Back Issues

If you would like a printed copy of any of our back issues, then they can be purchased on Farm Marketplace. You can also download the PDFs or read online from links below.

  • How To Start Drilling For £8K

    Clive Bailye’s seed drill of choice is his 6m John Deere 750A , which has been used exclusively for 3-4 seasons. Last year, with an increased acreage, the founder and publisher of this Direct Driller magazine thought a second seed drill was necessary. Having just the one machine was a risk and in a difficult season would mean drilling was delayed. He looked around and found a good condition Horsch CO6 tine drill advertised in Germany.

    Words and pictures by Mike Donovan

    upload_2018-4-7_16-39-39.png

    After delivery he rebuilt the coulters to a narrow profile so as to reduce soil disturbance. He says the tine drill is very useful driling after straw crops such as osr and also through the straw on second crop cereals.

    Buying the drill from a German farmer was not particularly complicated, and provided him with a higher spec machine than Horsh sell in the UK. The seed dart tyres are much wider, and the machine is fitted with blockage monitors as well as full width front packers and also a liquid fert application system.

    A sheaf of photos were taken, and Clive then asked for some of specific parts to show wear. The deal was done at under £5,000 which Clive says is the market value of these machines which are too large for small farmers to buy. Original owners like to buy new and sell when the machine is still in good condition.

    Narrow tines with wear tiles

    @Clive knew he wanted to make changes, substituting the Horsch tines and coulters for something far narrower, and has ended up getting his own design of tine made, which has a wear tile made from Ferobide, far harder than tungsten. The drill is on the farm primarily for osr and 2nd crop cereals drilled into chopped straw and the 25cm spacing is okay for these crops.

    Comments on Clive’s on-line forum, TFF, said the drill many not be so good with beans, as the slot is a mere 12mm wide. And in barley the spacing may well be too wide as it needs to be thick. Clive points out that the seed pipe can actually be a bit wider than 12mm as it is in the shadow of the point. It would be good to have the option of using it for beans.

    upload_2018-4-7_16-42-6.png

    Above left: The cheap CO6 is being calibrated ready for its first outing

    upload_2018-4-7_16-42-44.png

    Above right: The adapted Horsch is being filled by the home built drill logistics trailer with seed and liquid starter fert.

    Getting around the German instructions

    The Horsch came, of course, with a control box and instructions in German. More on-line discussion revealed that English instructions were available on the Horsch website, and another explained that Horsch was sourcing some of these parts from Agton in Canada anyway. Zealman from New Zealand explained that the button marked with callipers should be held down for around 5 seconds. The menu is where you adjust the tramline sequence, valve layout and row numbers.

    upload_2018-4-7_16-44-45.png

    Ball hitch is a continental standard and provides a positive connection between tractor and drill

    upload_2018-4-7_16-45-16.png

    The Stocks Wizard has a rotor modified for Avadex which otherwise leaks everywhere

    A Stocks Wizard is on the back of the drill and used for Avadex. Here again the knowledge of actual farmers is helpful. Alistair Nelson warned that the rotor and the surrounding shroud need to be changed, and he got good advice “from Rick at Stocks”. Clive has the same setup on the 750A and says that the Avadex leaks everywhere unless the modification is made. The drill was acquired and modified in 2016 and the results have been excellent.

    The machine went through the residue without many problems and having the second drill has meant more timely planting. Clive has shown that moving into No-Till is not the expensive exercise so many farmers think it might be. The total cost, after modifications which included replacing all tines and coulters, was under £8,000.

    Author Mike Donovan writes: we have featured a number of home made direct drills in @Practical Farm Ideas, and are always interested in seeing more. Please contact mike editor@farmideas.co.uk or 07778877514.

  • Spraying in a smaller window

    In a particularly challenging season for field operations, Amazone’s David Thomason considers how new tech can help get the job done.

    In a constant battle with the British weather, growers are always on the lookout for spraying solutions to get the job done in a timelier manner, and this season has been a case in point. A plethora of storms have plagued field operations and have left many fields impassable for a significant period of the 2023/24 growing season, with a large proportion of farmers holding out for a drier spring drilling period. For crops that are established, the struggle now begins with getting onto these fields without causing irreparable damage – it’s where a well thought-out spraying outfit helps to get you through without a hiccup.

