Edited by Ash Ellwood
To control Italian rye-grass in wheat, Chris McClymont, Bayer Technical Manager, recommends residual protection throughout the autumn. Visit our website to read his advice for this season.
Scientists have been working to develop a new generation of fertilisers, making use of nanotechnology-enhanced formulations.
Anew generation of fertilisers aimed at addressing UK food security by improving the nutritional value, performance and health of crops and plants has been developed by scientists.
The three-year project will involve incorporating nanotechnology-enhanced formulations to plant feed, allowing targeted and increased absorption of essential nutrients directly into plant roots and through the leaves.
Funded by Innovate UK, the technology has been developed by scientists at Nottingham Trent University alongside Micromix Plant Health.
This ‘precision agriculture’ approach has the aim of increasing yields, reducing harvest times and mitigating against pests, as well as reducing reliance on imported chemicals often used in less-effective traditional fertilisers.
It is thought to be the first time a commercially accessible plant biostimulant has been produced using bespoke nanotechnology that has the capacity to correct
This precisiontargeted approach to nutrient delivery will ensure controlled release directly to plant roots
PROF GARETH CAVE
trace mineral deficiencies as a way of improving both crop productivity and nutrition.
The project will also aim to address two major environmental challenges in modern agriculture by minimising fertiliser waste and reducing environmental run-off containing possible pollutants.
In turn, this would help improve farmers’ profitability with a reduced cost of treatment to achieve the yield
The fertilisers are designed to deliver the nutrient to the plant’s roots.
increases required to maintain commercial viability.
Principal investigator Prof Gareth Cave is a professor in advanced nanotechnology and sustainable chemistry in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Science and Technology.
He said: “This work will tackle general inefficiencies inherent in traditional fertilisers. Our technology can help drive agricultural productivity and
resilience by accelerating crop growth and yield, strengthening plant defences against environmental pressures, and reducing vulnerability to pests.
“This precision-targeted approach to nutrient delivery will ensure controlled release directly to plant roots, optimising absorption while preventing excess leaching into ecosystems.
“The result is healthier soil, reduced environmental impact and a shift towards more sustainable farming practices.”
GROWERS will now be able to access independent data on biofungicide performance in crop protection programmes, thanks to a series of AHDB-funded pilot trials.
According to the levy board, the replicated field trials would test the effectiveness of biofungicides against septoria in winter wheat over two years (2025/26 and 2026/27).
AHDB lead crop protection scientist Sacha White said: “Biofungicides have good potential for the arable sector, but their biological nature means they need particularly careful integration within crop protection programmes. Additionally, biopesticide activity is often established in controlled environments.
“This work will specifically examine evidence of efficacy in field conditions, where numerous factors can impact their performance, such as weather, disease progression and the wider spray programme.”
The trials would focus on septoria control due to its economic importance in winter wheat, the availability of biofungicides with disease-management potential and the high number of preliminary research findings.
Biofungicides would be tested in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations on two varieties with different levels of resistance to septoria (a moderately resistant and a susceptible variety), as part of conventional winter wheat fungicide programmes.
By varying fungicide dose, the trials would help reveal the point at which biofungicides started to contribute to disease control and yield gains.
The work was due to be carried out by a consortium which included SRUC, ADAS and Niab. The group already managed an extensive network of efficacy trials as part of AHDB’s long-term fungicide performance programme.
AHDB said by working closely with the agrochemical industry, the most promising pre-commercial products would be identified and tested. This would prime the release of product information soon after the appropriate authorisations for use were secured.
Results would be communicated throughout the project, as well as an update shared at the annual AHDB Agronomy Conference on December 9, 2025, in Solihull.
CONSUMERS and retailers have been urged to pay more attention to the humble potato and recognise its nutritional value.
To mark British Food Fortnight, Alex Godfrey, chair of GB Potatoes, said the vegetable staple was often dismissed as a carbohydrate side dish when, in fact, it stood among the most important crops the UK produced and it deserved to be recognised.
Mr Godfrey said: “Behind every bag of potatoes is a grower applying real expertise. Potato production is highly technically advanced, involving precision management of soils, water and storage to deliver quality all year round.
“It takes investment, innovation and resilience to meet those standards, and the commitment of British growers deserves far greater recognition.”
Currently, about 4.7 million tonnes of potatoes are grown in the UK across some 118,000 hectares.
Mr Godfrey’s comments came as domestic growers counted the cost of a difficult harvest due to this year’s dry and warm conditions.
Mr Godfrey said: “I want people to
look again at the potato. It is a nutrient-dense, affordable and versatile food, produced to high standards by British growers, with a far smaller environmental footprint than many of the imports it sits beside on the shelf.
“If potatoes were discovered today, they would be hailed as a breakthrough food.
“The fact that they are already here and grown in abundance on our own farms should be something that we value far more.”
Essex grower Matthew Bunting is hosting onfarm herbicide trials as part of efforts to tackle an increasing amount of ryegrass on his farm.
Mr Bunting is the third generation of his family to farm the 207-hectare Buntings Nest Farm, located near Kelvedon, Essex. A rotation comprising winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley and canary seeds is grown on the farm, alongside 56ha of rented ground.
Mr Bunting says the farm business is enrolled in a Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship scheme, which allows a small proportion of the ground to be kept as over-year stubble. In recent years, grass and legumes have been introduced to the rotation to add nutrients back into the soil.
He says: “Our main grass-weed challenge is black-grass. Before I took on the farm, the decision was made between my dad and uncle to go into continuous wheat in some areas, which led to the farm being quite dirty in parts.”
He says ryegrass has not traditionally been as big a problem in the past, but, in recent years, it is cropping up on the farm more and more.
“We bring in poultry manure from a nearby farm to incorporate organic matter into the soil and reduce the reliance on artificial fertilisers where we can, and this may well be the source of some of these issues,” says Mr Bunting.
To manage general weed pressure on the farm, Mr Bunting says a more typical crop rotation has been adopted, and drilling has taken place late into the winter in December and January.
“Cultivations also play a key role in managing weed pressure, and in the past few years I have been doing a lot more subsoiling and min-till to aggravate only the very top surface of the soil.
“This does the job at keeping black-grass at bay to some extent,
Black-grass and ryegrass are major challenges
A focus on cultivations, alongside hosting on-farm herbicide trials, is helping Essex grower Matthew Bunting to manage weed burdens. Arable Farming reports.
but every five years I find it works best to start with a clean slate by putting a plough through in some areas where the min-till approach is no longer doing enough.”
Mr Bunting is one of a number of growers across the UK hosting trials of the new Fundatis [bixlozone and beflubutamid] active herbicide from FMC.
Fundatis herbicide, powered by the Isoflex [bixlozone] active, intro-
duces a novel mode of action to the UK cereals market at a time when resistance management is becoming increasingly critical.
As a co-formulation of the Isoflex active (HRAC Group 13) and beflubutamid (HRAC Group 12), the ZC formulation delivers pre- and peri-emergence activity in wheat and pre-emergence use in barley, with efficacy proven in both UK and European trials.
“With the increase of ryegrass presence on the farm, I was drawn to hosting a trial plot because I am interested in the product’s scope to tackle the issue in the future,” says Mr Bunting.
“When new products are on the horizon, it is nice to be involved and see the results with my own eyes.”
Georgia Antoniou, commercial technical manager for East Anglia and Kent at FMC, has been overseeing the trials of the herbicide on winter wheat and winter barley at Mr Bunting’s farm.
She says pre-emergence and peri-emergence applications were made to the winter wheat, and a pre-emergence application was made to the winter barley – with
good results reported in both crops. She says: “The trials show it has done a really good job on the ryegrass and black-grass, and its impact on groundsel has been really visible. For winter barley, there are not many options for grass-weed control. Fundatis will be a really good choice for growers because of it providing key activity for blackgrass, ryegrass, and a wide spectrum of broad-leaved weeds.”
