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Know How / Crop selection

Guidance and advice on choosing which spring or winter crops to grow for your end market to ensure you are profitable and insured against volatility. Find out which markets offer a premium, such as spring barley for whisky or milling wheat for bread and specialist crops such as quinoa or naked oats.

Advice and tips

PULSES

Getting the most from intercropping: Your questions answered

Intercropping is becoming a popular option for arable farmers looking to reduce chemical inputs and enhance yields. Particularly as the Sustainable Farming Incentive pays £55/ha for companion cropping. Despite its…

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…

OTHER CROPS

Round-up of the niche crop options for UK growers

Introducing alternative break crops to an arable rotation can help growers improve soil health, spread market risk and further financial gain. As pesticide actives are lost and resistance fears build,…

BARLEY

Advice on growing malting barley to gain from high premiums

Premiums of £55-£60/t for malting barley are being offered this harvest, with the price supported by beer's history of being recession-proof and the post-Covid recovery in beer sales. For these…

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Case studies

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Cotswold flour mill sources grain direct with stacked premiums

An eighth-generation flour mill business is sourcing grain direct from over 150 farms to produce one of the UK’s top artisan flour brands, while enabling growers to stack regenerative farming…

ROTATIONS

How an organic Norfolk estate hits £1,000/ha gross margins

Farming soils with an 80% sand content is no easy task, but thanks to a rotation rejig and organic conversion, the Fring Estate in Norfolk is targeting £1,000/ha gross margins.…

WHEAT

Wheat grower plans for bigger milling wheat area

Milling wheat grower James Peck says he needs the present £60/t-plus premium for his breadmaking wheat crop to make money and plans for an expanded 1,700ha milling area next season.…

HARVEST AND CROP STORAGE

Selling direct to local feed mill saves storage and drying

A 30-year partnership with a local grain store and feed mill has proved to be a long-term sustainable grain marketing strategy for one farming estate on the east coast of…

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Insights

OILSEED RAPE

Data reveals cost of oilseed rape failures

Having an effective plan B is vital when growing oilseed rape, as making the wrong decision when redrilling a failed crop can cost farmers up to £674/ha in lost margins,…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

How farmers can benefit from growing hemp market

Fast growing with break crop suitability, hemp can produce high-value fibres in a low-input system, with low nitrogen requirement, and minimal chemicals. But one of industrial hemp’s major downfalls is…

ARABLE

Wetter farming: Growing typha for the construction industry

Field trials at the Horsey Estate in the Broads National Park are under way as part of a project investigating the growing of wetland crops to be used in the…

ARABLE

Why winter linseed is an option for Scots growers

Winter linseed could offer Scottish growers a low-input, high-yielding alternative break crop on farms where winter oilseed rape yields are falling. Scottish Agronomy has been trialling winter linseed with Premium…

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News

CROP SELECTION

First gene-edited wheat harvested from trials

Gene-edited wheat and barley varieties are expected to be grown on commercial farms in England as early as 2026. This comes after trial plots of one wheat variety were successfully…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Groundswell: Regen supply chains – will farmers see rewards?

A collaborative approach from all stakeholders is required if regenerative farming principles are going to become embedded in supply chains, urged both a multinational food company and a leading retailer…

CROP SELECTION

Scottish growers turn attention to varietal choices for 2025

Planning is well under way for harvest 2025, with growers in Scotland considering variety choices with disease susceptibility a key consideration. Greg Dawson, deputy managing director and an active agronomist…

CROP SELECTION

Plant breeders fear gene editing could be "derailed" by election

Plant scientists are demanding the next government prioritise the introduction of gene editing, to help accelerate the development of crops with increased yields, improved climate resilience and reduced environmental footprints.…

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Video

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Video: UK agroforestry system integrates fruit and arable

First-generation tenant farmer Stephen Briggs planted the UK’s largest agroforestry system, integrating fruit trees and arable cropping to boost land productivity. More than a decade after the 4,500 apple trees…

HARVEST

Video: Spring barley cut ahead of wheat in Cambridgeshire

Spring barley is being cut ahead of of winter wheat on James Peck’s Cambridgeshire farm and showing a good yields of 7.5-8t/ha. Mr Peck had cut some wheat for a…

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