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Know How / Disease management

Get advice on managing disease in wheat, barley, oilseed rape, potatoes, and sugar beet. Find the best ways to combine cultural and chemical controls and how to deal with fungicide resistance. See tips, insights and farmer case studies focusing on major disease threats such as septoria, yellow rust, ramularia, phoma leaf spot and blight and how to combat them.

Advice and tips

POTATOES

Advice on reducing risk of late season disease in potatoes

With unsettled weather set to continue, potato haulm destruction could be a protracted process in many crops, particularly indeterminate varieties or those grown for seed. SAC Consulting’s potato expert Kyran…

ARABLE

Why wheat drill dates should be delayed this autumn

Independent agronomists say early wheat drilling compounded many of the yield-limiting issues experienced this year and urge growers to consider the risks when planning planting schedules this autumn. Back in…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Cereals 2023: Wide spectrum wheat fungicide set for 2024

Wheat growers are set to get a new fungicide next season that promises the best septoria and rust control on the market, coming after the worst septoria season in decades…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Growers advised to check weed control before blight spraying

Potato growers are being advised to check fields to determine how well their herbicides have worked before the blight spraying season kicks off. Andrew Goodinson, potato agronomist at crop production…

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Case studies

WHEAT

No-insecticide wheat yields over 10t/ha for Norfolk grower

Norfolk grower Will More is planning a second season of drilling a virus-resistant wheat variety with environmental and financial benefits, while also producing a good yield at harvest 2023. Using…

VARIETY SELECTION

Soft feed wheat newcomer looks promising for the North

New soft-milling feed wheat variety Zealum is attracting interest from growers and merchants, especially in Scotland, as it shows better disease resistance and stiffer straw than old favourites Barrell and…

BARLEY

New winter barley impresses on disease resistance and yields

Essex grower Andrew Fairley says his crop of the new winter barley Caravelle is the healthiest looking of the five varieties he growing this season, and it is set the…

OILSEED RAPE

Derby OSR grower attracted to Hear varieties by premium

Robert Holmes has turned to growing high erucic acid rapeseed (Hear) on his Derbyshire farm, encouraged by a healthy price premium and its easiness to grow, while he has just…

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Community

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Twitter round-up: Spring drilling and wheat T0 race is on

The recent spell of warm, dry weather has allowed many growers to get into full the swing of spring drilling and take on the first fungicide application timing in winter…

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Insights

WHEAT

New soft wheat looks good for biscuits and distilling

New biscuitmaking winter wheat variety Bamford has good support from two seed merchants from the Scottish Borders and Kent for its yield, strong disease resistance ratings and potential good marketability.…

WHEAT

Tips on growing profitable second wheats

Farmers on decent wheat-growing land should consider adding second wheats to the rotation, as few other crops are as profitable. Although margins are tighter due to higher input costs –…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

New barley virus strain puts resistant varieties at risk

Winter barley varieties showing symptoms of soil-borne barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV), despite being classed as resistant on the AHDB Recommended List, are being infected by a different strain of…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Time running out to prepare for wave of new plant diseases

Climate change is putting arable crops at greater risk from attack by pests and diseases never before seen on UK shores. According to a scientific review by the Food and…

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News

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

New barley bio-fungicide on the horizon for 2026

A new bio-fungicide for use in barley and a herbicide option for peas and beans could be on the horizon for UK growers in 2026. If label extensions are approved,…

DISEASE MANAGEMENT

Growers urged to cut BYDV threat by controlling 'green bridge'

Cereal growers are being urged to reduce the risk of aphid-borne barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) by controlling volunteer cereals through desiccation or cultivation well before drilling their next cereal…

POTATOES

Potato growers to benefit from new SDHI fungicide treatment

BASF’s new liquid tuber treatment has gained approval for use on all potato crops, offering good control of a range of costly potato skin blemish diseases. There are a number…

SUGAR BEET

Revystar approved for use in sugar beet this season

Sugar beet growers in the UK are set to benefit from a new SDHI-azole fungicide that promises extra firepower for managing the four key beet diseases: cercospora, powdery mildew, rust…

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Video

WEED MANAGEMENT

Video: Phone app is cheaper way to monitor crops with a drone

A new smartphone app offers farmers a cheaper and easier way to monitor their crops, simply with a mobile phone and a cheap drone. Developed by Northumbria-based Drone Ag, the…

POTATOES

Video: Early potato harvest start is worst for 40 years

Brothers Peter and Philip Le Maistre are sixth-generation Jersey farmers and for them this potato season has been the worst since covering spuds with plastic started to be used on…

POTATOES

Video: Jersey early potato yields dip 20% after frosty February

Jersey’s early potato harvest is almost a month late this spring, with yields expected to be down one-fifth after the Beast from the East frosted off young plants barely out…

ARABLE

Video: Crop Doctor sees septoria rising to worrying levels

Disease levels are rising in the nation’s wheat crops with the wet weather likely to encourage septoria to spread and put growers on alert to make sure their fungicide programmes…

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Webinar

OILSEED RAPE

How to balance high inputs and market prospects for OSR

Although the price of oilseed rape has risen sharply largely due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, so too have input costs such as fertiliser, fuel and energy costs. Therefore, oilseed rape growers…

ARABLE

Webinar: Combating fungicide resistance

Farmers need to find ways to combat problems in crop protection that are caused by development of resistance to fungicides. Pathogen resistance to fungicides is widespread. This is especially true…

ARABLE

Expert advice on maximising OSR yields in a difficult season

After such a wet autumn and winter, the big question over oilseed rape this spring is: "What can farmers do to maximise yields in a very difficult season for oilseed…

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