NO MATTER THE PRESSURE, TO TAKE CHARGE OF GRASS WEEDS...
As many growers are looking to begin cereal drilling early this year, Ash Ellwood chats with three experts to gather some top tips for effective grass-weed control.
Grass-weed pressure has been relatively low in UK cereal crops throughout this summer, thanks to a favourable season coupled with strong herbicide performance.
However, industry experts warn that complacency could undermine progress, especially as many growers are eyeing earlier drilling dates this autumn, after two previous wash-out autumn drilling campaigns.
Reflecting on the past year, John Cussans, weed science principal consultant at ADAS, says that many crops experienced less grassweed pressure than expected.
“Preparations for sowing were made in good time, herbicides worked well, and seed return over the summer was relatively low. It was a pretty good year, and we should be pleased with what has been achieved,” he says.
Dr Will Smith, technical lead at Gowan Crop Protection, says that the hot, dry summer gave growers another helping hand.
“The early harvest has left seeds exposed, and prolonged dry conditions degraded many of them. That has been a real benefit as we start to plan the next crop.”
However, Mark Hemmant, technical manager at Agrovista, is more sceptical of the year’s progress.
He says: “There is still plenty of weed seed sitting in the soil. In some cases, cultivations may even have brought seed back to the surface. Farmers must not assume grass-weed control has suddenly become easy.”
With two wet autumns followed by a dry summer, many growers are keen to drill early this year. Experts accept the logic but stress the risks.
Dr Smith says: “Moving drilling forward by a couple of weeks means you are facing a greater proportion of the grass-weed population in the crop itself. That reduces the role of stale seedbeds and glyphosate and puts more pressure on in-crop herbicides.
While earlierdrilled crops may tolerate strong pre-em mixes in a dry spell, growers need a contingency plan if 30mm of rain suddenly arrives
JOHN CUSSANS
“It is a subtle change, but it makes a big difference to the overall programme.”
Mr Cussans highlighted the challenge of increasingly unpredictable weather.
“High-intensity rainfall can compromise herbicide safety in some scenarios. While earlier-drilled crops may tolerate strong pre-em mixes in a dry spell, growers need a contingency plan if 30mm of rain suddenly arrives. Last year’s success came from an unusual alignment of
factors – we cannot assume the same again,” he says.
Mr Hemmant also warns against growers trying to cut costs.
“With margins under pressure,
EXPERTS stress that glyphosate remains a cornerstone of UK grass-weed management, but its longevity depends on careful stewardship. John Cussans, weed science principal consultant at ADAS, outlines four key principles:
■ Maximise efficacy: Always apply glyphosate at the correct rate for the target weed, growth stage and conditions. Poorly timed or under-dosed sprays increase the risk of survivors and resistance
■ Use alternatives: Take pressure off glyphosate across
Herbicides are the last place to economise this season, according to Mark Hemmant from Agrovista.
some growers may look to trim spend on weed control. But if you are drilling early, it is the last place to economise. Robust programmes are more important than ever.”
the whole rotation. This can include cultural measures such as cultivations, delayed drilling, alternative crops, or other herbicide modes of action
■ Prevent survivors: Any weeds that escape a glyphosate spray must not be allowed to set seed. Rogueing or patch control is vital, particularly with ryegrass
■ Monitor carefully: Keep track of glyphosate use patterns and efficacy. Rising rates or repeat applications may be early warning signs of resistance
DR WILL SMITH
■ Think beyond black-grass: Do not forget other grass-weed species such as brome, ryegrass and wild oats will remain in the seedbank even after a ‘clean’ year
■ Patience pays: Early drilling may look favourable, but holding back drilling a little longer often brings big benefits for grassweed control
MARK HEMMANT
■ Apply rules to the season: Rules such as ‘do not drill before October 15’ are guidelines, not absolutes. Base drilling and management decisions on field conditions and weed emergence
■ Attention to detail: Every action, from cultivation to drilling date, influences grass-weed pressure. Think about the weed implications of each decision
JOHN CUSSANS
■ Follow the hierarchy: Start with rotation planning, then cultivations, then herbicide timings, then product choice, and finally fine-tune application techniques. Success depends on getting the higher-level decisions right first
■ Sowing depth and consolidated seedbeds: Residual chemistry works best where seed is well covered. Rolling and good seed–soil contact help protect the crop and maximise herbicide selectivity, especially when drilling early
When growers think of grassweeds, many initially think of black-grass, according to Dr Smith, who believes growers must consider the wider seedbank.
He says: “Particularly where growers have seen low seed return and clean fields.
“But we will still have weeds such as brome, ryegrass and wild oats, that are still part of the seedbank. So, when we think about our upcoming herbicide programmes, we must make sure that we have some element of coverage of all those.”
Mr Hemmant says that controlling grass-weeds is largely about being attentive to detail and being reactive to the season we are given.
“In the old days, we talked about not drilling until October 15.
“Then there are years where it is very dry, you have had no grassweeds before the crop goes in, even if you drill after October 15.
“It is understanding why we have
these rules, then applying them to the season. Every decision you make, think what is that going to do to grass-weeds?”
Grass-weed control should be considered as a type of hierarchy, according to Mr Cussans.
“When you think of it as a hierarchy, you must get your rotations right first, then consider what cultivations you are implementing for each different crop, then decide your herbicide timings and what actives will work.
“Only then can you really dig down into the detail about application technique, nozzles, and finesse it.
“But the reality is, if you do not get things right at the top of the hierarchy, scrambling around at the bottom is not going to get you out of trouble.”
With growers understandably keen to get drills in the ground this autumn, Ash Ellwood finds out about best practice to manage the green bridge.
With many growers keen to drill their autumn crops, due to the dry and warm weather continuing into October, Mike Thornton, head of crop production at ProCam, warns them not to get too excited. He says they should wait for grass-weeds to emerge first, enabling appropriate green-bridge management.
Mr Thornton says: “The rainfall varies a lot between regions, and we are going to need a considerable amount more to get some of those weeds emerging that might be coming up from depth.”
Reflecting on autumn 2024, Mr Thornton says many growers are considering which fields have yielded the
MIKE Thornton, head of crop production at ProCam, references a trial conducted by Bayer in 2022. It examined the control of wheat volunteers within a barley crop when trialling different intervals timings between the glyphosate application and drilling date.
It compared three plots: an untreated plot as a control, which yielded 1.5 tonnes/hectare; the second plot had 1.5 litres/ha of Roundup applied, two days prior to drilling, and yielded 3.5t/ha; the final plot also had 1.5 litres/ha of Roundup applied, 10 days prior to drilling and yielded 5.5t/ha.
Advance
Mr Thornton says: “The point was that if you can apply the
best this harvest, with many pointing to those fields drilled early, ahead of the wet weather at the end of last year.
“I cannot argue with that because they are right, but some of the crops that were drilled later were mauled in, did not develop a sound root system, then struggled in the spring,” he says.
“I can see that there is the potential problem this year of the direct transmission of virus from the green bridge, so the earlier growers can spray off [the emerged weeds] the better. The timing of insecticides is going to be critical.”
Matthew Keane, agronomy manager at BASF, says growers have had
glyphosate in advance, before drilling, growers can achieve much better control because they are reducing the problem beforehand.
“I advise growers that if they do not get a spray on, not to drill.
an ideal opportunity to create stale seedbeds, with some grass-weed flushes already becoming apparent.
He says: “On my wife’s family farm in Norfolk, land destined for second wheat has strong flushes of black-grass and ryegrass. We just do not know if it is enough of the grass-weed, but it definitely means we will have a cleaner start than we would have had.”
He adds: “Convention says the biggest flush of black-grass usually comes in those first couple of weeks in October.”
With growers urged to drill during
“That also goes with herbicides, to take out the green bridge. Otherwise, growers can create a bigger problem, and it will not just be about weeds – it will then be about virus transmission.”
the ideal conditions ahead of this stereotypical flush timeline, Mr Keane wonders if the benefit of drilling into a good seedbed mitigates some risk of high grass-weed pressures and subsequent disease risks.
