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Know How / Disease management

Get advice on managing disease in wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, and sugar beet. Find the best ways to combine cultural and chemical controls and how to deal with fungicide resistance. See tips, insights and farmer case studies focusing on major disease threats such as septoria, yellow rust, ramularia, phoma leaf spot and blight and how to combat them.

Advice and tips

CROP MANAGEMENT

6 steps to achieve correct sprayer setup this spring

A well-maintained sprayer is essential for accurate applications. We offer six handy tips to help achieve this. The busy spring spraying season is just around the corner, which means sprayers…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Fungicide tips for variable wheat this spring

With winter wheat at a wide range of growth stages coming out of winter, extra care will be needed to manage crop development and disease pressure this spring. Such variability…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Advice for growers dealing with ergot this harvest

The fungal pathogen ergot is reported to be widespread across UK cereals this harvest, with some growers identifying the disease for the first time in decades. The greater incidence is…

SUGAR BEET

Tips to tackle foliar sugar beet disease in high risk season

Virus yellows is not expected to be the major issue feared in the spring – when aphid migration started earlier than usual – sugar beet growers have been reassured by…

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Case studies

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

How sheep, varieties and nutrition can help manage disease

Fungicides remain a central pillar in controlling disease on our Arable Insights farmer panel’s farms, despite most wishing to reduce chemical inputs as much as possible. However, managing nitrogen and…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Septoria-specific spray is key for Dorset wheat grower

Bob Rowe is very pleased with the performance of a new SDHI fungicide he used across all his 700ha of winter wheat in 2024, as it largely kept septoria out…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Wheat grower goes for broad-spectrum disease control at T1

Suffolk wheat grower Richard Duchesne looks to select an early fungicide spray with a good broad-spectrum of disease control, and is pleased with his first use of the new SDHI…

NUTRITION AND FERTILISER

How a farm cut nitrogen by 60kg N/ha with no yield detriment

An Oxfordshire farm has successfully slashed nitrogen rates by 60kg N/ha with no yield detriment thanks to the addition of a carbon rich crop spray and urease inhibitor to each…

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Community

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Twitter round-up: Spring drilling and wheat T0 race is on

The recent spell of warm, dry weather has allowed many growers to get into full the swing of spring drilling and take on the first fungicide application timing in winter…

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Insights

POTATOES

What new blight strain means for fungcide strategies in 2025

It was at the tail end of last season that monitoring by Fight Against Blight (FAB) confirmed the EU46 strain had been found in Wales and eastern Scotland, marking the…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Why dry conditions are complicating barley disease control

Winter barley crops are approaching the critical T1 fungicide timing and growers are being advised to assess disease risk carefully, as the prolonged dry conditions could complicate treatment decisions. Overall…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

April showers could change wheat disease outlook

Winter wheat growers are being urged to be wary of septoria and yellow rust if the weather turns wet leading up to key T1 fungicide spray timings at the end…

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News

ARABLE

Norfolk grower to start irrigating cereals amid dry spell

With just 13mm of rain since the beginning of March, Norfolk grower Michael Wilton will start irrigating cereals this week to protect yield potential. Michael manages the Stody Estate’s acreage…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Wheat growers alerted to yellow rust risk in backward crops

Wheat growers are urged to be alert to yellow rust risks in backward and later-drilled winter wheat crops this spring, to avoid yield losses of up to 50%. According to…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Yellow rust alert as unusual observations seen in AHDB trials

Wheat growers are being advised to monitor their crops more closely for yellow rust and not rely on Recommended List disease ratings this spring. The warning from the AHDB was…

CROP MANAGEMENT

Early-drilling could see rise in spring barley net blotch

Early-drilled spring barley, particularly with untreated seed, may require an early fungicide spray to counter increased net blotch pressure. ProCam agronomist Alistair Gordon warns net blotch has rapidly become one…

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Video

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Phone app is cheaper way to monitor crops with a drone

A new smartphone app offers farmers a cheaper and easier way to monitor their crops, simply with a mobile phone and a cheap drone. Developed by Northumbria-based Drone Ag, the…

POTATOES

Video: Early potato harvest start is worst for 40 years

Brothers Peter and Philip Le Maistre are sixth-generation Jersey farmers and for them this potato season has been the worst since covering spuds with plastic started to be used on…

POTATOES

Video: Jersey early potato yields dip 20% after frosty February

Jersey’s early potato harvest is almost a month late this spring, with yields expected to be down one-fifth after the Beast from the East frosted off young plants barely out…

ARABLE

Video: Crop Doctor sees septoria rising to worrying levels

Disease levels are rising in the nation’s wheat crops with the wet weather likely to encourage septoria to spread and put growers on alert to make sure their fungicide programmes…

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Webinar

OILSEED RAPE

How to balance high inputs and market prospects for OSR

Although the price of oilseed rape has risen sharply largely due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, so too have input costs such as fertiliser, fuel and energy costs. Therefore, oilseed rape growers…

ARABLE

Webinar: Combating fungicide resistance

Farmers need to find ways to combat problems in crop protection that are caused by development of resistance to fungicides. Pathogen resistance to fungicides is widespread. This is especially true…

ARABLE

Expert advice on maximising OSR yields in a difficult season

After such a wet autumn and winter, the big question over oilseed rape this spring is: "What can farmers do to maximise yields in a very difficult season for oilseed…

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