Farmer Focus: Worst blackgrass pressure in 30 years of farming
© Tim Scrivener Remember back in February I said that on the whole I was pleased with the crops and blackgrass control?
Well, scrap that. It is fair to say I’m probably the most embarrassed about my grassweeds that I’ve been in 30 years of managing crops.
We’ve got blackgrass where we’ve not seen it before, and just about every other common grassweed there is. To add insult to injury, it is so bad a friend asked if we were converting to organic.
See also: Cereals 2023: Wide spectrum wheat fungicide set for 2024
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We have had a Redekop chopper and Seed Control Unit (SCU) fitted to the combine in an attempt to reduce the number of viable grassweed seed returns.
The SCU is a very clever bit of kit that replaces the chaff spreader with a seed mill that can destroy about 98% viability of any seeds passing through it.
This will form part of some trials we are doing as members of the British On-Farm Innovation Network (Bofin) with Niab.
If, like us, you enjoy and value on-farm trials you should take a look at Bofin.
We visited Cereals at its new biannual home – the Thoresby Estate. I really must congratulate Will Baker and his team there for hosting a great show.
I thought it was a very picturesque venue, particularly with Thoresby Hall as a backdrop.
There was plenty to see, including a new front box designed and built by Fusion Attachments for our new Fendt 1050. The brilliance of this box over competitors is that the weight is detachable.
The centre box carries tools, spares etc and stays on the tractor, while up to 3t of weight can be carried for heavy cultivations and simply dropped off by one person for drilling or top work jobs where the weight isn’t needed.
Finally I want to congratulate my kids on doing their parachute jump to raise money for Brake, a road safety charity. They raised £6,747 in memory of my late daughter.