“There are some very good seedbeds being created, which is why people are drilling, but does that help mitigate the risk?”
He adds: “Growers will get a better germination because you have a better seedbed and residual herbicides like Luxinum [cinmethylin] will work better.”
Mr Thornton has also been advocating the use of glyphosate with pre-emergent herbicides this year.
He says: “This will be useful this year, just to try to get rid of some weeds – even though growers will not get everywhere and there could still be weeds that come up earlier than the actual crop after this application. But that is always the problem.”
Mr Keane advises growers to apply a robust pre-emergent herbicide to crops to achieve successful control.
“If the weeds are germinating, growers have a good chance of controlling black-grass and ryegrasses to a decent level,” Mr Keane says.
“We [BASF] say success is at 95% weed control. If you are not controlling the weeds to 95%, you are standing still and returning seed into your system.
“To get that sort of level of control, you need good seedbeds, weeds to germinate, and a robust
Insecticide timings are crucial to manage the spread of barley yellow dwarf virus.
pre-emergent herbicide. We have a real opportunity to capitalise on those this year.”
A key issue with measuring aphid activity and the subsequent barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) pressures is not being able to underpin what percentage of migrating aphids have the virus, says Mr Thornton.
“People say 20-30% of aphids carry BYDV, but large discrepancies on this surround whether they are cherry aphids or grain aphids, and also depending on their status resistance to pesticides.”
After managing the green bridge and reducing aphid transfer from spring to autumn host crops, insecticide timings are crucial to manage the spread of the disease.
“The T-Sum calculation helps
growers to pinpoint when to consider a pyrethroid application. Growers should still go out and look in fields to see if they can spot aphids, but since we have lost the insecticidal seed dressings I have mostly referred growers to this calculation and have not had too many problems,” says Mr Thornton.
To manage the green bridge as effectively as possible this autumn, Mr Thornton advises growers to increase the interval between the glyphosate application and to drill the crop as far as possible.
He says: “A lot of people will be applying glyphosate just a few days before they are going to drill but, really, they want to spray much earlier than that.
“If they could get a week’s interval, that would be better. Then it gives time for the glyphosate to work.”
After an early harvest, winter oilseed rape crops have notable variability in drilling dates this season. Arable Farming finds out how best to manage them.
For the first time in several years, oilseed rape is looking like the most attractive crop in many farmers’ rotations. Its value remains above £400 per tonne, plantings are up, and reports of adult cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) damage are down.
However, it is rarely that simple with OSR agronomy. Crops are presenting a mixed picture this autumn, with widely varying drilling dates creating stark contrasts in growth and management needs, according to Agrii agronomist Louisa Kenney.
Ms Kenney advises on crops in Essex and Suffolk. She says a very dry August sandwiched between catchy weather periods at the end of July and the beginning of September has led to half of the crops in her area being very early drilled and the other half planted later than usual.
Now, in autumn, it presents two entirely different crops to manage.
“There is no real consensus around drilling date,” she says.
“It is a personal decision for the farmer. For me, it is much easier to manage bigger plants than usual up
to Christmas than a backwards crop.”
There is a month between half of Ms Kenney’s OSR, which was drilled in the first week of August, and the rest, which went in the first week of September.
“Crops that went in early look very well; they have enough moisture to get away and have kept going. Later-drilled crops will require regular rainfall to get to where we want
OSR stacks up financially this year, and we need to look after its potential
LOUISA KENNEY
them to be, and we will also consider foliar nutrition to reduce stress and enhance rooting [see over the page]
“Nutrition has also influenced canopy size. Chicken muck always seems to get the crop going in the autumn, as does applying the 30kg of nitrogen per hectare we are allowed to do,” adds Ms Kenney.
Pleasingly, as well as CSFB pressure being lower than usual, the dry conditions have reduced slug pressure.
Ms Kenney says there has been some damage, but it has been minimal and less than what pigeons have caused.
Turnip sawfly is another pest that can cause significant plant losses in early-drilled crops, and there have been reports of attacks this autumn. However, she has not observed any damage.
One of the farms she advises on has resistant ryegrass. In this situation, Ms Kenney skipped spraying out the volunteers with ‘fop’ graminicides and went straight in with Centurion Max (clethodim), which is less affected by the common mutations.
Where ryegrass is not an issue, cereal volunteers are sprayed off with a ‘fop’ ahead of the main application for grass-weed control, Astrokerb (propyzamide + aminopyralid).
“The challenge with Astrokerb is that the temperature completely dictates the application timing, because if it is too warm it will not work. For example, last year we saw high soil temperatures until the end of January. The cut-off date on the label is before February 1, so it was a juggling act between the right conditions and the label restrictions,” says Ms Kenney.
The first signs of phoma are now starting to show, and Ms Kenney expects to recommend a fungicide to control it and protect the crop from light leaf spot. When it comes to fungicide choice, she says it depends on whether some plant growth regulation may be required, with tebuconazole or prothioconazole favoured for disease control and metconazole if the canopy looks too large.
However, reduced sensitivity of phoma to tebuconazole has been known, and she says control should be closely monitored.
“There can be a reluctance to spend too much on OSR until spring, when it is known if there is a crop to take to harvest, but I think you have to be careful with this sentiment. If you keep the disease at bay, even if it is with a bit of tebuconazole, which does not cost much, you will be helping your crop out when it comes to the spring.
“OSR stacks up financially this year, and we need to look after its potential,” says Ms Kenney.
TO help later-drilled oilseed rape crops catch up to where they are expected to be, Tim Horton, combinable crops technical manager at Agrii, recommends a few specific foliar nutrients this autumn.
He says: “Nutri-Phite PGA is phosphite plus pyroglutamic acid [PGA]. It is the PGA that affects carbon fixation and nitrogen use efficiency, and it is the phosphite which is affecting the availability of the phosphate by mobilising phosphate in the root zone. Combining both promotes root development.
“This creates a virtuous circle. The exudates are making more available phosphate because of the better root structure, which in turn increases the available phosphate [for the crop].
“From the 2 leaf stage onwards, you can start to look at Nutri-Phite PGA, which will boost the rooting and increase the plant’s resilience. You can apply this multiple times through the autumn and winter if needed.”
Another product Mr Horton recommends for developing OSR crops this autumn is Quark, which contains zinc acetate and a small amount of nitrogen.
He says that zinc promotes root development, much like in cereals where it is often applied with T0 fungicides.
“Really, it is a programmed approach to enhance the plant’s growth through the autumn. Quark can go on earlier, from the cotyledon stage onwards,” says Mr Horton.
“It is ideal for reducing stress in struggling backwards crops, which may be the case with some laterdrilled crops this year.”
Moving from a commodity-based system to one that feeds his community has transformed Fred Price’s profitability, soil health and outlook. Alice Dyer reports.
After taking on Gothelney Farm from his aunt in 2007, Fred Price took the farm’s performance from the bottom quartile to being a top-quartile arable farm in a short time. But despite this, debt still loomed over him.
Mr Price says: “In one sense, the system was hugely successful, with winter wheat yields averaging 10 tonnes per hectare, and we really managed to maximise things from a commodity perspective. However, that did not change the fact that there is so much price volatility, and the price of our product had no real relation to how it was produced, but to an economic crisis happening somewhere else in the world. Despite our success, we still carried enormous debt from farming this way.”
Mr Price also felt there was a ‘biological incompatibility’ in applying insecticides and fungicides to soil that he was trying to make healthier.
“Every input led to another input, and every year they were less effective, or we had to partner them with more products. I could see that more and more risk was being put on me for less gain.
“I considered reducing my inputs, but this still felt like a reinvention of the same system.”
After some soul-searching, Mr Price decided to explore the use of population wheats in organic systems. Since 2015, the 162ha farm near Bridgwater in Somerset, has adopted a ley farming system, building fertility for two to three years and integrating livestock, without the use of any chemicals or inorganic fertilisers.