    New sprayers are getting bigger, and while Amazone strives to keep weight down, we also focus on optimising weight distribution. The new self-propelled Amazone Pantera 7004 brings the Pantera 4504 from a volume of 4720 litres up to 7000 litres. Additionally, the new Pantera has a new chassis, integrating slope compensation as well as the ability to offset the track width from front to back, so the soil is travelled over just once. Although the Pantera’s tank volume has significantly increased, the extra kerb weight empty is only marginal, as well as maintaining the 50:50 weight distribution found in the Pantera 4504.

    With the UX trailed sprayers, whatever the spray tank level, the tractor always has an optimal drawbar load, ensuring there’s traction without getting bogged down. Adding a front tank to the UF mounted sprayer brings higher capacity with improved weight distribution. These are available with capacities up to 3500 litres. The continuous mixing between the front and rear tank means the two tanks behave as one, with minimal operator input required.

    Spray technology is rapidly changing with precise and accurate agrochemical application being key to maximising chemical efficacy whilst minimising costs, and for this we’ve introduced the DirectInject system for Amazone trailed and self-propelled sprayers. A 50-litre neat-chemical direct-feed system provides quick metering of additional plant protection agents on demand. This allows a quick response to changing field conditions where a specific agrochemical may be required to be added or removed from the chemical mix.

    At the push of a button, or through variable rate maps, a neat chemical is injected and mixed into the secondary circuit, with a reaction time of 30m. The treatment area can thereby be limited to where a certain pest is present, or applied chemical can be reduced near watercourses. DirectInject is available on UX 01 Super range of trailed sprayers which now includes tank capacities from 4600 to 9000 litres as well as the tandem axle, 12000-litre capacity machine.

    Amazone’s L3 boom has now been extended with the newly released 48m wide version, including newly developed SwingStopPlus as standard on all booms over 39m. SwingStopPlus is a further addition on the SwingStop technology which uses gyroscopic sensors on the boom tips to counteract and dampen any boom oscillation. SwingStopPlus can dampen both sides independently, resulting in the elimination of under and over spraying on boom tips as booms swing forwards and backwards, typically a considerable concern for larger boom widths.

    Amazone’s ContourControl boom guidance system is now also supported on the UF mounted sprayers. The fully automatic hydraulic boom guidance system with side-independent positive and negative angling has been available on Amazone self-propelled and trailed sprayers for a number of years. Now passed on to the UF range, it allows allows the boom to follow highly uneven topography yet still maintain an optimal distance to the target surface across the full working width, even on extremely hilly terrain.

    Across the trailed and self-propelled ranges, AmaSelect smart individual nozzle switching enables additional precision with curve compensation for even dose rates across the boom even while turning. CurveControl achieves this by calculating the boom speed at each individual nozzle and automatically changing the nozzles or nozzle combinations to maintain dose rate and droplet size. This significantly reduces under- and over-dosing, especially along headlands and in areas of tight cornering, such as around telegraph poles.

    At the Cereals Event this summer, we will be demonstrating the attributes of the AmaSelect system with row spraying, spot spraying and CurveControl.

  • FIRA fires up enthusiasm for robot tech

    The World FIRA event near Toulouse, France, brought together agricultural robotic enthusiasts from across the globe. Tech Farmer was there to spot the bots with promising potential.

    With 35 autonomous solutions on display and demonstrated, more than 70 exhibitors and 2500 visitors, World FIRA (Forum for Agricultural Robotics) is gradually establishing its reputation as the world’s largest exhibition of agricultural robots.

    The three-day event, that took place at the beginning of February was its eighth edition (the second from the field), bringing farmers, scientists, investors, journalists, and robotics enthusiasts from over 50 countries to the Agrobiopôle near Toulouse, France. Organised by the Global Organisation For Agricultural Robotics (GOFAR), it runs in conjunction with FIRA USA, with the next event taking place on October 22-24, 2024, in Sacramento, California.

    The fifth FIRA Scientific Workshop explored four of the challenges facing robotics, and in particular how it helps farmers meet agroecological targets. FIRA’s first Hackathon tested the latest algorithms in a head-to-head problem-solving exercise to develop solutions for improving robotics safety. And start-ups got the opportunity to pitch to World FIRA investors.

    At the heart of the show were demonstrations of autonomous robots, specifically designed for crops. There was a marked emphasis on kit for the European market, with plenty of innovations for vineyards, orchards and specialist crops. Row-crop growers had to search a little harder among the exhibits for credible autonomous successors to the tractor and implement. Nevertheless, a few solutions stood out in the triticale, garlic, bean and radish demonstration plots.

