Arable News

While most Brits are travelling to Spain for their summer holidays, some supermarket fruit and veg staples have travelled up to eight times farther — from as far away as Kenya.

With the UK harvest being one of the earliest ever, many growers are already looking ahead to the new season and preparing for drilling of winter cereals. While this earlier drilling may help spread the workload, it significantly raises the risk of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV), warns Ruth Stanley of Sumitomo Chemical. 

As this year’s sugar beet harvest approaches, British Sugar has announced the campaign start dates for each of its four factories. 

Terrafarmer is testing biological inputs across Welsh farms for a more resilient future through farmer-led research into soil health and input reduction.  

While harvesting progress has been strong – outpacing five-year averages – the combination of lower yields for many growers and falling grain prices throughout the year points to significant financial challenges for arable farms, the latest AHDB harvest report has found.

Selecting sugar beet varieties is becoming more important as the number of specialist traits increases. The British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) explains more.

Pesticide resistance continues to challenge arable production, with diminishing efficacy against key pest species. 

James Hutton Limited, the commercial wing of The James Hutton Institute, has confirmed plans to open a lab capable of analysing anaerobic digestate, a useful soil improver.

One of the two UK bioethanol plants, Vivergo, has ceased production after discussions with the government failed to reach a solution that would allow it to continue operating.

Richard Heady says yields have been “thoroughly disappointing” this year, though crops were grown on a budget.

Tomato growers have been invited to attend this year’s British Tomato Conference, which will take place next month in Warwickshire. 

Harper Adams slug expert Keith Walters warns growers not to forget about slugs in the wake of a dry year so far.