• Look at what you’re already doing • Be clear what you want to achieve • Don’t choose options for payment Arable growers are being encouraged to make sure they choose the right options available under the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). More than 150 growers attending a recent... Read more

Wheat seed enhanced with silicon means plants are stronger and more resisilient to slugs, suggests a study. Trials by i2L show that applying the biostimulant Sirius boosts the natural level of silicon in wheat seed and strengthens the plant. Seedlings from this silicon-enhanced seed are stronger and more resilient... Read more

High slug numbers mean extra vigilance is needed to protect newly sown cereal crops this autumn, says Dick Neale. Slug populations have increased significantly after a wet summer, says Dick Neale, of agronomy company Hutchinsons. Continued moist conditions this autumn have been in stark contrast to the past two... Read more

New feed wheat Bamford continues to generate high levels of interest just weeks before the launch of the latest cereals Recommended List (RL). Bred by Elsoms Seeds, Bamford is the highest yielding RL Group Three soft wheat candidate variety this year, says Rodger Shirreff, national seeds business manager for... Read more

A new online tool makes it easier to create Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans – and receive payments under the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The free IPM Planning Tool covers all the main arable and outdoor horticultural crops. It offers easy access to information about proven methods available for controlling... Read more

Growers unable to drill oilseed rape until last month due to the wet summer can rest assured that sowing the crop in September is not necessarily a bad thing. Later drilled oilseed rape can still produce a profitable crop – if it is a phoma-resistant hybrid variety variety with... Read more

Fewer cultivations can be good for soil structure and health – but ploughing still has its place and can bring dividends, suggests the latest research. Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and greenhouse gas emissions both depend on crop productivity. And despite the ups and downs of grain markets and input... Read more

Cultural controls are helping to rid fields of herbicide resistant ryegrass on a Nottinghamshire farm. It comes after father and son team Peter and Rob Barlow took on 160ha of land infested with the weed. Soil types vary from gravel through to heavy loam across the farm which encompasses... Read more

A Northamptonshire grower is drilling double the amount of winter wheat Mayflower this autumn after the variety performed well in difficult conditions. Emma Bletsoe, of Denford Ash Farm, near Kettering, was delighted with her first-time crop of the Group Two variety which bucked the recent negative trends of sliding... Read more

Growers are reminded to avoid short gaps between spraying off and drilling, which can leave a green bridge for aphids to survive and spread barley yellow dwarf virus into new crops. Cereal volunteers and some weed species can host grain aphids and bird cherry-oat aphids – both of which... Read more