    A star attraction was the Robotti by Danish manufacturer Agrointelli. It received the gold medal, voted by participants as Best World FIRA Robot. The new Robotti LR (Long Range) was on show, with the older 150D due to be phased out in 2024.

    The key difference with the LR is that it has just one 72hp diesel engine, whereas the 150D has a gas-guggling pair. One engine has now been switched out for a larger 300-litre diesel tank, which means the LR can run non-stop for up to 60 hrs before refuelling.

    The Robotti boasts a high on-wheel torque, improved hydraulics and a lifting capacity of 1.2t on its Cat 2 linkage. You can opt to have a PTO installed which gives you 540rpm at 14kW/18hp.

    The 3t modular design allows you to vary working width from 1.5-3.3m. Typical tasks are seeding, weeding, ridging and spraying, with some of the K.U.L.T. kit ideal for the jobs, propelled autonomously at speeds up to 8km/h. The wider width and speed has come in as a result of the Bosch RexRooth-based hydraulic propulsion system, introduced with the LR in 2022.

    At FIRA, Agrointelli was keen to show off its latest advance: Control Tower – software designed to provide farmers with greater control of the Robotti’s autonomous mechanism.

    The Robotti has already been driving either in row-by-row scenario, grouped in several rows or in an optimised route-driving pattern. New patterns include “Coiled” as well as “Back and Forth”, claimed to add stability, reduce tilting and side slip while driving, especially when working in vegetables grown in raised beds.

    When using this pattern, both sides of the Robotti drive in tracks in the same state, so either both sides are worked or left out. Load-dependent planning allows you to optimise operations based on the capacity of the implement. It means you can specify the maximum area or the number of rows to be worked out, aligning with the available resources.

    Also new is Subfield Management, allowing you to sub-divide fields with unconventional shapes and designs. Each subfield is given its own AB line, which means the autonomous driving aligns with field terrain conditions.

    “Robotti Control Tower makes constant upgrades and improvements automatically while the machine is online,” notes Ole Green, Agrointelli founder and CEO. “They’re also available for most of our older Robotti versions.”

    Tom Beach

    UK farmers can now take advantage of the new precision farming actions available through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) points out Tom Beach of Autonomous Agri Solutions, UK agents for Agrointelli. “It qualifies for the £150/ha payment for robotic mechanical weeding,” he says.

    The cost of owning a Robotti has now been made easier through the Robot as a Service option, which gives you the use of a Robotti with logistics support and full software back-up for £35,000 per year. “The cost in a 2023 pilot in sugar beet worked out at £70/ha per pass over 150ha for drilling and all the weeding – three to four passes,” adds Tom. The robot’s suitable for sugar beet and field vegetables, but “not quite ready” for cereals.

    From the Agrobiopôle you can just about see the headquarters of Naïo Technologies, which is where FIRA began. Naïo is the natural host of the event, and the full family of its robots were on display to greet participants.

    The one to watch is Naïo Orio. Launched in 2022, it’s a seeding, weeding autonomous tool carrier. Orio is 100% electric with a 12kW battery kicking out a 20kW peak from a 21kWh battery pack (32kWh from the HD versions). There are two widths, with the Narrow spanning up to 2.15m and the Large reaching out to 2.38m.

    Orio puts the tool carrier on a three-point Cat 2 linkage arm with a 700kg lift in the middle of its chassis, which spans a total length of 4.28m. There’s a range of compatible weeding and seeding tools, including the K.U.L.T. precision hoe, with an optional camera-guided sideshift to add auto-guidance to inter-row weeding. Sugar beet is the furthest into arable row crops you can take the Orio, with field vegetables, tree nurseries and speciality crops, including raised beds, where it’s most at home.

    Augmented Agronomy is how Naïo gives its customers the confidence to leave the robots on their own in the field to do the job at hand. Naïo technicians help you create the geofencing maps and teach you how to launch autonomous modes. This complies with CE certification with back-up LIDAR and bumpers in case an unexpected item turns up in Orio’s working area. It’ll then do its thing, on its own, traveling up to 5.5km/h for up to 10hrs on a full charge. Orio is priced at €200,000 (£171,000).

    Joining Orio in the field was the Naïo Jo, a compact, tracked autonomous bot that can do mechanical weeding on the row and inter-row, seeding, mowing, furrow tracing and carrying. Just 1m wide, it’s ideal for narrow and hilly vineyards, and also has potential in speciality crops and orchards, running at a maximum speed of 2.2km/h for up to 12hrs on a full charge. “Jo was designed with the Comité Champagne as a machine to manage the narrow vines and really sharp U-turn bends in Champagne vines,” notes Naïo marketing manager Flavien Roussel. It’s priced at €100,000 (£86,000).

