News
Ditching and draining for profit and flood prevention
Well managed watercourses and margins through arable or grassland fields bring a wealth of benefits to the farm. Careful management not only improves biodiversity and water quality but can increase farm business resilience from flooding and damage during wet weather. With increased rainfall and longer, and wetter periods predicted as a result of climate change, farmers and land managers need to work to minimise the effects on their land and business.
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Uncertainty – the new normal?
There is a sense in the agricultural sector that Brexit preparation isn’t particularly advanced, not because we don’t understand it will have a big impact, but because of (a) the…
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Updated Covid Guidance for Farmers, Crofters and Agricultural Workers
Scottish Government has just published updated guidance on measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For full details see here. The guidance is detailed and specific to agriculture and is…
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When should a first wheat be treated as a second wheat?
With an anticipated reduction in demand due to the disruption from COVID combined with reports of quality issues leading to costly deductions and rejections, a number of malting barley growers are looking at sowing winter wheat following…
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Combine Settings in a Bad Skinning Year for Malting Barley
With the malting barley harvest now underway, it is being reported that skinned grain levels are higher than normal in grain samples. This can lead to deductions or worse costly rejections with…
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Grain sampling during COVID restrictions
Many grain merchants provide an on-farm grain sampling service to their clients in order to gauge the quality and suitability of grain lots. This is extremely important in the case of malting barley…
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Polyunits for Production
Throughout the month of September the Farm Advisory Service is hosting a series of online meetings focusing on polyunits. There will be 3 meetings in total, each covering a different…
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Evaluating Wheat Choices for this Autumn
In recent years, the Scottish wheat area has been relatively productive within the wider UK harvest. Although not perfectly resilient, the predominantly soft-wheat crop has coped well with extremes in local growing conditions. Whilst too soon to report on the yield and quality that 2020 will deliver, news from further south has been…
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Haulm Destruction without Diquat
With many seed potato crops around Scotland coming up to size rapidly, potato growers are getting to grips with haulm destruction in the post-diquat era. The good news is that…
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Implications of COVID-19 on the movement of grain
Cereal farmers are reminded to consider the implications COVID-19 and lockdown may have in terms of grain movement, particularly for crops usually sold on an “as available” basis or for harvest movement with end…
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