He began with YQ population wheat, taking inspiration from Wakelyns Farm in Suffolk. ‘YQ’ stands for yield and quality, and
was developed by Martin Wolfe at Wakelyns, who pioneered the concept of composite cross populations of wheat. It was developed by crossing 10 well-known varieties, selected for their yield potential, with 10 selected for quality, 190 times, to create a vast pool of genetic opportunity and diversity.
Mr Price says: “This means with just one cross of wheat you could get 2,000-3,000 new lines of wheat, creating a field of 500,000 genotypes. With that kind of genetic diversity, you get a kind of adaptive evolutionary potential.”
Such adaptive potential means the YQ populations he now grows in Somerset are very different to their Suffolk origins.
“We have two to three times the
annual rainfall here in the South West compared to Suffolk. Our genetics have evolved to combat septoria, while yellow rust is the main disease in East Anglia.
“Even after just six years, the Wakelyns YQ had a significant edge when it came to yellow rust resistance and tolerance of shading within the agroforestry alleys compared to the YQ that had spent six years in our wet, open fields of Somerset.”
To achieve this adaptive potential that makes the crop much more resilient to its environment, all seed is farm-saved.
Mr Price says: “If you want to have some kind of adaptive potential, it is absolutely essential that you
farm-save your seed. The selection pressure has an impact on the population; you harvest it, and therefore it is reflected in proportions of different genotypes in that pile of wheat. So then you take it from that pile and plant it again, and over time you are moving the population from one set of genetics to another.”
While Mr Price also trials and grows a range of heritage wheat varieties, he avoids mainstream varieties that are widely grown across the UK. He says: “A monoculture is a victim of its own success. In our system, instead of selection pressure ruining your wheat, it actually makes it better year-on-year.”
However, this adaptive potential does mean that some beneficial traits such as quality can be diluted.
The farm finishes 350-400 pigs a year at about 85-100kg deadweight under its fiveyear crop rotation system.
Every input led to another input, and every year they were less effective, or we had to partner them with more products
FRED PRICE
PIGS play a key role in the farm’s five-year crop rotation, which starts with a three-year herbal ley, followed by milling wheat, and then an intercrop of oats, peas and barley, which predominantly goes for pig feed.
The farm finishes 350-400 pigs a year at about 85-100kg deadweight under this system, which sees pigs grazing the
herbal leys from April to October, before moving on to arable land from November to March.
Fred Price says: “Our core value is to only feed the pigs what we grow.”
When the farm stopped using soya in the pigs’ diet, there was a noticeable drop in productivity and quality, so Mr Price moved away from pure-bred Tamworths, and now runs Tamworth and Large
Black crosses with Duroc and Saddleback crosses for their greater vigour and productivity characteristics.
Gothelney Farm’s family-run butchery provides an outlet for the meat, which is also sold as whole carcases wholesale, to butchers and direct to the consumer either online or at farmers’ markets.
“After the initial crosses were made for YQ, there is no further selection [through human input], so quality is diluted straight away. Selection pressure is purely environmental. So, what can we do differently?
“We can add more focus on quality, and there are populations such as Mariagertoba out there that are doing that. But there is still definitely a trade-off between quality and yield, and also a trade-off between quality and diversity. It is all about finding the middle ground.”
Part of that middle ground has meant working closely with the end processor and consumers to manage expectations, says Mr Price. He was pivotal in establishing the South West Grain Network, a community of bakers, millers, farmers, growers, brewers and chefs, which has helped to close that gap between producer and processor, he says.
And while wheat yields are at least half of what they were in the previous system, success is measured by different metrics.
“You can still produce excellent bread with much lower protein than commercial mills demand. For us, yield and quality are still important, and the dream scenario is still high-yielding and high-quality,
but I measure success by whether the end customer is happy with it. We also want to place more expectations on the consumer to change their mindset.”
The wheat Mr Price produces is either sold locally for milling or milled on-site using the farm’s American stone mill, and then baked and sold through a bakery also located on the farm.
“The bakery is a very local, single-person business. This means corrections and adjustments can be made to the baking process to suit the wheat. When you really shrink the system like we have, you are able to cope with variation.”
The system also very much comes down to trust, he says, and although the farm has been run without using any chemical inputs since 2017, it is not certified organic.
Crops are managed without any inputs with 15- to 20-way herbal ley mixes grown to increase soil organic matter, which in most fields has tripled since Mr Price took on the farm; building new and supporting existing population wheats, intercropping and undersowing wherever possible. Anything deemed too weedy for
combining is wholecropped for silage or grazed by stock.
“Weeds are managed through variety-choice and also a change of mindset. We have swapped chemicals for tillage, which might be replacing one evil with another, but we are building a lot more soil fertility.
“We do not build our system around issues such as black-grass, but around the conditions we want to farm. It is a different mindset and inevitably lower yielding, and of course there are successes and failures.
“Variety and vigour are what we
The wheat grown at Gothelney Farm is either sold locally for milling or milled on-site.
are looking for in our trials. We have looked at 4,500 plants and it is incredible what they can do versus a modern variety. Weeds fill a space, so it is about creating the right conditions to grow a healthy and competitive crop.”
Mr Price says: “Agroecology is this beautiful spot between nature and food production and saying we want both. It is not really measurable. People want to know numbers because we are tuned to thinking rationally. But the story is that I am happy and feeding a lot of people I was not feeding before.”
With nutrient planning now a key part of low-carbon programmes, switching to carbon-friendly sulphur solutions could help farms meet targets, cut emissions and protect yields. Arable Farming reports.
True sustainability is not just about the environment, it is also about ensuring food security and building a resilient and profitable farming sector for the future, according to Amy Hardwick, sustainability and environmental services manager at Agrii.
She says: “With the type of transition growers are facing through the loss of the Basic Payment Scheme and the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, plus the ongoing fluctuations in grain prices and input costs, the industry faces significant challenges.
“There is a responsibility for all in the industry to be creative and look at ways farm income streams can be buffered, while encouraging sustainable practices.”
While nobody has all the answers for achieving long-term resilience, agronomy firm Agrii is exploring new ways in which it can encourage sustainable practices and offer rewards to growers.
“Regenerative farming does not work for everyone, so we are looking at programmes that embrace some of these principles while helping producers fund the transition to more sustainable farming.
“We want to incentivise growers
to implement sound and sustainable practices, educate them as to the benefits they will receive in the long term, such as improved soil health, and reward them for doing so in the short term,” says Ms Hardwick.
One such project is the Beloved Soil initiative, run in conjunction with pet food manufacturer James Wellbeloved. The programme is based on a twotier system, with farmers able to claim payments of up to £100 per hectare, depending on the number of sustainable practices they carry out on-farm.
Ms Hardwick says: “There is a first tier consisting of a guaranteed payment for carrying out basic practices, such as an integrated pest management plan, use of cover crops, having a planned crop rotation and having an
environmental baseline analysis carried out. After that, farmers can add supplementary practices into the mix. We have kept these flexible because we recognise that what is sustainable to one farmer might not be sustainable for another.
“The aim is to incentivise continuous improvement and provide a motive for farmers to continually develop their sustainability practices.”
The same principles apply to Agrii’s new wheat supply chain programme, run in collaboration with Whitworth Bros and Bunge.
“There are a set of minimum requirements as a starting point for all those taking part in the scheme,
with the flexibility to implement additional options that suit their farm. While still early days, the scheme is an opportunity for growers and testimony that different areas of the supply chain are collaborating to deliver positive changes.”
Ms Hardwick adds: “Sustainability is incredibly important and we recognise this comes in three forms: environmental, economic and social.
“The environmental element is vital, but we cannot forget about economic sustainability. If our farmers are not profitable then that is going to cause issues down the line.
“A programme like this, that helps the likes of Whitworth and Bunge meet their environmental, social and governance require-
ments while also maintaining flexibility and delivering benefits for the farmers, provides value for everybody in the supply chain.”