    Also running in the field was the Naïo Ted, a specialist tool for vineyards that straddles the vine for mechanical weeding and cultivation. A 12kW drivetrain keeps it going for up to eight hours and will set you back €200,000 (£171,000). Then there’s Oz, where it all started for Naïo, with over 300 units now sold. Weighing just 180kg, Oz has a tool carrier that can lift 60kg. It can seed, plant and mechanical weed for up to eight hours on a full battery charge, autonomously working off waypoints with obstacles detected through a pressure-sensitive sensor on the front. It’s priced at €40,000 (£34,000).

    “Oz came about from demand by asparagus growers to reduce the labour burden. It’s a tool for smallholders and nurseries with around 2.5ha. The first prototype attracted huge interest, and that’s what got us started,” recalls Flavien. Crowd-funding and a cash injection from the French BPI bank sped the start-up on its way, and it successfully raised a €32M round led by Mirova in November 2022.

    The only notable Brit creation at FIRA was Crover. The grain-management tool has lost its curious rattle shape and no longer burrows into the heap. Now it’s a bot that sits on the top of the grain, crawling along on two Archimedes screws with a probe, currently 1.5m long, although a deeper one is in development.

    “There were a number of challenges with the burrowing Crover,” explains the company’s Gianlorenzo de Santis. “Navigating accurately was one of them and there was a lot of friction and drag.”

    The prototype is expected to be market-ready by the end of the year, and will be available to rent at £5000/yr or buy with its full web platform at £15,000.

    The Robot One from Pixelfarming Robotics in the Netherlands drew a crowd. Fully electric, there’s a 13.5kWh battery on board while three large solar panels keep it powered up. Robot One is a weeding tool, working on the principle of “Scan & Act”. It uses 14 high-resolution depth-sensing cameras to create a 3D depth map of the field.

    This is when it then gets interesting. The unit can be trained to detect specific weeds that are then targeted for treatment using tools mounted on up to 10 controllable arms that are independently adjustable in row. There are hoes that can be substituted for a streamer, rotor harrow or L-Bow, boasting 2mm accuracy along its 3.5m working width (5m for the Robot One L).

    New to the Robot One is laser-weeding with up to 40 130W lasers capable of zapping up to 400,000 weeds per hour. Targeted at the organic and regen market and capable of working relatively large-scale, the Robot One is priced at €249,000 (£213,000).

    Odd.Bot chose FIRA to unveil its new Weader that can be mounted onto any self-driving carrier. Twinned with weed-detection software, Weader can identify and precisely remove weeds within the crop rows, even in high-density plantings, without harming the intended crops. With a pull or a push, depending on the size and type of weed, each arm can remove up to two weeds per second.

    Weed Wacker, voor inflevoland

    Aimed at organic field vegetable growers, The Weader was developed in the Netherlands through a collaborative initiative with farmers participating in the Odd.Bot Trailblazer Program and Wageningen University.

    German autonomous implement manufacturer K.U.L.T. Kress presented its new aiLaser at FIRA. The laser technology can control weeds in the immediate vicinity of the crop without affecting the soil structure from as early as the cotyledon stage. Optical sensors continuously capture images of the crop, with weeds identified through AI, which are denatured in a targeted way by the heat of the laser.

    The K.U.L.T. iScan module can also be used to control in-row weeds mechanically. The plant-recognition system analyses images to detect the precise location of crop plants. The InRow eActuators then work in between plants within the row to hoe the soil as close to the crop as possible.

  • Big data – farming’s friend or foe?

    Unlocking the potential of big data can lead to smarter farming, but there are complex interactions and challenges to navigate.

    In the dynamic landscape of modern agriculture, the integration of big data technologies has revolutionized the way farmers operate and make decisions. Smart farming, fuelled by the inseparable relationship between production and consumption of data, presents both opportunities and challenges that necessitate a deeper understanding of its intricate dynamics. Addressing critical questions raised by farmers and practitioners is paramount to unlocking the full potential (and potential farm level profitability) of big data in agriculture.

    The dual role of farmers: users and co-producers of data

    In the realm of smart farming, farmers assume a multifaceted role as both consumers and co-producers of data. They harness the insights gleaned from data analysis to address real-time challenges while simultaneously shaping the information landscape through their management practices. This duality presents a unique challenge to the institutionalisation of big data, as every decision made by a farmer influences the quantity and quality of the data generated. Understanding the nuanced interplay between farmers’ actions and data production is essential for fostering effective integration of big data into agricultural practices.

