Author Posts: Rachel Hicks

This month, Farmers Guide celebrates 45 years of supporting British farmers, with the first ever issue of the magazine published being September 1979. Rachel Hicks looks back at arable cropping across the UK then, versus now.

While drones have been used for crop monitoring for quite a while, there’s some new and exciting potential for other uses. Rachel Hicks reports.

Landowners Phil and Chelsea had been looking for the perfect woodland to buy – but the MOREwoods scheme by the Woodland Trust enabled them to plant their own instead.

Clarkson’s Farm fans will have seen Andy Cato, of Groove Armada fame, on a recent episode of the hit show, encouraging Jeremy Clarkson to drill a field blending both wheat and beans. Kaleb Cooper certainly took some convincing, but unlike some of Jeremy’s own experiments, this is one which has some real science and thought behind it.

Syngenta’s decision support agronomy advice for potato growers, BlightCast and Quantis Heat Stress Alert, have now been coupled into one convenient and easy to use digital platform, myField.

On 18th April, farmers were invited to attend the second South East Future of Farming Conference held at Plumpton College, with all proceeds from the ticket sales being donated to RABI. Farmers Guide editor, Rachel Hicks, was there.

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.

In early September, Farmers Guide visited Shotley Peninsula farmer Geoffrey Mayhew in Suffolk as he began lifting some early crop for this year’s sugar beet campaign.

Fairking Ltd is a family-owned and run company, and the UK representative for borage growing/production for DeWit, a Dutch company that owns New Holland Extraction. Rachel Hicks attended the Fairking Ltd grower open day in early February.

Two candidate winter oilseed rape varieties from breeder LS Plant Breeding Ltd (LSPB) – Murray and Vegas – are near the top of the AHDB RL harvest results table (2nd equal and 3rd), with yields ahead of most of the currently recommended varieties.

Suffolk farmer Tom Jewers, of G D Jewers & Son at Wood Hall Farm in Rattlesden, experienced a better-than-expected harvest, although field variations of over 6t/h clearly showed the impact OM has on yield.

Farmers need to maximise efficacy and minimise resistance risks when using glyphosate to eliminate weeds ahead of drilling according to Matt Siggs of Bayer. Roundup (glyphosate) is a vital control tool on many farms, so a pro-active approach is best to ensure long-term efficacy.