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The article discusses important rules for having high oilseed rape (OSR) yields offered by Danish farmers Michael Levy and Johann Levy. It informs that growers mentioned to spread rotations, use hybrid varieties at lower seed rates and invest best yield for OSR. It informs that brothers suggested to use hybrid varieties of OSR for high yield and mentions that Danish OSR market is dominated by 98 percent of hybrid varieties.

The article focuses on bovine tuberculosis (TB) culling and includes comparison between Great Britain and Ireland in this regard. Topics discussed include impact of badger culling on TB incidence in Ireland, interview with Bert Stewart, Chairman of animal health project of Irish Farmers' Association, and effect of culling program in reducing and preventing the spread of TB disease.

The article features the three finalists for the 2011 Arable Farmer of the Year award in Great Britain. Colin McGregor of Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland employs the "Three Ps" strategy, which stands for people, precision and plant, to maintain the yield and quality at their family farm. The other finalists are Ben Binder of Faversham, Kent, England, and Andrew and Richard Ramply of St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, England.

Presents tips on simplifying the process of choosing a silage additive. Information on how a product gains approval for any category; Importance of silage stability at feed; Categories of animal performance approval section.

The article presents a case study of artificial insemination in heifer to boost genetic gain and performance. It mentions that the farmer Will Dickson took advice from the veterinarian Keith Cutler and decided on a progesterone based synchronisation programme for calve maiden heifers. It adds the implantation of progesterone device in the heifers and also mentions that heifers should be handled calmly.

Building a more resilient cropping system is at the heart of one Scottish grower's strategy to better cope with the more extreme weather being seen, like this winter's monsoon. His aim is to widen his rotation to six years, with two years of spring barley followed by winter barley, oilseed rape, wheat and then oats. Finally, this year Mr Campbell is changing his spring barley variety mix by growing more Sassy. [Extracted from the article]

Forward crops of oilseed rape are now at the stem extension stage and growers are being advised to apply fertiliser to help build the canopies needed to reach yield potential. Many crops are unsprayed at the moment so grassweed control, aphid control and disease control are going to have to be dealt with even on the poorer crops if we hope to get them through to harvest. Early-sown wheat crops will receive 50kg/ha of N and later-sown crops likely to receive 50% more as a first dose to help increase tiller numbers and root development. [Extracted from the article]

The main amendments to RB209 focus on two key areas: improving the quality of soil analysis and the inclusion of grain analysis as a new monitoring tool Routine grain P analysis will accurately monitor crop offtakes and cross-check soil sampling results "We now have reasonable confidence in the P deficiency level for grain, more so than the soil deficiency level, and grain analysis shows directly what has happened to the crop. [Extracted from the article]

More commonly used to reduce the risk of lodging in lush crops, plant growth regulators (PGRs) are also a vital tool to aid root growth and manage tillering in cereal crops. Mr Neale would then always finish winter barley at growth stage 39 with a 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid-based product. Moving on to second-stage application of PGRs, growers should be looking more at growth regulation of stem growth. [Extracted from the article]

It is shaping up to be a tough spring for controlling weeds, as the legacy of the wet autumn and winter means many crops are at greater risk of yields losses if weeds are allowed to get established in the coming weeks. In severe weed pressure situations, there may be no other option than to spray off areas of crop with glyphosate to avoid a large weed seed return. For spring cereals, growers are better off drilling as soon as soil conditions allow, applying an effective flufenacet-based pre-emergence herbicide and maximising crop establishment and competitiveness, such as by including starter fertilisers and using higher seed rates, he adds. [Extracted from the article]

Restrictions on a fungicide seed treatment have now been lifted, allowing the product to be used on spring sown wheat and barley, with immediate effect. "With limited dual-purpose fungicide seed treatments available, we are delighted with this timely decision to allow spring use on wheat and barley seed this coming season". [Extracted from the article]

Oilseed rape crops are looking very variable and a failure to get the full herbicide programme on this crop means growers will need to consider how to manage the likely higher seed return in the following crop. Oilseed rape crops range from "is that a crop in that field?" By the time land has dried following storm Dennis, many oilseed rape and winter cereal crops will be ready to receive their first dose of nitrogen. [Extracted from the article]

Arable farmers will have a key role in helping the farming sector become net zero within 20 years, by locking up carbon and making better use of fuel and fertilisers. Enhanced soil carbon storage could deliver savings of 5m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year Feeding soil is a good way to increase soil carbon and also help fertility". [Extracted from the article]

Researchers are addressing the urgent need for better agronomy knowledge for spring oats, which has the potential to become a high-yielding breakcrop. Spring oat varieties are struggling to match "rock solid" winter oat variety Mascani in terms of milling losses and hullability, according to one of the main oat buyers. Mr Driver has also tried using a stripper header in spring oats at harvest, so that he can direct drill the next crop into standing straw without any hair-pinning issues. [Extracted from the article]