Prof David Powlson, emeritus scientist at Rothamsted Research, says modern fertiliser solutions could unlock huge potential for farmers to capitalise on these schemes, while also cutting input costs and slashing emissions.
“A simple change in nutrient planning alone could deliver 20% of the UK’s ammonia emission reductions, required to meet the 2020 Gothenburg convention ceiling,” he says.
According to a recent review co-authored by Prof Powlson, replacing manufactured ammonium sulphate fertiliser with naturally occurring polysulphate, for example, could reduce on-farm ammonia emissions by up to 90%.
“Typical ammonium sulphate fertiliser is subject to volatilisation in soils with a pH of 6.5 or above, which account for more than 60% of the UK’s arable soils,” he adds.
“This loss of nitrogen as ammonia, which is as great as with uninhibited urea on high pH soils, has received hardly any attention re-
cently, despite the concerns over ammonia emissions and efforts to improve N use efficiency.”
With 40% of UK arable soils at or above pH 7.0, and 21% between pH 6.5 and 7.0, Prof Powlson believes replacing ammonium sulphate with polysulphate could make a major dent in emissions.
Richard Ward, technical sales manager at ICL, says: “Being more sustainable does not have to come at the expense of farm economics.
“Sulphur is often the most limiting nutrient for crop production and quality. The need for sulphur fertilisation is clear in both arable and grass systems.
“It is now a question of how best to provide sulphate to the crop in the most economic and efficient way.”
He says that, like N, sulphur comes in different product forms, and is also prone to leaching.
This form of sulphur can be used as a straight product, a multi-nutrient sulphur source or it can be incorporated into NPK blend formulations.
Mr Ward adds: “Being a natural product, polysulphate has a prolonged release of nutrients compared
The aim is to incentivise continuous improvement and provide a motive for farmers to continually develop their sustainability practices
AMY HARDWICK
to artificial products. It helps reduce nutrient losses and increase N uptake over the growing season.”
He says: “This also gives greater flexibility to integrate it into new-generation low-carbon N fertilisers or low-carbon nutrient programmes, without compromising on quality or yield potential.”
Mr Ward says this is becoming increasingly relevant as supply
chains, from milling wheat to dairy processors, are setting more stringent sustainability targets.
“Growers now have greater flexibility and more options to do things differently. These natural products can really help ease the transition to more resilient and sustainable systems for the long term, encouraging more growers to engage with them,” says Mr Ward.
Flexible, reliable and easy to maintain:
As a pioneer in agricultural technology, Vogelsang leads the way in environmental friendly spreading equipment. The dribble bar systems combined with the ExaCut distributor give the highest application of liquid manure nutrients.
Dribble bars are available in working widths of 7.5m right up to 36m and are retrofit-friendly.
VOGELSANG – LEADING IN TECHNOLOGY
Contact us at: 01270 216 600 | sales.uk@vogelsang.info vogelsang.co.uk
For more information visit
www.vogelsang.info/enuk/dribble-bar-systems
GrowUp Farms impact director Gillon Dobie believes that vertical farming can be part of the country’s food security solution. Jane Thynne reports.
GrowUp Farms was started by Kate Hofman and Tom Webster in 2013 with the goal of creating a more sustainable and resilient food system using technology.
Their mission was to deliver fresh, high-quality produce to consumers, shops and restaurants, while reducing the environmental impact of traditional farming.
Beginning with a small unit near London’s Borough Market, the company, certified as a B Corp outfit for its social and environmental impact by B Lab, now creates the equivalent of more than 1,000 hectares of Grade 1 farmland, producing 1.7 million bags of salad per week from a brownfield site in Sandwich, Kent.
Last year, GrowUp’s fastest-growing salad brand, Unbeleafable, became the first-ever salad range grown by a vertical farm in the UK to be stocked by Tesco. This, according to Ms Hofman,
was a breakthrough moment for the home-grown, year-round product with longer-lasting leaves, given that the UK imports around 90% of its salad through winter.
Gillon Dobie says: “The aim is to produce more than 1.7m bags of salad per week by 2029. But we are scaling as we grow.
“We started in Tesco and we then quickly started supplying more and more retailers as we have gone on.
“We are even in Lerwick Tesco, which is on Shetland, as well as Morrisons, Co-op, Ocado and Booths.”
Next year, the company hopes to complete an extension of its Kent base at Pepperness Farm, which will increase its capacity six-fold.
The produce begins in the seeding room where, under controlled conditions, seeds are planted using substrate in place of soil.
Each tray is seeded according to its specific plan, depending on crop
We use waste heat from the bioenergy plant next door. This cuts our electricity demand by a third GILLON DOBIE
choice. Once complete, the trays are taken into the germination room. From there they are moved via an automated bench system into the growing chambers where they are stacked.
Layers of benches are placed on top of each other with every crop
receiving an exact combination of lighting, nutrients and airflow.
Once they reach harvest, an automated cutting process ensures the leaves are cut to go straight into the packing. Data from each harvest is monitored and shared with the innovation team to help optimise growing levels.
GrowUp says the salads are prepared to such a high controlled standard they do not need to be washed by the consumer.
Owing to the way the leaves are grown, those who buy the packaged product are the first humans to touch the leaves.
The company says its production methods mean the food stays fresher for longer, which cuts down on food waste.
The whole process from seed to bag takes just 18 days. Conventionally grown lettuce usually takes around six to 10 weeks.
The difference is the growing conditions, with production relying on intensive energy consumption.
Mr Dobie says: “You are replacing the sun, so yes it is energy intensive. But there are different ways to approach that energy and we are always looking to find a way to reduce the cost and the amount that we use.”
The company says it uses 95% less water than traditional farming, while the leaves are also grown without pesticides and renewable energy is employed to cut the carbon emissions involved.
In 2024, three billion litres of water were recaptured and reused within GrowUp’s irrigation system, which, says the company, is enough to supply the population of London – 10 million people – for a day.
It also used 100% renewable fuel with 82% of fuel sourced from biofuels, thanks to its co-located biomass energy site.
Mr Dobie says: “We use waste heat from the bioenergy plant next
1.7m
Bags of salad a week produced at GrowUp Farms’ site in Sandwich.
People talk of food security as national security and, if we are going to make that happen, we need to produce more food
GILLON DOBIE
door. This cuts our electricity demand by a third. We are also investing in low carbon packaging made from 70% used cooking oil from our Zesty product line.”
Writing in the company’s impact report, Eliot Baird, impact analyst, says: “As we build our business, emissions will go up.
“But as we grow more food, our emissions per kilo of lettuce will go down compared to crops grown in
- Soil sampling for Basic Nutrients (pH,P,K,Mg) and Organic Matter - Soil Carbon Baselining - carbon credit compliant - Soil Mineral Nitrogen testing down to 90cm -Full suite of annual compliance reporting: Soil Management , Nutrient Management , Integrated Pest Management, Manure Management
other ways. That is how we fight climate change.”
Although once thought to be the answer to fruit and vegetable production, the past few years have seen several notable vertical farming businesses including Jones Food Company, Infarm, Agricool and Vertical Futures all facing severe financial issues or closure.
However, for GrowUp Farms, the focus is on producing the best
product it can rather than attempting a wholescale replacement of conventional farming.
Mr Dobie says: “People talk of food security as national security and, if we are going to make that happen, we need to produce more food. We need to grow more in this country, I think everyone agrees with that.
“We need to increase productivity and we need to eat more fruit and vegetables. But by the same measure, that means we need a lot more land. One way you can reduce that is by using vertical farming.
“I know vertical farms cannot solve all problems, but we can solve some problems in some areas.
“From a farming perspective, I think that vertical farming can pick up certain types of crops, which can be grown efficiently and sustainably indoors.
“That leaves space for other people to grow other things outdoors.
“There is definitely a space for vertical farming to work in tandem with more conventional methods in order to boost security. We are not here to compete, we are just trying to help solve problems.”
