Video: Getting the best PCN control from biofumigant crops
Farmers Weekly Rapidly incorporating residue is vital to achieving effective control of potato cyst nematode when using a biofumigant crop. That is the latest message from AHDB Potatoes’ Strategic...
View ArticleTrial aims to quantify cover crop cost benefits
Farmers Weekly A three-year trial aims to settle the ongoing debate over the long-term benefits of growing cover crops, as well as the cost benefits of different mixes. Many growers have trialled cover...
View ArticleSpud headland cover crop trial expanded for second season
Farmers Weekly Wildlife and soil health are set to benefit from cover crops being established on field headlands across 30 potato farms this season. This follows a successful trial on a total of 28ha...
View ArticleHow companion crops can slash inputs by 30%
Farmers Weekly Growing more than one crop could play a valuable role on UK farms, through raising yields and slashing the need for inputs, and it may even help solve problems such as barley yellow...
View ArticleCover crop lifts spring barley yields by 30% in trial
Farmers Weekly Four years of farm trials have helped one grower identify which cover crop mix delivers the highest spring barley yields on light land. Essex farm manager Jeremy Durrant of EW Davies...
View ArticleThree-pronged plan to raise soil fertility
Farmers Weekly A four-year plan is under way to improve the fertility of light blow-away soils on a Northumberland farm by successive cycles of cover crops, grazing sheep and spring barley. The early...
View ArticleNo-till brothers take US approach to battle blackgrass
Farmers Weekly Brothers John and Paul Cherry are starting to reap the benefits of their no-till farming system with healthier soils and cattle feasting on herbal leys in the arable rotation to control...
View ArticleWater company pays farmers to grow cover crops
Farmers Weekly Farmers in north-west England will be paid to improve water quality by growing cover crops this winter. A reverse auction by United Utilities is inviting farmers to place a bid for the...
View ArticleCover crops benefit Lincolnshire blackgrass battle
Farmers Weekly Improving soil structure is the cornerstone of a strategy to beat blackgrass on one Lincolnshire estate and it is showing the benefit as, after six years, the vicious weed is no longer...
View ArticleFour in five growers use glyphosate to kill cover crops
Farmers Weekly A survey examining the use of cover cropping has revealed that 80% of growers rely on glyphosate as part of the process for destroying plants before cash crop establishment. The result...
View ArticleTop tips from two US no-till and cover crop veterans
Farmers Weekly No-till – the art of drilling seed directly into the soil in one swift pass without any cultivation or seed-bed preparation – has a growing fan base. Almost one-fifth of all combinable...
View ArticleVideo: Drilling OSR companion crop follows early wheat harvest
Farmers Weekly Drilling a companion crop is the order of the day for Cambridgeshire grower David White as soon as early-maturing winter wheat is cut on his light soils. He is sowing a mix of berseem...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Early harvest gives good entry for cover crops
Farmers Weekly I hope that by the time this goes to press we will have finished the winter barley and be well into the wheat – all by the end of July. One particular year I can remember being this far...
View ArticleVideo: Advice on autumn establishment and weed control
Farmers Weekly There are four core factors that determine the success of an autumn established wheat crop – soil and seed-bed quality, weed control, timing and herbicide application. Laying the...
View ArticleTips on how to get your soils back in to better shape
Farmers Weekly Up to 30% of the yield from the UK’s record-breaking wheat crop in Northumberland came from water stored in the soil, highlighting the importance of healthy soils. And given that 40% of...
View ArticleHow 'conservation agriculture' can improve soil health
Farmers Weekly Adopting the fundamental principles of “conservation agriculture” has huge potential for nursing depleted arable soils back to health and correct implementation is key to its success....
View ArticleAsda helps spud growers to go green
Farmers Weekly The headlands of potato fields can have a valuable role in promoting wildlife, and one major supermarket group is helping its spud growers to establish green covers on these areas....
View ArticleGlos farmer creates wild margins to attract grey partridges
Farmers Weekly Applying for environmental schemes can be time-consuming and have no guarantee of success, but if approved they can be financially worthwhile, as one Gloucestershire farmer is...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Playing the long game with cover crops
Farmers Weekly Planting of our summer crops is in full swing here in South Africa. It might be summer but on 17 November we had a frost. Fortunately, my maize was young and quickly grew out and the...
View ArticleGreen compost lifts yields on Buckingham farm
Farmers Weekly Mark Humphrey’s use of green compost on his Buckinghamshire farm has resulted in bumper milling wheat and maize yields on his poor, hungry gravel soils. Using council-collected garden...
View ArticleVideo: 5 key points for destroying your cover crops
Farmers Weekly Timing is key when killing off cover crops with one expert suggesting a herbicide needs to be used some three to four weeks before a spring crop is drilled. Some species in a cover crop...
View ArticleTwo growers look to bridge organic-conventional gap
Farmers Weekly Many growers are keen to bridge the gap between organic and conventional farming, with one Wiltshire organic farmer adopting a non-plough approach to establishing cereals while a...
View ArticleHow US farmers are tackling pollution in the Gulf of Mexico
Farmers Weekly Nutrient run-off from agricultural land is being blamed for the vast oceanic dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and farmers have responded by adopting measures more commonly seen in the EU,...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Arable fixed costs are too high
Farmers Weekly All winter cereal crops seem to have grown in the past month. They may have been helped by the 250mm of snow we experienced a fortnight before Christmas. With some good banks and a...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Cover crops v blackgrass control
Farmers Weekly One of my favourite meals is bangers and mash, but I definitely don’t like mush. When the first “Beast from the East” roared in, it certainly dried out the soils. However, as the snow...
View ArticleKent grower sees top rapeseed yields without insecticides
Farmers Weekly Companion crops have allowed Kent grower Andy Barr to stop using insecticides on his oilseed rape despite being in a hot spot for cabbage stem flea beetle damage and without seeing a...
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