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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

HARVEST

'Average at best' harvest for most Arable Insights farmers

After a tricky growing season, has harvest surprised or confirmed worst fears for our Arable Insights’ farmer panel? Farmers Weekly finds out. See also: Why Herts farming family are moving…

OTHER CROPS

How estate uses niche crops to broaden risk and flexibility

Farming across 15 different soil types, along with three seasons of extreme weather, has made rotation planning an interesting exercise for Ragley Estate farm manager Andrew Keyte. This has not…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

On-farm grain processing adds value and market

Taylors Farm in Lancashire has transformed itself from a traditional beef and arable farm into a regional hub for grain processing services. Over the past five years, the Webster family…

ROTATIONS

Long-term spring OSR grower reveals his approach

Graham Bell has grown spring oilseed rape for more than two-and-a-half decades, and, with the right approach, is achieving higher margins than the winter crop it replaced. While spring OSR…

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Insights

BARLEY

Strong case for winter barley despite price pressure

Many growers are sticking with winter barley this coming season, with seed sales progressing well despite the continuing pressure on crop prices, reports one seed merchant. “Seed volumes are only…

ROTATIONS

Why beans may have a place in Scottish rotations

With many growers looking for alternative break crops to extend rotations, nitrogen-fixing beans could be the answer for some this season. Through careful variety choice, establishment methods and inputs, Scottish…

SUGAR BEET

Why the sugar beet deal could see a reduced 2026 crop area

At £30/t, the sugar beet price for next year is enough to keep the crop in the rotation, but most growers will scale back a bit, reduce the area grown…

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News

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Crumpets made from 100% British regen wheat launched

Crumpets made from 100% British regeneratively farmed wheat are the latest product launch from regen food and farming business Wildfarmed. The launch marks the brand’s first expansion from bread into…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

Huge linseed demand fuels high spring contract offers

A £600/t spring linseed contract for the 2026 harvest has been launched in response to rising demand across food, feed and industrial markets. The updated contract from Premium Crops provides…

MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

New Wildfarmed partnership unveils British barista oat drink

Regenerative food and farming business Wildfarmed has partnered with barista brand Minor Figures to launch a new drink made with regeneratively grown British oats. Barista Oat (Regenerative) is the latest…

CROP SELECTION

Gene editing clears final hurdle in Parliament

A new regulatory framework, which allows the commercial cultivation of gene-edited crops in England, has cleared its final hurdle in Parliament and comes into force from today (13 November). The…

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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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