Arable News

Seed potato producers are being urged to treat disease-susceptible stocks with a fungicide during the first grading window after the tricky harvest hindered earlier applications.

The 2024 edition of the British Crop Production Council’s UK Pesticide Guide is available to pre-order for January 2024 delivery, with up to 12 NRoSO and four BASIS points available on purchase.

At North Hall Farm in Appleton Roebuck, devoting 23ha of productive but demanding land with serious Italian ryegrass problems to a national centre for sustainably managing this troublesome weed has given the Vale of York family business a huge confidence boost.

Suffolk farmers were invited to a roundtable event by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), where they heard the latest on available schemes and grants – and shared concerns about the level of financial support for food production versus environmental management. Sarah Kidby attended.

Book spring seed requirements in good time given strong demand and tighter supplies going into next season, says Hutchinsons seeds manager for the south, Peter Brundle.

The list of store-keeping issues that we deal with is huge but in most cases rejections can be avoidable if there is more attention to detail.

British Sugar and NFU Sugar have agreed a deal after weeks of intense negotiations, with particular contention over the futures linked contract.

British Sugar’s Wissington factory opened its doors to press at the end of November, providing an update on this year’s campaign and work being done to tackle virus yellows and carbon emissions – as well as answering questions on next year’s beet contracts. Sarah Kidby reports.

A total of six combining peas, two winter beans and three spring beans have completed the requisite number of years in trials and demonstrated the necessary qualities for inclusion in the PGRO Descriptive List for pulses. Rachel Hicks reports.

A collaborative effort to allow a vital seed treatment for 2024 sowing of onions has succeeded.

Growers planning to apply a pre- or post-emergence herbicide to late-sown crops must be aware of the potential risks to crop safety and efficacy where conditions are sub-optimal, agronomy firm Hutchinsons warns.

A delayed 2023 harvest, followed by a particularly wet autumn hampered winter drilling, so spring cropping could be the only option for those farmers severely affected.