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Know How / Barley / Crop management

With ramularia now more difficult to control and other diseases showing signs of fungicide resistance, there is plenty to consider before deciding on how to manage your barley crop. Get the latest advice and thinking on cost-effective barley agronomy, from pest and weed control, to nutrient planning and fungicide/growth regulator use.

Case studies

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BARLEY

Greater yield and margin for winter barley grower

Scottish grower Neil Ramsay is pushing the boundaries of winter barley production, striving for both yield and margin. He achieved a top yield of 13.5t/ha last harvest and has an…

NUTRITION AND FERTILISER

How treated urea is helping farms to improve NUE

New rules mean farmers can only use standard urea up to 31 March, but Velcourt is going a step further by only using urea fertiliser treated with an urease inhibitor.…

ARABLE

Grower improves fungicide use and compaction with helicopter

A helicopter is not the standard piece of farm kit to be stored in a machinery shed, but Canadian grain producer Wade McAllister plans to combine his passion for farming…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How Wold Top Brewery barley grower lowered carbon footprint

The Yorkshire farming family behind the successful Wold Top Brewery and Yorkshire’s first single-malt whisky distillery is using the latest precision mapping technology in its drive towards a low-carbon, sustainable…

BARLEY

New winter barley impresses on disease resistance and yields

Essex grower Andrew Fairley says his crop of the new winter barley Caravelle is the healthiest looking of the five varieties he growing this season, and it is set the…

ARABLE

Soil virus prompts move to resistant winter barley variety

Soil-borne viruses have pushed a light land Somerset farm into growing only one variety of winter barley and one of winter wheat, which are resistant to the yield-damaging mosaic virus,…

Practical advice

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CROP MANAGEMENT

How to tackle hefty spring arable workloads after wet winter

Spring workloads are mounting on most arable farms, so sorting fieldwork priorities to ensure optimum return on investment where crops are variable and harvest profitability remains uncertain is a tricky…

BARLEY

How to get spring barley off to a good start

Whether it’s an option to replace missed or failed winter drillings, or a profitable mainstay in the rotations of committed malting growers, spring barley is expected to increase its area…

NUTRITION AND FERTILISER

How foliar nutrition can kick-start crops and cut chemical costs

Foliar fertilisers could be a valuable addition to crop production programmes this season as a means of replenishing leached nutrients and overcoming stunted root systems left over from winter waterlogging.…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Advice on backwards and poorly established crops this spring

An early dose of nitrogen to nurse backwards cereal crops into action will be key to optimising yield after crops battled intense rainfall this winter. Soils could be carrying 40-60kg/ha…

ARABLE

How arable farmers can turn things around this spring

It may feel like doom and gloom at present, as any rare dry days are predictably followed by another spell of rain – a cycle that has limited field work…

SEED-BED PREPARATION

Pointers on rescuing waterlogged soils for spring barley

The UK spring barley area is predicted to rise 13% this season, and growers are advised to adapt cultivation and drilling methods to resurrect waterlogged soils. Following the wet winter…

Insights

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ARABLE

Cover crop study shows yield benefits of destruction methods

Research funded by water companies has revealed significant differences between cover crop destruction methods for nitrogen availability in the following crop and weed control. A further project has highlighted the…

CROP MANAGEMENT

What changes are being made to the Wildfarmed standards

A change to the Wildfarmed standards now allows crops destined for the company to be grown on a rotational basis. Previously, growers had to dedicate blocks of land to the…

NUTRITION AND FERTILISER

Why urea fertiliser use is changing this spring

Farmers are being reminded that a new, non-regulatory approach to urea fertiliser use will be implemented this season, as part of the government’s efforts to tackle air pollution and improve…

WEED MANAGEMENT

4 reasons Italian ryegrass is a growing threat to growers

While blackgrass remains by far the most common grassweed issue on arable farms across the country, Italian ryegrass is increasingly seen as the most challenging to control. A survey in…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Why increasing diversity in arable fields is key to IPM

Introducing greater diversity in arable fields is an important part of integrated strategies for disease and pest control, buying crucial time for slower acting biological solutions. Canadian soil specialist Joel…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How biologicals are changing pesticide use

Biologicals will make up 25% of the overall crop protection market by 2035, growing by more than three times to a value of $30bn (£24bn), predicts Dr John Wiles, global…

BARLEY

Malting barley growers to take up fossil-free green fert

About 20 growers in the north of England and Scotland will be growing spring malting barley and wheat for the distilling market using Yara’s fossil-free green fertilisers next spring, under…

SOILS

How natural fungi can be encouraged to aid crop production

Mycorrhizal fungi play a valuable role in maximising crop performance, and a team of researchers is on a mission to delve deeper into the world of mycorrhizas to explore how…

CROP MANAGEMENT

4 key lessons from the first AHDB Cereals Strategic Farm

After six years, Brian and Patrick Barker’s Lodge Farm, near Stowmarket in Suffolk, will be finishing its run as the AHDB’s first Strategic Cereal Farm. It was also an AHDB…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

New barley virus strain puts resistant varieties at risk

Winter barley varieties showing symptoms of soil-borne barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV), despite being classed as resistant on the AHDB Recommended List, are being infected by a different strain of…

WEED MANAGEMENT

Why brome is a rising problem when tackling blackgrass

Establishing cover crops on heavy boulder clay and managing brome are two challenges being tackled in a long-term blackgrass trial. Brome forces changes to blackgrass control strategy A brome problem…

PEST MANAGEMENT

Why BYDV-tolerant barley may prove itself in disease hotspots

More than three-quarters of surveyed growers and agronomists say they have suffered yield loss from aphid-spread barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), with the emergence of tolerant winter barley varieties seen…

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