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Soils

Soil management and nutrient network farms

    2021 Scottish Potato Crop Inspections and Statistics

    Potatoes are a vegetatively propagated crop, and the health status of Scottish seed potatoes is a strategic priority. SASA, the authority responsible for safeguarding the health of Scottish Seed potatoes carries out growing crop inspections for all certified seed. A summary of the 2021 growing crop inspections has recently been released highlighting the high health status of Scottish potatoes, but also bringing timely reminders of threats that need proper management.

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    Compost and Growing Media

    Do you have a horticultural enterprise on your croft or smallholding? Do you buy or make compost or growing media? Do you get variable results?! In this webinar, Audrey Litterick…

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    Potato Seed Treatments

    The 2021 potato seed crop has been in store for several months, but with some stocks being graded for export it’s timely to review management options for seed treatments.
    It is important to take an integrated approach to crop management and to assess each stock on a case-by-case basis.

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    Winter Wheat – What to look for in Varieties for 2022 Harvest

    The distilling and soft feed varieties feed our main markets in Scotland and include some of the highest yielding examples in trials, but varieties for feed, biscuit and milling markets can include some useful agronomic traits as well as diversifying markets a bit. Some of the key varieties to consider are summarised in the article.

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    Winter Barley Variety Choices

    There has been really good progress in yield potential in some of the newer two and six row winter barley options for Scotland. Other agronomic traits are worth looking at too. Some carry specific weaknesses to key disease or differ markedly in standing strength. Early maturity can be important and we have also marked a few as doing particularly well on heavy soils.

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    Organic Oilseed Rape Production in Scotland

    Organically grown oilseed rape is not a crop typically associated with the UK, and certainly not in Scotland. However, this has all started to change over the last few years based around the experiences of a small group of farmers and other stakeholders, with the first commercial crops having been grown mostly in NE Scotland over the last three seasons.

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