Needed in such finite quantities, micronutrients can be easily overlooked as another expense, with deficiencies putting cereal yields at risk as well as leading to crops that are more susceptible to disease. AHDB advises that copper deficiency should ideally be treated using soil-applied fertilisers in the autumn as, depending on application rate and soil texture, treatments can be effective for up to 10 years. "Multi-nutrient products can be an issue and growers can pay for nutrients they don't need - therefore it's advisable to back up inputs with a soil test every three to four years to see what is needed". [Extracted from the article]

Farmers and agronomists could soon benefit from a new Adas initiative aimed at improving crop nutrition, by testing grain and benchmarking results. A more reliable measure is grain testing, which indicates if a crop actually captured enough nutrients throughout its life, giving a full post-mortem of crop nutrition. [Extracted from the article]

Correcting micronutrient deficiencies in oilseed rape can raise yields by an average 0.3t/ha, according to trials, helping growers get even more from a crop that is proving to be increasingly expensive to grow. Yara leaf tissue tests collated at its Pocklington lab in 2019 revealed that 70% of the 6,479 samples were deficient in boron, 60% in magnesium, 30% in manganese and 15% in molybdenum. Half of the soils tested were deficient in manganese, illustrating that some farmers are routinely applying this nutrient, while 75% were deficient in boron, closely matching the tissue test. [Extracted from the article]

Applying early nitrogen (N) and phosphate fertiliser to wheat crops is the starting point for nursing them back to health, as farmers look to minimise the effect of waterlogging on crop yields. Farmers should consider treating February-drilled winter wheat more like a spring crop when it comes to fertiliser strategy, says Yara's Mark Tucker. [Extracted from the article]

Managing risk is the key objective for both AHDB's two Strategic Cereals Farm hosts, as they look to use some of their on-farm trial lessons to manage crops affected by the extreme wet conditions. That makes first-year results from his cultivations depth trial very relevant, as the weather has a bearing on whether minimal cultivations can work on the heavy land farm. Otherwise, soil health assessments have highlighted some soil structure and earthworm numbers issues on the farm - both of which were associated with the heaviest soils with below-average organic matter contents. [Extracted from the article]

The economic and environmental costs associated with irrigating 440ha of potatoes at AHDB's Strategic Potato (Spot) Farm North prompted a rethink on the best way to maintain product quality in the face of an increasingly unpredictable climate. Keen to bring those costs down and prepare for the future, the existing irrigation system, based on diesel engines and guns, was torn apart and replaced, recalls farm manager Will Gagg of RJ & AE Godfrey in North Lincolnshire. [Extracted from the article]

Award-winning winter wheat and oilseed rape yields are being produced by Lincolnshire grower Mark Stubbs from a farm that just six years ago was seeing yields being strangled by a bad blackgrass problem. As well as his success with a late-drilled wheat crop, he also took third prize in the oilseeds YEN in 2019, with a field yield of 6.77t/ha produced from a crop which did suffer some early flea beetle damage. [Extracted from the article]

The drilling window flexibility offered by spring wheat has never been more appealing, after the most difficult autumn conditions that many can remember disrupted winter cereal plantings and root crop harvesting. Other varieties include the Group 1 wheat Mulika and Group 2 choice Cochise, which together account for almost 70% of the spring wheat market, thanks to their premium earning potential. Mr Compson adds that the spring wheat market shrunk last year and was just 4% of the total wheat area. [Extracted from the article]

While defoliating oilseed rape crops may offer benefits for the control of cabbage stem flea beetle, it could also help growers cut their growth regulator and fungicide inputs. Norfolk farmer Chris Eglington conducted sheep-grazing trials on his oilseed rape crop in January last year, which was found to halve larvae numbers, remove his charlock problem and cut inputs. [Extracted from the article]

Why "vertical" farming is growing in the UK Being able to produce crops 365 days a year, without the need for pesticides or much human intervention, while being unaffected by the weather, will appeal to many growers after such a prolonged, wet autumn. Extreme weather events and consumer demand for freshness are the two reasons LettUs Grow's co-founder Charlie Guy (pictured) cites as being behind the current interest in vertical farming. [Extracted from the article]

Paying for pesticides and seed based on the yield responses seen in the field could help farmers manage some of the risks of growing crops and trying out new technologies. Sam Eathington, an Illinois farmer and the chief science officer of the Climate Corporation, sees it as a way of helping farmers to try new crop inputs or hybrids while reducing the downside risk. Or farmers can pay more an acre to gain greater risk protection and they can vary the amount shared in extra return, up to a maximum cap. [Extracted from the article]

New cereal fungicide Revystar XE from BASF has given strong results on septoria in the AHDB's fungicide dose response work, with its greater persistence of control resulting in an extra 0.3t/ha in yield, compared with existing fungicide choices. One of the two aphid species responsible for transmitting barley yellow dwarf virus, the bird cherry oat aphid has been considered less important in terms of virus spread than the grain aphid - but recent virus detection work done at Rothamsted Research questions that assumption, says Alan Dewar, independent entomologist. [Extracted from the article]

