I have just read a very interesting article in Landmark, the NIAB TAG membership magazine. The title is ‘The economic margin; farmers maximising yields but not financial returns’. It is compiled by the Rural Business Unit of the Department of Land …
I attended the BCPC Pests and Beneficials review this week. It concentrated on flea beetle control in oilseed rape and I came away depressed about the prospects for the crop in some parts of the country unless the neonicitinoids are reintroduced or an …
In the last couple of weeks I have been viewing the lights of Cambridge from the top of the Gog Magog hills (well they pass for hills in Cambridgeshire). To explain, I drive over the hills whilst returning home from my golf club. There are now two levels …
The EU referendum debate is getting quite emotive. It is almost a carbon copy of the Scottish independence debate. There are those who support an improving status quo who are saying it would be a mistake to rock the boat and there are those who say that …
March is the month of the Cambridge Science Festival and I attended a few lectures. The programme was less plant-orientated this year and one of the major themes was big data. The lecture I attended on big data and medical science was superb. The lecturer …
A few months ago I attended a seminar at which all of the farmers present said that they had abandoned the precision application of nitrogen to wheat. This came as no surprise to me as I am unaware of a strong scientific base to support it. On the …
Recently, the David Attenborough Building opened in the centre of Cambridge. It provides office accommodation for 500 (yes five hundred) conservationists. These are university researchers, post-graduate researchers and representatives of both UK and …
I must admit to getting emotional when Tottenham failed to get the points to challenge Leicester City for the Premier League title. Much has been written about the significance of Leicester’s win and, for me, it has added spice because Leicester and …
I have tried cover crops on my allotment over the last year. They looked great in mid-October (see pictures), with the late-summer sown phacelia and vetch growing to an enormous size before being killed by the mild frosts of this last winter. Early-autumn …
I cannot remember the exact year when I spoke at a large conference on the possible introduction of GM crops into the UK. It was perhaps the final year or two of the last century. After contacting a few aid charities I felt able to say with confidence …
Niab
Park Farm Campus
Villa Road
Histon
Cambridge
CB24 9AT, UK
Tel: +44(0)1223 342200
Email: [email protected]