    Big data isn’t bad when it’s helping you grow better yields, but just sending farm data down the supply chain carries with it risks.

    Navigating complexity: farmers’ adaptation to evolving data

    Unlike traditional tools, big data are characterised by continuous evolution, with each action generating new insights and altering the nature of the tool itself. Farmers must adapt to this ever-changing landscape by developing new knowledge and skills to effectively harness the potential of big data. However, the increasing complexity of data analytics poses a significant challenge, raising questions about farmers’ capacity to comprehend and utilize complex insights. Balancing the need for sophisticated data analysis with practical decision-making processes is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of big data in agriculture.

    Quality assurance in big data analytics

    The exponential growth of data in agriculture raises concerns about data quality and reliability. While the sheer volume of data may seem promising, bigger does not always equate to better. Biases and inaccuracies introduced during data-handling processes can compromise the integrity of insights derived from analytics. Moreover, the transformation of raw data into actionable information adds another layer of complexity, influencing the accuracy and interpretability of results. Addressing the quantitative and qualitative aspects of data transformation is essential for ensuring the reliability of information provided to farmers.

    Empowering farmers’ decision-making

    Big data analytics are often touted as decision-making tools that guide farmers towards optimal solutions. However, the extent to which data inform decision-making processes varies, with farmers interpreting and utilising insights in diverse ways. While data-driven solutions offer specific pathways for action, they may also constrain farmers’ creativity and experimentation. Understanding the nuanced relationship between farmers and big data is essential for designing strategies that empower rather than restrict decision-making autonomy.

    Ownership, privacy, and data governance

    The collaborative nature of big data poses challenges regarding ownership and privacy rights. Unlike tangible assets like tractors, data lack clear ownership, leading to uncertainties surrounding data exchange and customisation. Farmers’ reluctance to share data stems from concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of their information by external actors. Establishing transparent data governance frameworks that safeguard farmers’ interests while facilitating data sharing is crucial for fostering active engagement and trust within the agricultural community.

    Motivations and community dynamics

    Exploring farmers’ motivations and goals sheds light on the underlying factors driving their adoption and use of big data. Farmers’ actions are influenced by a complex interplay of economic, social, and psychological factors, highlighting the importance of understanding individual and collective motivations. Moreover, the dynamics within agricultural communities shape the adoption and utilisation of big data, with diverse actors contributing to value creation and innovation. Collaborative efforts that integrate resources and expertise are essential for realizing the full potential of big data in agriculture.

    Rethinking value creation and institutional arrangements

    The distribution of power and value within agricultural communities is shaped by investments in technology, expertise, and resources. While big data providers play a pivotal role in data collection and analysis, farmers’ active engagement in value creation is essential for fostering sustainable agricultural practices. Collaborative value-creation frameworks that transcend traditional hierarchies empower all stakeholders to contribute meaningfully to the agricultural ecosystem. Moreover, establishing clear rules and norms governing data use and exchange is vital for ensuring equitable participation and fostering trust among community members.

    In conclusion, the integration of big data holds immense promise for revolutionizing agriculture and addressing global food security challenges. However, navigating the complexities of smart farming requires a holistic understanding of the interactions between farmers, technology, and the broader agricultural community. By addressing key questions and challenges, stakeholders can work towards harnessing the transformative potential of big data to create a more sustainable and resilient agricultural future.

  • A light shines on vertical farming

    In the second of a series exploring the technology of vertical farming, Alex Martin from Dextra and Alessandro Oliveri of igrox SRL look at the influence of wavelength and LED efficiency.

    Put simply vertical farming is regular indoor farming but instead of spreading out the growing areas across one plane the growing areas are spread up on multiple planes. This requires a lot less ground space and the increased density is a much more efficient use of indoor space. But it is not right for every plant species and can incur other difficulties.

    One example of a hurdle to overcome is managing the thermals produced by such densely packed lighting. The only way to overcome this is by cooling the environment sometimes at great cost. One of the reasons why it is so important to use high quality efficient lighting. Generally speaking, the more efficient the LED lighting is, the less heat output it will produce per Watt of electricity consumed.

    In the realm of vertical farming, where every square inch counts, maximising efficiency is paramount. One critical aspect that significantly impacts efficiency is the selection of the light spectrum. The spectrum of light utilised in vertical farming not only influences plant growth but also affects energy consumption, yield, and overall sustainability.