We’d love to talk all things soil: hello@agri-soil.co.uk 07943597658 www.agri-soil.co.uk
Cheshire grower F.T. and L. Stanier digitised its production by taking an 18-year-old Bateman and equipping it with current tech. Ken Topham reports.
The Stanier operation aims to be as efficient as possible, growing 200 hectares of potatoes per year for crisping and chipping, with the business using John Deere equipment and technology for their precision farming and documentation management.
When the business upgraded its potato planter to a Grimme GB220 with IsoBus, this connected seamlessly to the John Deere 6195R and brought to the operation the ability to adjust seed spacings on the fly, as well as generating maps of exactly where each potato was planted.
While generating crop maps is not new technology, nor is section control on a sprayer, the interesting part in this project was not the planter or the tech used, but getting an older model sprayer and bringing it up to date.
This may not provide a shiny new machine with all of the creature comforts, but it does bring almost all of the benefits of getting the product from the tank to the plant.
The base machine was a 2004
Pantera 7004 self-propelled sprayer
Capacities of 6,600 l.
Boom widths from 24 m to 48 m
Bateman RB 25 with a 3,000-litre tank, 24-metre booms and originally eight manually controlled sec-
tions. Not the height of precision, but the prospect of £300,000 for a new sprayer which only covers the
grower’s own cropping was a big spend.
The challenge was to gain sec-
tion control and add precision documentation through JD link, while integrating and using the data created by the planter.
One of the benefits of the IsoBus planter, was that once a boundary had been created, it sets up the field for every operation afterwards and can be used for bed tilling, fertiliser application, granular nematode control and spraying.
The maps created during plant-
ing changed the Stanier approach to managing its crop. To function correctly, the Bateman RB 25 required six more sections, which meant that six more sets of air pipe were required to run along the booms.
The new pipework and valves needed to be matching side-for-side, and also maintain pipe length to each
nozzle cluster to account for the mechanical delay, in order to have consistent shut-off times across the boom. For the digital control of the machine, the original Bateman hardware was removed from the cab, which included the original control block and switch gear, and replaced with an Ag Leader ISO liquid rate controller.
The Ag Leader controller was used because Stanier required 12,
two-metre sections, and the John Deere option at the time only offered 10 sections.
The Ag Leader rate controller adds modern day functionality to the Bateman, with integration to both the John Deere hardware and software.
The control method is flowbased with a pressure fall back, with smaller sections and smaller nozzles, flow gauges can bottom
When it comes to chemical saving, AMAZONE’s unique AmaSelect nozzle control ticks all the boxes.
The electric, four-way nozzle body selects up to 7 different combinations of nozzle on the move – controlling droplet size and minimising drift.
Around bends, CurveControl gives you even dose rates across the full boom width and the individual nozzle switching means less wastage.
UX Super trailed sprayer
Capacities of 4,200 l up to 11,200 l. Boom widths from 21 m to 48 m
Band spraying with AmaSelect Row can further cut chemical usage by up to 65% but, to top it all, spot-spraying to a predetermined weed map using AmaSelect Spot can save you up to 80% of active ingredient use.
More clever thinking from AMAZONE.
Add a little dose from the NEW DirectInject system and those savings go up yet another notch.
751 200
out when only a couple of sections are on. For calibration, the Ag Leader can be set to speed simulation and jug tests carried out.
The use of an Ag Leader ISO liquid rate controller also meant that if the sprayer was sold, any new owner could plug their own screen in, as long as it was an IsoBus universal terminal.
The only negative with the new system is the switching from standard nozzles to low drift, now involves switching over 12 taps on the booms.
Nozzles of choice are Hypro 04 flat fan for most work and 04 air induction low drift for challenging conditions, usually at between 3-4 bar pressure at 200 litres/ha to create a fine droplet when the canopy covers the beds completely, to ensure the product gets to as much leaf and stalk surface as possible.
With the success of the initial machine, F.T. and L. Stanier has purchased another Bateman RB 25, which is due to get the same treatment. This will increase output in busy times and spread the hours across two machines.
So, why not just have one modern sprayer? Individually, a new machine would offer more capacity and productivity, but could not be in two places at once, and the business do not have twice the output on comparable boom widths.
New technology has allowed the Stanier operation to upgrade its crop management, add measurable data and save some money in the long-term.
IsoBus integration is becoming more versatile and connectable across brands and applications, which could mean upgrading older equipment may become a more attractive, and cost-effective, option for many farmers.
Horsch showcased its latest innovations for 2026 at a pre-Agritechnica event held at its Ronneburg production facility in Germany. James Huyton reports.
At Horsch’s facility in Ronneburg, components are delivered to the production line via a ‘just-in-time’ system to match build specification.
With more than 200 different machine models and 250,000 customisable options, Horsch offers a significant portfolio of equipment and, as a company that believes there is a solution for every situation and soil type, buyer choice is imperative – particularly with machines operating all over the world.
Frederic Horsch said: “Although 85% of our sales remain in Europe, this strong footing has allowed us to expand across the world. Production facilities in Brazil are allowing Horsch to tap into new emerging markets such as South America.
“Although there have been some challenging trading conditions in North America, other regions have enabled steady, continued growth.
“In challenging trading conditions, it is ever more important to not only justify the increased efficiency of the machine, but also its overall price and residual value.”
It may be surprising to hear that the manufacturer’s current largest market is Ukraine, with the corn belt of Europe still driving machinery purchases despite the ongoing war.
With the continued drive for improvement, Horsch has announced a number of new cultivation product lines set for the UK market.
Continues over the page
THE new Finer XL trailed spring-tine cultivator will be available in sevenand eight-metre working widths, capable of depths from 20mm to 100mm and suited to lower power requirements.
With these larger working widths, contour following is managed by a hydraulic cylinder system.
Mounted on a six-bar framework, it allows 150mm tine spacing with a number of wing options in 50mm or 220mm formats.
Trash flow is aided by 520mm frame spacing and high clearance for primary cultivations.
It incorporates the elephant tine with a 120kg break-back force, with double-row flex and double-ring flex packers available.
THE Horsch Cruiser gets a new line-up with the addition of a 12-metre variant, the 12XL.
Suited to shallow and medium tillage, the Cruiser is aimed at primary stubble cultivation.
Both the Cruiser 7XL and 9XL remain in the range, with this new seven- to 12-metre line-up now featuring the FlexGrip tine, pre-stressed with a 180kg breakout force.
The Cruiser operates a six cross-section frame design, claimed to offer improved rigidity and better trash flow.
With working depths up to 150mm and tine spacing of 170mm, the manufacturer claims the Cruiser provides strong surface incorporation properties.
A new folding control unit now means that only two hydraulic remotes are needed to control the machine.
Prospective buyers can choose from 50mm, 80mm, and 100mm-wide points, with or without carbide facing. A new 240mm-wide point is also available, again with or without carbide for added longevity.
The new Fortis LT is set to replace the Terrano GX model and comes in 4.6-metre, 5.4m, 6.49m and 7.4m working widths.
THE new Fortis LT is set to replace the Terrano GX model, which is now more than 12 years old, extending the manufacturer’s medium-power segment.
The Fortis LT was specifically developed for standard tractors up to 500hp and is available in four working widths of 4.6 metres, 5.4m, 6.49m, and 7.4m.
Its introduction reflects the trend toward larger tractors and the need for more robust design.
Using a four-row layout, the Fortis offers 270mm tine spacing and an 850mm frame height, both aiding trash flow, with working depths up to 300mm.
The last row of tines is spaced wider to accommodate transport wheels. To handle the higher horsepower requirement, the
Fortis has a break-back force of 570kg. Depth control is managed through an aluminium clip-based system with hydraulic adjustment, offering lift, lower, and float modes.
A multi-tool allows lifting and engagement of the steel flex packer, with optional angle adjustment also available.
A key feature is the placement of the levelling tools as close as possible to the last row of tines, directing soil flow into the levelling discs.
