The importance of upholding soil health and sustaining its productivity for the future is essential. Cover crops can prove an effective means of contributing to soil health and quality when incorporated into a rotation.
Seen firstly as a good alternative break crop to oilseed rape – which has become harder to establish due to the difficulties in controlling flea beetle – maize is now a valuable forage for their beef finishing enterprise as well as an additional cash crop sold to neighbouring dairy and goat farms.
When it comes to selling wheat, many growers revert to selling it for animal feed, however it is important to evaluate and maximise the potential of grain in terms of market and premiums, as many could be missing out on opportunities to add value to their grain.
It is important to remember that not only group one varieties on the recommended list have the potential to offer a premium, as many group twos, threes and fours can also provide this if the specs are met, which many of them are capable of.
In Season 3, Episode 7 of the Wynnstay Agri-Hub podcast, Rob Hess one of our Senior Traders at GrainLink has joined me to discuss the potential of grain in terms of how growers can optimise quality and ultimately achieve the best price possible.
When growing high yielding varieties, often other agronomic features such as disease resistance are sometimes overlooked. The fungicides at our disposal today are capable of producing extremely good results, but it is important to apply as much thought to the fungicide programme and timings as to the choice of product, to achieve optimum yield potential.
Over recent years, the emphasis has moved away from reactive fungicide applications to treat visible disease in the crop, and more towards a strategy where prevention is better than cure. To achieve this, the fungicides must be applied at the correct time and early in the development of the disease, or even before infection occurs, with timing infl uenced by growth stage, weather and the variety’s disease resistance.
Winter barley has a lot to offer any farm, rotationally it offers a great entry into oilseed rape as its earlier to harvest than wheat. Its straw is heavily demanded by livestock farmers and its grain can be used for malting or feed. Therefore, it’s important to make the right variety selection to maximise your farms potential.
This year we are focusing on how varieties we offer can fit your farming system, whether your high input and high output or whether you are trying to maximise your return from a crop with slightly less inputs! Wynnstay are constantly monitoring and evaluating both new and existing varieties ensuring our advice is always up to date. Here are my varieties to consider for Autumn 2023 planting.
This is a question we get asked frequently, and undoubtedly even more so this autumn with the strong grain price. Here are the important factors of how to choose a second wheat.
Incorporation of spring varieties into rotations can enhance farm business resilience, especially in the face of increased input costs or weed burdens. When it comes to selecting the best variety for your farm business, end market, agronomic packages and consistency of performance are the most important factors to consider.
After the challenge of harvest 2020, we go into 2021 hoping for an improved year not only in agriculture but that Covid-19 will slowly dissipate with the distribution of a vaccine. From a purely agricultural point of view, there is already more optimism that the majority of crops planned to be drilled in autumn 2021 have been.
The annual launch of the AHDB Recommended List introduces growers to a plethora of new options for 2021 cereal crops, alongside old favourites still ranking high.