    Choosing the right spectrum tailored to specific crops’ needs is essential for optimising photosynthesis and promoting healthy plant development. Different wavelengths of light have varying effects on plant physiology, influencing factors such as flowering, nutrient absorption, and overall biomass production. Moreover, spectrum selection directly impacts energy efficiency. By harnessing the precise wavelengths of light required for optimal growth, vertical farms can minimise energy waste and reduce operational costs associated with lighting systems.

    The spectrum’s importance extends beyond mere growth stimulation; it also influences the nutritional quality and taste of harvested crops. Fine-tuning the light spectrum can enhance nutrient content, flavour profiles, and even shelf life, offering consumers fresh and high-quality produce.

    Innovations in LED lighting technology allow vertical farmers to customise light spectrums with unprecedented precision, targeting specific plant growth stages. By harnessing these advancements, vertical farms can achieve higher yields, lower resource consumption, and greater sustainability.

    In our experience there are no right or wrong light recipes in absolute terms, lighting systems and spectrum selection must be studied and optimised together with all the other technologies and strategies inside the farm.

    For example, density of plants in the cultivated area and duration of the growing cycle has an impact on the spectrum optimisation, high density and long growing cycles require a different light spectrum than lower densities or shorter cycles.

    With regards to energy consumption, thanks to the latest development in LED lighting technology and the manufacturers working side by side with farmers and growing facilities, high quality lighting systems offer huge advantages over lower quality budget options. To put that in numerical terms, the highest quality LED horticulture lighting manufacturers can help vertical farms produce up to 227g of fresh salads per kWh of energy used for lighting. This represents a great step forward in terms of sustainability and over double what a non-tailored spectrum or budget LED horticulture lighting product could offer.

    By understanding and harnessing the importance of the correct light spectrum selection and by working with premium LED lighting manufacturers that use the latest technology in an ethical and sustainable manner, vertical farmers can unlock the full potential of their operations, cultivating healthy crops while simultaneously advancing the future of sustainable agriculture.

  • Resistance is futile

    Three start-ups are looking at new ways to deliver effective crop protection solutions that could overcome current resistance issues. Tech Farmer gets the insight.

    Tiny carbon particles, not dissimilar to burnt sugar, could hold the key to a completely new method of delivering crop protection.

    First discovered in 2004, carbon dots are extremely small spherical nanoparticles made from carbon, explains Dr Heather Whitney, a plant science researcher at the University of Bristol and co-director of CDotBio, a spin-out company aiming to unlock the potential of carbon dots in agriculture.

    “There are various types of these particular nanoparticles, but the version we’re using is basically burnt sugar. Whenever you cook food, or burn a carbon source, pyrolysis will lead to the production of carbon dots.”

    It’s not quite as simple as just burning stuff to produce the carbon dots, she stresses. “What the chemists do is very precise, so you know exactly what you’re getting out, otherwise you can produce something that isn’t very good for plants.”

    Heather had previously investigated natural nanostructures in plants and their biological impacts.

    “For example, if you look at a petal’s surface it has textures. These are at the micro scale – around 100 micrometres in size, which is the sort of size that gives a tactile feel for a bee.

    “But we also found that on the petal surface there are natural nano structures – another scale down. So the surface of a petal has individual cells – usually conical shaped – and overlaying each cell are striations and ridges. These are at the nano scale.

    “And at the nano scale these ridges interact with light, so the petal surface can give rise to iridescence and structural colour because of the interaction with light waves,” she explains.

    CDotBio is a spin-out company of University of Bristol aiming to unlock the potential of carbon dots in agriculture.

    That led to a PhD student, Dr Tom Swift, working at the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, to start researching whether fluorescent nanoparticles could enhance photosynthesis in plants. “Obviously increasing crop yield and carbon capture is important,” Heather says.

    Helped by Prof Carmen Galan, who was making fluorescent nanoparticles for research into their biomedical properties at the university, the first type of nanoparticle Tom made were a disaster, Heather recalls.

    “They were completely toxic to plants. But the next ones he made were carbon dots and he found these were both very effectively taken up by the plant and appeared to enhance plant growth.”

    Quite how and why these carbon dots improve growth is still being debated, Heather says. “There’s a number of theories, which are all interlinked with photosynthesis.”