The chassis can be moved out of the working area, ensuring it does not obstruct soil flow from the tine zone. As with all Horsch machines, a wide portfolio of wing and packer options is available to suit user requirements.
The Finer incorporates elephant tines with a 120kg break-back force.
From precision mapping to compliance reports, everything you need is in one powerful, easy-to-use platform.
Tools to boost profitability, productivity and sustainability. Simple setup and support from people who speak your language.
A look at the latest news for BASIS- and FACTS-qualified farmers and advisers.
New restrictions on the use of rodenticides, particularly on areas away from buildings such as those managed for game shooting, are now in force.
To help land managers and gamekeepers to prepare, BASIS has launched a course that will provide operators with the proof of competence needed to purchase professional rodenticides.
The course – BASIS Rodent Control for Gamekeepers and Rural Environments – is based on latest guidance from the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU). It has been developed in conjunction with CRRU and a group of sector organisations, including the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), the Countryside Alliance, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation and the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association. Delegates will learn more than just how to use rodenticides safely and appropriately.
Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and wildlife management, who is the gamekeeping sector represent-
ative with CRRU, says: “Rodenticides should not be seen as a first response to a rodent infestation. They are just one of several options that should be considered, which include trapping and shooting.”
The rules, introduced in January 2025 following a voluntary move by manufacturers, mean the use of second-generation anti-coagulants is banned in areas not linked to buildings. Alternatives include products based on the active ingredient cholecalciferol, which can only be purchased by people who can provide proof of training within the past five years.
The BASIS course offers the necessary evidence.
A minimum of five hours of tuition will provide participants with an understanding of the effect that rodents can have on the environment and why they should be controlled.
The adverse effects on key wildlife species are explained.
The need to control rodents results from the damage they can cause to the rural economy and the threat posed to wildlife. They can
Participants on this course will be equipped with the latest knowledge on best practice in rodenticide use
GLYNN EVANS
also cause health problems, owing to the diseases they carry.
The course teaches participants how to identify both target and non-target rodent species, with an understanding of their behaviour, relevant to achieving effective control. Delegates also learn how to undertake a relevant risk assessment and establish a ‘risk hierarchy’.
The various rodenticides available on the market today are discussed, along with alternative practices to control rats away from
farm buildings, in rural environments, such as shoots.
This knowledge is then set in the context of the role of CRRU in the UK’s Rodenticide Stewardship Regime, which has been developed to avoid harm to non-target species.
The course is primarily aimed at those who conduct operations of rodent pest management on game shoots, farming enterprises and other businesses in rural areas in which pests are detrimental. It is also useful for managers who supervise and are responsible for others who carry out rodent control.
“Successful participants on this course will be equipped with the latest knowledge on best practice in rodenticide use in and around buildings, where second-generation anti-coagulants can still be used, as well as areas away from buildings,” says Mr Evans.
The course is assessed via 30 multiple choice questions and a further 10 true/false questions.
MORE INFORMATION
Full details of the course can be found on the BASIS website at basis-reg.co.uk
In this episode of the Crop it Like it’s Hot podcast, join Ash Ellwood as she chats with three industry experts about all things grass-weed control.
Take a deep dive into the recent dry summer and its impacts on weed pressures and seedbanks, as well as the availability of new and existing chemistry. Learn how growers can balance their herbicide timing and spending to minimise resistance on-farm, and discover top tips for minimising resistance.
With mostly dry weather continuing into autumn so far, we also discuss the risks and rewards associated with drilling early, as well as what growers can do to manage grassweeds in an early-drilled crop.
Experts
Speakers were John Cussans, weed science principle consultant from
From precision mapping to compliance reports, everything you need is in one powerful, easy-to-use platform.
Tools to boost profitability, productivity and sustainability. Simple setup and support from people who speak your language.
Trusted by farmers. Trusted by agronomists. Switch to Omnia today.
We have got a fig tree in the garden and the number of figs we have had over the years has been very sporadic. This has often been blamed on the weather, or one year it was as a result of hard pruning by my enthusiastic wife.
However, this season the yield of figs has been incredible; we have been picking fresh, ripe figs for a month at least and have so many that the excess has gone into jam.
Normally, when we just get the odd fig, the wasps have them, but this year there have been so many we have all had our fill.
So, good levels of sunshine and the excellent roots of the fig tree, accompanied by appropriate management, have led to a bumper year. The same could be said for my normal topic of root crops – the dry spring has meant that potato crops went into excellent seedbeds and a high yield potential was set early on.
The strong early growth further enhanced the yield potential, but then the dry weather hit and water (and lots of it) was needed to capture the yield potential.
Where growers have invested in irrigation via reservoirs or bore holes, and used it when needed, the combination (of lots of sun and water) has led to strong yields – to the extent that boxes and storage space are at a premium.
Non-irrigated crops obviously have not fared as well, but yields have still held up on all but the lightest of soils.
They have prevailed wherever good soil conditions early on were not compromised and roots have gone deep, accessing the much-needed moisture.
There are some issues with bruising; black dot; secondary growth, typical of seasons with challenging water supplies; and some wireworm.
Good management has been needed to avoid rejections.
These potential issues needed to have been highlighted early and the appropriate actions taken.
Sugar beet also went into good seedbeds and – apart from the lightest soils – have managed remarkably well where the roots have been able to grow unhindered to access whatever moisture has been available.
Weed control has been an issue in some fields – mainly fat hen. It is amazing how, despite the lack of moisture, it has taken advantage of crops that do not reach ground cover as quickly as some others. Many onceclean fields are now full of fat hen.
One thing I always look for where fat hen becomes an issue is beet cyst
The dry spring has meant that potato crops went into excellent seedbeds and a high yield potential was set
DARRYL SHAILES
Darryl Shailes reflects on
how potato and sugar beet crops are performing
so far as we
head into autumn after the dry summer.
‘Potato
nematode, because the reduction in canopy in the infected areas can often lead to a fat hen issue due to lack of crop competition.
Sugars are generally higher in beet crops than they have been over the last few seasons, so this will help overall yields. The decisions made as to which fields to lift early and
which to leave are very important – do not leave the poorer crops to make up, as they never do.
With weedy fields and those badly affected by beet moth or lack of canopy due to moisture stress, get them lifted so you can then concentrate on the good ones.
These will be able to utilise the green leaf protected by good fungicide programmes and, with
a good back-end, turn into excellent, high-yielding crops.
Tariffs, climate change and China and India’s rise as major players is changing the global potato market and impacts on the UK’s role as an importer. Cedric Porter reports.
Potatoes are grown in nearly every country in the world, from below sea level in the Netherlands to heights of more than 4,000 metres in the Andes where they originated.
Most potatoes are eaten within a few hundred miles of where they are grown, but about a fifth of the 380 million tonnes grown in the world every year are traded across borders, either as fresh or as processed product.
The UK is the second largest potato import market in the world after the USA, at £1.431 billion, according to HMRC data.
That puts it £120m a year ahead of third placed importer France.
Most of the potatoes the UK imports come from Belgium and the Netherlands or other EU countries.
Collectively the EU accounts for a quarter of the world’s potato trade even though it accounts for only 20% of global potato production and less than 10% of the world population.
But this strong position is being eroded as visitors to the recent Potato Europe show in the Netherlands were
reminded. It attracted more than 17,250 people from 107 countries, demonstrating the international appeal of potatoes and the threat to Europe from other countries.
Production of eating potatoes in the EU’s four key potato-growing countries – Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium – which account for more than 90% of the EU’s potato trade, is estimated by the North-Western European Potato Growers Foundation (NEPG) to be at a record 27.3mt, 10.8% more than last year.
The NEPG is a collection of organisations from the four countries.
That oversupply of potatoes has led to free-buy or spot prices plunging to as low as €15/t (£13/t). At the end of the 2023/24 season, prices hit €600/t (£520/t). But oversupply is not the only issue facing European potatoes.
