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Wheat grain fill complete

NIAB TAG Network members have had access to a week by week review of potential yield gain during grain fill of winter wheat over the past few months. A brief summary indicated that it was less than average for the first half of grain fill and greater than …

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Wheat yields revisited

I was in the garden on Sunday morning when my mobile rang. The call was from a farmer on the coast of Essex saying that his wheat was yielding well above average and the quality was superb. What obviously stimulated his call was last week’s blog …

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Harvest progress

It is still too early to get a good overview of the yields of timely sown wheats.  Some reports say that the yields are ‘nothing special’ and others are saying that yields have been slightly above average.  So the jury is still out on my overall …

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Confused over blackgrass

A number of farmers have confessed to me that they are confused over the best approach to take to control black-grass. After reading many articles in the press over the past couple of weeks, I can see why. Conflicting views have been expressed and some …

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A noisy summer

We live very close to the centre of Cambridge. Despite that, it’s a normally a quiet area but this summer has been different. The garden has been exceptionally noisy with bees buzzing and butterfly wings flapping. The only thing missing is bird song. …

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Is farming advice too compartmentalised?

There has been a bit of a gap since my last blog because we were involved in a car accident when on holiday in France. This resulted in a week’s stay in a local French hospital and then a couple of days in a UK one. It was interesting to note the …

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Wheat harvest post-mortem

To tell you the truth, I’m not absolutely sure if my prediction for wheat yields was correct. If you remember, I predicted that “ overall, timely sown wheat crops will not yield above average ”. In a following blog I said that good yields may be achieved …

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Micronutrients fail the ‘common sense’ test

Micronutrient treatments are often relatively cheap in terms of cost/ha but not necessarily in terms of cost/kg of the nutrient(s) in question. However, despite their relatively low price/ha, treating the whole farm with them will often cost more than a …

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Two into one will go

LERAPs ( Local Environment Risk Assessment for Pesticides ) was introduced in 1999 in order to meet the standards for protection of the aquatic environment from spray drift as laid out in the then pesticides registration directive. I’ve always been a fan …

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Science backs straw burning

I recently received an email from a farmer who forwarded a Tweet providing a link to a report in New Zealand. The heading on the linked website was “ Science Backs Use of Stubble Burning ”. My immediate thought was “was it ever thus?” Crop science has …

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