    One hypothesis is they might help optimise photosynthesis under high light levels. “Although plants use light for photosynthesis, if there’s too much, something called photodamage occurs and the plant shuts down their systems. If that happens for too long, you’re not optimising photosynthesis and the theory is that carbon dots could be helping with that.”

    We appear to have a system that can carry nucleotides into a mature plant using any method that can apply water.

    But the more exciting discovery was that the plant will take up carbon dots in the process of taking up water, giving the potential for using carbon dots to carry a payload into the plant.

    “This is when we started trialling using the carbon dots to carry small amounts of nucleotides into the plant leaf.”

    The reason for the trial linked back to Heather’s research on iridescence in plant leaves, when she found that plants with this property were also genetically recalcitrant.

    That means that the plant cannot be genetically transformed by any of the well-established methods of modification, such as using Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

    “What was exciting is that when we tried using carbon dots to carry nucleotides into some of these genetically recalcitrant plants, it appeared to work in all of them.

    “We appear to have a system that can carry nucleotides into a mature plant using any method that can apply water.”

    That opens up a wide range of possibilities for the how the discovery could be used commercially, but the initial focus is to develop biopesticides, explains CDotBio’s Dr Teo Garcia-Millan.

    “There is an urgency to find new ways to treat or protect crops because farmers have lost a lot of tools to do that, and the situation is changing because of how our climate is altering.

    “So we are focused on developing biopesticides that are selective for specific crops or pests without having any damaging effects to the environment and human health.”

    The initial target is to use RNA (ribonucleic acid) silencing to target specific Lepidoptera species – damaging pests such as fall armyworms, cotton bollworms and corn borers are in this order – with the US seen as a key initial market because of a more certain regulatory pathway, Teo suggests.

    The principal role of RNA, which is made up of nucleotides like DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), is to act as a messenger, converting the genetic information stored in DNA, into a format used to build proteins.

    Researchers have found that it is possible to use that capability to also disrupt gene activity, by delivering a chunk of RNA, which instead of instructing a gene to make a protein, switches that gene off.

    “If you can deliver that in a way that a pest or insect takes it up, you can actually target a single gene in a single insect species and shut that gene down,” Heather explains. “If that’s an essential gene, it’s an effective way of weakening or killing that pest.

    “And because it is sequence specific you can make sure you are only targeting a single pest species, which massively reduces off-target effects.”

    Another advantage of the technique is that if the pest starts to develop resistance, for example by slightly changing the DNA code in the gene to switch it back on, it is possible to modify the sequence to potentially overcome the resistance.

    It’s not just pests that this technology could target – it’s also possible that it could be used for weed control, Heather points out.

    “A key challenge for farmer is that weeds, like blackgrass, are developing resistance to herbicides. The genes that cause that resistance are known, so potentially you can use RNA to silence the resistance genes, so those blackgrass plants are no longer resistant to herbicides.

    “There is also potential to try combinations of ways of increasing the stress in a particular plant so that it can’t cope with herbicides or help reduce the amount of herbicide needed,” she suggests.

    A key next step is getting the carbon dot technology registered as an inert material, initially in the US, with regulatory approval for any biopesticides delivered by the carbon dot likely the responsibility of partners developing that type of application.

    “We’re trying to create something which analogous to the Apple App store or Google Play Store,” Teo says. “It’s a platform to deliver the apps – the RNA silencing genes – to the plant.

    “That type of technology is being developed by other companies, which is very exciting, and we want to help unleash this potential in agritech applications, including agrochemicals.”

    Moa Technology moves step closer to delivering new herbicides 

    New herbicides with novel modes of action discovered by start-up agricultural biotechnology company Moa Technology are set to begin field trials in 2024 in locations around the world including the UK.

    The firm, which was spun out of the University of Oxford’s plant science department in 2017 uses ground-breaking research by co-founders Prof Liam Dolan and Dr Clément Champion, to find potential new herbicides that can tackle herbicide resistant weeds.

    More than 750,000 chemical and natural products have been screened using its high throughput Galaxy platform, which uses miniaturised plants to looks for unique symptoms, with around 60 new novel modes of action identified.

    These miniaturised plants can only be seen through a microscope, says Dr Virginia Corless, Moa’s chief executive officer. “We treat these with a chemical, whether a synthetic one made in a lab or a natural chemical from an organism, and use high content imaging to closely observe the symptoms we see in the miniaturised plants to get an indication of the mode of action.

    Virginia Corless uses a higher resolution of symptomology to identify novel chemistries.

    “By understanding the symptoms we see from commercial modes of action available in the market, and using a much higher resolution of symptomology, we are able to quickly and efficiently identify chemistries that are doing something different,” she explains.

