wise, notably for Yellow Rust, Septoria & Fusarium Ear Blight. A wheat crop showing Fusarium graminearum 2013 threw up different problems, not so much with disease but a shortened grain filling period and high temperatures. For crops to reach their full potential they need as much disease free leaf area to capture the... 

I’ve just recently returned from a family holiday to Mallorca, whilst out there I thought it would be interesting to take photos from various aspects of farming including the main products – olives, almonds, potatoes, oranges and lemons.  All these photo’s have been taken with the camera on my phone.               There are no natural rivers on the island only those from the mountains caused by rainfall. Coconuts aren’t... 

My last two blogs have covered the most critical time of year for us – our miscanthus harvest, so now I probably need to explain why we started the move into growing miscanthus ten years ago. Up until 1985 my grandfather and father had farmed a 430 acre mixed beef / sheep and arable farm in Warwickshire. Our rotation here had been a traditional wheat / barley / oats / beans and OSR in varying proportions, on a heavy clay soil.   After... 

Hello everyone, hope you’re all well. Thought it was about time for me to write another blog of my own instead of pestering our #teamblog for new ones! So, I’m touching wood whilst saying this but could this finally be the start of the summer, that strange yellow thing in the sky seems to showering us in rays of light and there doesn’t seem to be any of the wet stuff falling from the sky. I hope this is the case as my cricket season has just... 

Its hard to believe its 2 months since I did my last blog the time has just flown by and in another 2 months it will be full steam ahead with harvest! Its been a very busy 2 months! The Bateman has been busy flying up and down doing fert which am now pleased to say is now finished for the 2014 season, the n-sensor performed very well as always does with no problems as well. Then t0 and t1 was to do, this was straightforward in doing for a change it... 

Spring has sort of sprung, and as we only have oil seed rape in the spring portfolio it’s a bit of a damp squib … It has long been clear SOSR plantings will be well down on last year, and actually, well down on a ‘normal’ (whatever that is) spring season – there’s still a month to go though so we’ll see. At least the sun is shining and it looks like a good (long) weekend ahead. The threat of a bank holiday usually stirs up a few ‘must... 

Well this is a first for me doing a blog so lets see how it goes! I’ll begin by introducing myself to you all. I am married and have a daughter who is 2 shortly so am kept on my toes regularly, I am a farm worker on an estate in the east riding of Yorkshire and have been here for 16 years come march, am quite happy in my job and find it very satisfying watching and working with nature. Have seen the estate change big time in the time I have... 

As you’re probably aware earlier this week LAMMA, the UK’s largest farm machinery, equipment and agricultural services show took place at Peterborough. I’m sure many of you even attended the event, just thought I’d write a quick blog on the show. So on Wednesday I set off from home at around 9am, expecting a reasonably short journey to the show, everything was going really well, the A47 was pretty clear and was sailing into Peterborough, THEN…... 

Is Solar a good investment for the average farmer?  Mike Smith of UK Energy Consultants takes an in-depth look. Judging by the latest installed capacity figures, it would certainly seem so, he declares. Commercial PV systems ranging from 10kWp to 50kWp are now outstripping the

Twitter is perfect for me, it’s as a soapbox for my ill-informed opinions and 140 characters is about my attention span. I would strongly recommend you give it a go and join the peculiar ether where people you have never met from all over the world become your friends, advisors and in some cases lifelong enemies. My Grandmother still has a pen pal from her 20’s put simply Twitter is an upgrade with a few more people and fewer stamps. One thing... 

Today, 7th January, is Christmas Day in Ukraine, Happy Christmas Ukraine. According to tradition, this evening people will tuck in to a 12 course vegetarian supper started as the first stars appear in the sky. Carol singers, Christmas trees and decorations, street entertainers, mulled wine and sausages all make the town centre a very festive and fun place to be at the moment the only thing missing is snow. We have no snow!  It is like spring at the... 

Grass is pretty capable stuff.  Many UK farmers rely on its ability to produce fodder for livestock year on year, and it does it almost regardless of the conditions it is exposed to. But this resilience has a downside – we don’t always realise that our grass is starting to struggle because, with the addition of a little “sugar”, it keeps on growing and giving. In this edition of our blog, I’m going to look at one of... 

Agriculture must tread carefully in its bid to attract new entrants to ensure it does not undervalue and trivialise the incredible amount of hard work and education required to be success in the industry. Agriculture is such a catch all term for a huge range of very specialist professions, yet from the outside the perception is the drip fed image of the village idiot on a tractor or the floppy haired Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in his cable knit. As... 

“What do you want to do today kids, swimming, play park or join the revolution?” Not the normal Saturday morning family breakfast time negotiation but it is what I found myself saying last weekend. Ukraine hit the headlines this week as a demonstration turned in to civil unrest and then an attempt to replace the government. The spark was an abrupt about face by the Ukrainian government signing an EU Association Agreement that would have paved... 

2014 will see the minimum organic content of grass seed mixtures, required to get an automatic derogation rise from 65% to 70%. This implies that there should be reasonable stocks of Organic grass seed available next year although it will be interesting to see whether or not stocks of the right species and the right varieties will be available. In the past couple of years for instance, the lack of Organic Hybrid Ryegrass has meant that it has been... 

This autumn is certainly a huge relief after the difficulties of last year. We have started drilling 2nd wheats, which is pretty much as it should be. As we were hoping, conditions have allowed us to plough a bit more than usual this year, particularly where we have not had brome or black grass, but also just to keep some cultivations going and turn the ground. We have also been able to delay drilling in some places to allow 2nd and sometimes even... 

This is always an interesting time of year for us breeders, with official data finally coming, and the decisions about the future of varieties in official trial being made. It is nice to see your own programme coming up trumps with lines doing very well in national list trials years one and two. The national list trials provide a useful test of a variety, checking for DUS and VCU – that the variety is Distinct, Uniform and Stable, and has Value... 

As someone who has a keen interest in the organic sector of agriculture, I was pleased to see the ‘horsegate’ scandal come to the forefront of the public’s attention earlier this year. This made consumers not only across the UK but the whole of Europe focus on their food and the long chains associated with its production. Although the UK organic market has still shown an annual decline of 1.5% (2012), recent figures from Kantar Worldpanel show... 

For plant breeders this time of year draws many analogies, an expectant father waiting outside the delivery ward, a sixth former waiting for their A level results or a batsman in the nervous nineties ! After 10 years of crossing, selecting, and nurturing it is all down to a handful of trial results to decide the fate of our babies, will they get that extra 1% of yield, what will that standing power rating be, it all goes round and round until the... 

The month of July has been at times very busy and at others relatively relaxed for the time of year. With ear wash being applied early in the month, and Nu-fol being applied middle of the month to the milling wheat, with some desiccation of O.S.R. as well. First after the ear wash came the Nu-Fol. Due to the high daytime temperatures it was necessary to apply this late evening and overnight, but with only just over 100 Hectares to cover it was all...