Crop Health

Disease Planning Starts Early

Planning out a disease management strategy in cereal crops needs to start earlier than usual this season. Programmes can be adjusted as the season goes on but setting out the basic framework makes it possible to work in a diversity of chemistry to minimise resistance risks and cover the main diseases and timings.

Integrated Pest Management – Top Tips from High Scoring Farms

The IPM planning tool for Scottish growers is starting to give useful insights about what high scoring farms do and where they get their information. Filing in an Integrated Pest Management plan is now standard practice on most arable farms and is a useful tool to explore what can be done on individual farms to increase IPM practices. IPM plans are also being picked up across mixed and grassland farms too. Almost 5000 arable plans have been completed to date for arable farms and nearly 300 for grassland plans – just launched at the end for 2021. Average scores for arable farms are 64.8% and for grassland farms 56.9%. This provides really positive evidence about what the farming industry is already doing to produce crops in integrated and sustainable ways.

Crops and Soils Focus Group – South West

The Crop and Soil Nutrient Network Focus Group provides an opportunity to get together with growers in your local area to discuss the latest developments within crops and soils helping to improve the profitability and resilience of your business. Participation in this small group provides the opportunity for members to challenge, be challenged, hear from specialists, and share their own experiences on managing crops and soils in their regional area. The speakers for this meeting are agronomists Gavin Stewart and Jan Vos.