“We are in the middle of a perfect storm of over-production, stronger competition and political uncertainty,” Christophe Vermeulen, the chief executive of Belgian potato organisation Belgapom, told a conference or-
ganised by Potato Europe, the European Potato Trade Association and newsletter World Potato Markets
Most of that stronger competition is coming from China and India.
Chinese potato exports have increased by 54% over the past year to £647m, with the sales of frozen fries doubling to 325,000t.
The value of Indian exports has increased by 12% over the past year to £339m, with frozen fry exports up 39% to 214,000t. Indian frozen fry processing is growing at 11% a year, according to Soundararadjane S, the chief executive of HyFun Foods’ HyFarm initiative, one of India’s largest potato processors, but at Potato Europe he put that growth into context.
He said: “There has been a lot of focus on the increase in exports of Indian processed potato products, but they are very small compared to the growth of sales within India. Meanwhile, 92% of sales are still of fresh potatoes, with that market growing at 3% a year.”
Tariffs have become an issue for global trade of all commodities, including potatoes, after President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’.
There are signs that EU exports to the US are under pressure following the imposition of an extra 15% tariff. However, Mexican imports of US
More than 17,250 people from 107 countries attended the Potato Europe show.
product have plunged in response to the general imposition of duties.
Tariffs and competition are issues for European growers, but so is the environmental pressure of growing a sensitive crop.
Bianca de Winter, a seed potato grower from the north of the Netherlands, said: “After a dry season, we fear that it could start raining and make harvesting difficult.
“The more extreme weather conditions are a challenge, alongside others including the restrictions in the type of crop protection products we can use and the need for more sustainability. It will be important that breeders continue to develop more resilient varieties.”
Despite the challenges facing potato production, there was still lots of positivity about their potential.
Guy Hareau, the former chief scientist at the International Potato Centre, said: “There are almost 20m hectares of potatoes worldwide grown under a large range of climatic and topographical conditions. They have high yield potential, a short growing cycle and a dual role of providing immediate food security for those growing them or a cash crop. Their energy-richness and nutrient density make them a very important food source.”
Peas and beans and generally most legumes are regarded by growers as crops accompanied by misconceptions of high risk, poor germination and inconsistent yields. But I think along the way we have got something wrong in our thinking.
If we want to square the circle with ever-increasing demand for improved soil health, lower input costs and bringing greater biological diversity into rotations, we not only need to look again at this ‘Swiss army knife’ crop, but also bring the supply chain with us on the journey.
This is why the NFU has released the Sustainable Protein Action Plan, which makes a simple agronomic case before delivering into the checks and balances of homegrown protein production.
The agronomic case is simple. Peas and beans fix atmospheric nitrogen, meaning growers can cut back on one of the biggest costs of each rotation. I cannot see the future, but I can guess that input will not be free in the future.
The market and public awareness case is getting louder. The majority of imported protein crops being soyabean meal, despite top of the league credentials as a source of easily digestible protein, is undercut by its association with deforestation.
Swapping even a fraction of that imported protein for home-grown peas and beans reduces carbon emissions, improves traceability and gives consumers a tangible British provenance story.
And finally, demand. Demand for healthy food and sustainably produced animal feed is on the rise, so the commercial opportunity for British pulses is real. We just need to work with the supply chain, Government and retailers to ensure that the infrastructure is in place and that demand creates fair value for produce.
That last point is crucial. Farmers will only plant what pays. Pulses deliver public goods, lower greenhouse gas emissions, improve soil structure and benefit pollinators, but current market systems rarely reward those services. Policy should stop treating environmental outcomes as separate from commercial crop production and start supporting food production that creates tangible benefits for the environment.
Which is why nearly a year ago we presented an ask to the then Defra Food Security Minister Daniel Zeichner, in the form of Government support for the production of home-grown sustainable protein.
An ask similar to that seen in Europe, which has become a clear opportunity for change across the
NFU Combinable Crops Board chair Jamie Burrows sets out why boosting British peas and beans is better for the environment and consumer than relying on imported crops.
sector. It is a simple solution; pay growers for the environmental and carbon reduction benefits created by
legume crops per hectare across England and Wales. A simple ask, but red tape and current policies remain.
ble British farming future. Now is the moment to move off the sidelines and deliver real change.
Policy should stop treating environmental outcomes as separate from commercial crop production JAMIE BURROWS
Within that ask, we also detailed the extent to which support and adoption of pulses across the supply chain would be key to driving significant change. Simply growing more domestically would do little to create real-terms change around their value in the marketplace, but sustained support, adoption and dedicated demand for these crops within feed rations and the wider food supply chain, could create real, long-term opportunities for not only the crops sector, but the wider food supply chain as well.
The NFU’s Sustainable Protein Action Plan sits alongside the NFU Crops Board Strategy: Harvesting Growth as a blueprint for a stronger, more sustainable, more profita-
Together we can turn this plan into action and, in turn, cultivate healthier soils, cut emissions and improve farm sustainability.
About Jamie Burrows
n Farms on the fringe of St Albans
n Jamie is one half of Sandcross Farming, which farms about 1,000 hectares of cereals, mostly in south Herefordshire
n Mixture of owned, tenanted and contract farming agreements
n Grows milling and feed wheat, milling oats, feed and malting barley, peas, beans and oilseed rape
UK LIFFE wheat futures for November 2025 closed on Tuesday (September 30) at £164.05/tonne, a decline of £1.70/t on the week.
WORLD and UK grain markets sit lower on the week, continuing to be weighed by ample global grain supplies, amid routine demand.
AHDB released the final 2024/25 cereals balance sheet this week, revising estimates made in May.
TUESDAY’S report from the United States Department of Agriculture revealed higher-than-average estimates for wheat production and stocks. This led to price decreases in Chicago, reaching seasonal lows.
The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange has announced that Argentina’s 2025/26 wheat crop is expected to reach 22 million tonnes, up from the previous estimate of 20.5mt.
According to the EU Commission data, rapeseed 2025/26 imports totalled 0.92mt as of September 28, compared to 1.32mt during the same period the previous year.
Overall, the wheat balance sheet saw significant changes. Imports are now put at more than three million tonnes, a record level, while total demand was raised by 0.4mt, to
14.3mt. Ending stocks were slashed by 1mt, to 2mt.
Overall, markets viewed the data with a heavy tone, taking LIFFE wheat futures sharply lower through Tuesday’s trading. That in mind, our LIFFE market ‘only’ fell by 1% weekon-week, while MATIF wheat dropped 2% and Chicago 2.4%. Sterling weakness will have provided limited support.
At home, farmer selling has slowed, according to latest Corn Returns data, likely a combination of declining prices, but also as fieldwork duties build, taking many farmers away from their offices. Autumn plantings are well underway and while many areas could reportedly benefit from another bout of rain, few are reporting any particular difficulties or threatening delays.
GLOBAL oilseed markets remain supply-heavy, with rapeseed and soyabean flows shaped by regional dynamics and recent policy shifts.
In Europe, rapeseed sowing for harvest 2026 is nearing completion. Dry conditions in France and Romania have limited optimal drilling, while Germany and Poland report improved soil moisture and satisfactory emergence. EU rapeseed imports are trending lower year-on-year, reflecting stronger domestic
supply and reduced reliance on Ukrainian origin.
Crush margins remain stable, supported by firm oil values.
Soyabean markets were impacted last week by Argentina’s temporary suspension of export taxes, triggering a sharp drop in Argentine FOB premiums. Offers fell,
undercutting US Gulf values. The tax suspension was lifted shortly after the $7 billion target was met in order to support the Argentine peso, creating short-term volatility and execution uncertainty.
Brazil continues to dominate global soyabean exports. China remains absent from US purchases amid trade tensions. US soyabean futures fell too as weekly export inspections reached 594,000 tonnes - below expectations, but still 16% of last year so far this season.
Overall, without a significant external factor playing a role, such as a spike in crude oil prices, we can only see a continuation of the moribund nature of our markets.