Farmers with a significant blackgrass problem should stick with spring barley this season, as the crop - when managed correctly - offers the best way to keep on top of any spring-emerging blackgrass. The wet autumn means many growers face an unplanned increase in their spring cropping area, with a number of crops such as beans, peas, linseed, wheat and barley in the running. [Extracted from the article]

Potato growers using sprout suppressant chlorpropham (CIPC) will need to thoroughly clean stores after the 2019 crop is unloaded next summer to lower the risk of residue exceedances after the active is withdrawn. It is unrealistic to believe farms will rebuild stores from scratch to eliminate potential MRL exceedances, so measures need to be put in place for October 2020 to reduce the risk for growers concerned about crop rejections caused by contaminated stores. [Extracted from the article]

The increased threat from slugs is a key concern for our agronomists this week, as it is not too wet or cold for their activity in crops that farmers have managed to get in. If conditions are favourable, most growers will continue to drill planned winter wheat crops knowing that the latest safe drilling date for most varieties is the end of January or mid-February. Oilseed rape crops, on the whole, look excellent and continue to grow apace, with later-drilled crops now shrugging off any remaining flea beetle and slug pressure. [Extracted from the article]

A winter wheat crop by Lincolnshire grower Mark Stubbs yielded 16.3t/ha to take the top prize in the Adas-organised Yield Enhancement Network (Yen) competition in 2019. A record-breaking oilseed rape yield of 7.19t/ha saw Kent grower Richard Budd win the OSR Yen competition this year, also taking the best potential yield award with 85% of 8.4t/ha. [Extracted from the article]

One of the most difficult autumns in memory for arable farmers is causing widespread disruption to fieldwork and rotations, threatening to put a giant dent in 2020 crop performance and profitability. He hopes to have 70% of his winter cereals drilled by Christmas, pointing out that a late drilled winter wheat crop yielding 7.5t/ha and requiring a low input approach is more profitable than a 5t/ha spring barley crop. Farming in one of the areas worst affected by flooding, Mr Chappell's rotation includes peas or linseed, winter wheat, spring wheat or maize, as well as some miscanthus. [Extracted from the article]

Sugar beet growers have for the first time a choice of suppliers when ordering their seed this autumn, offering benefits of seed technology for the 2020 crop. Ben Bishop, KWS sugar beet country manager for the UK, highlighted that for the first-time growers had a genuine choice in pelleting technologies. [Extracted from the article]

With no let up in the wet conditions, the wheat drilling headache continues, with fears growing that crop will not get drilled. Soil temperatures have now reached a level that propyzamide can now be applied to some oilseed rape crops, providing the sprayer can actually travel on fields. [Extracted from the article]

For those growers who are lucky enough to get some wheat drilling done, there is a greater risk of crop damage with poorer quality seed-beds, warn agronomists. Growers in the south are also being warned that oilseed rape crops with average to poor phoma resistance are already showing symptoms and in desperate need of a fungicide treatment. Wheat crops sown after oilseed rape are the highest risk, but second wheats and barley crops are also being attacked. [Extracted from the article]

The rains eventually arrived at the end of September and with 250mm in just over three weeks, even on the lightest of sandy fields it has just about satisfied the soil moisture deficit. The estate supports let land, sheep, outdoor pigs, poultry, suckler cows, horses and stewardship. [Extracted from the article]

Harvest finished shortly after my last article with the standout performer of harvest 2019, winter beans, averaging a very pleasing 6.3t/ha. Even when calculated over the whole potential area, the maintained higher yield in the middle of the fields and lower input cost due to not applying any sprays to headlands gives a better margin per hectare. My concern is that if we maul them in now and we have a late wet harvest next year, yield limitations could roll over into another year, and headlands are a large proportion of our area. [Extracted from the article]

The loss of neonicotinoid seed dressings has left many oilseed rape growers trying out alternative approaches to reduce the impact of cabbage stem flea beetle attacks, thereby avoiding crop losses. Edward Parsons has been cutting back his oilseed rape cropping area for a few years, even before flea beetle became a problem, due to the expense of growing it. After having a frustrating harvest this year, he isn't growing a lot of oilseed rape on his own farm now - just 38ha - whereas he had around 121ha five years ago. [Extracted from the article]

While high-yielding wheat crops can result from late October drillings, winter barley is likely to suffer. Winter OSR continues to frustrate as more and more crops succumb to adult flea beetle grazing and larvae are readily found in established crops. [Extracted from the article]

Cereal growers have just one month to buy stocks of key fungicide products containing active ingredient chlorothalonil. It has also been an essential weapon in the fight against fungicide resistance in disease populations, helping to support single site-acting fungicide groups such as azoles and SDHIs when used against diseases such as septoria. A decision by the European Commission to ban the multisite fungicide was made public last March and UK regulators opted for a cut-off of 20 November 2019 for chlorothalonil product sales. [Extracted from the article]