    “So in that very first step of screening, we’re able to identify areas for further research that are likely to have a novel mode of action different from what is available today.”

    Moa’s process differs from the approach used by agchem companies, which first looks for efficacy on larger plantlets in glasshouses followed by mode of action further along the process.

    “With Galaxy we’re simultaneously getting an indication of efficacy and novelty of mode of action.”

    New modes of action are critical, she says, for overcoming resistance.

    Once discovered the next step of the process is using a combination of genetics and lots of other data from tools that look in detail at what is happening at a cellular level, to crack the puzzle of what these new chemistries are doing, she says, helping to identify the target protein in the weed for the chemical’s mode of action.

    That early knowledge of mode of action helps both efficiently optimise identified compounds into better products and identify and address potential toxicity and environmental safety issues from the start.

    The first raft of potential new compounds has successfully come through rigorous tests in glasshouses to begin field trials this year, with at least one in the UK with further sites in two or more of Europe, North America and Australasia.

    “These will not only test weed control efficacy against appropriate commercial standards but also crop selectivity,” Virginia adds.

    The Galaxy platform uses miniaturised plants to looks for unique symptoms, with around 60 new novel modes of action identified.

    While she was not prepared to say at this stage what those weed targets are, she says there is a lot of diversity within the firm’s pipeline. “We are looking at both broadleaf and grassweeds, different timings of activity and all the different profiles that could be of value to farmers.”

    Commercialising what she describes as a diverse pipeline is likely to require a portfolio of approaches, she suggests, including partnerships with various types of partners at different stages of the commercialisation process.

    “From our perspective, one of the most important things is continued stewardship and partnership of our products as they move towards the market. We believe the new herbicides we’re discovering have the potential to make a big impact for farmers and for sustainability, and it’s important to us that we continue to have a role in stewarding to ensure they do so as they move towards commercialisation.”


    Gene editing firm seeks to resurrect varietal disease resistance

    When diseases overcome resistance genes in crops, that’s usually the end of that gene’s usefulness to plant breeders, who move on to look for another source of disease resistance to breed into a variety.

    But Resurrect Bio, spun out of The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, is looking to restore those resistance genes using gene editing.

    “Our system is quite unique,” says chief executive officer Dr Cian Duggan, “in that we initially bypass crop and pathogen experiments.

    “Working with a crop is the real bottleneck in disease resistance trait discovery, as it takes a long time to grow, and then doing experiments with pathogens takes even longer.

    “We bypass all of that using a computational biology approach to understand the relationship between the crop resistance gene and the pathogen, and then crucially use a model organism, which enables us to express a gene of interest in just a few days.”

    Cian Duggan uses a computational biology approach to understand the relationship between the crop resistance gene and the pathogen.

    The team uses both to figure out which resistance gene is being defeated by which pathogen gene, and then uses gene editing to make changes to overcome that.

    “In some cases that can be just one DNA base change, as was the case in our proof of concept against potato cyst nematode in potatoes.”

    The native resistance genes are then edited in the crop to do large scale trials, with Resurrect Bio striking licencing deals with breeders to bring the trait to market.

    Initial targets for the technology are diseases in soybeans, including Asian soybean rust and yield-thieving soybean cyst nematodes, but the firm has built a platform technology that is capable of dealing with any crop, most pathogens and some pests, Cian says.

  • A familiar field

    Global FieldID is a way of harnessing data to create “Nature Intelligence”, argues Davide Ceper, CEO of Varda, the company that created it.

    The transition towards a nature-positive food system requires a good and enabling data exchange across the agricultural supply chain. To achieve this, it’s crucial to establish trusted connections and the flow of data across the entire supply-chain, from farmers to businesses, all the way down to end consumers.

    That’s where Varda has set its stall, and this enabling is no easy task. Nor is it made any easier by the tools and processes currently in place. Data in the agriculture industry is extremely fragmented and while the role of technology in generating evidence on what is happening at field level has led to tremendous progress, siloed data, limited use of standards and concerns about data governance make the landscape very complex to navigate.

    Only truly concerted action between all parties will be able to provide us with an agricultural system that not only benefits us all, but more importantly, benefits the planet.

    Creating a public digital service

    When businesses, academia, government, civil society and other groups work together, it can be a powerful force for driving change. It’s very important to enable these different stakeholders to provide complementary information and solutions. When collaboration is done right, it can be transformative in taking on complex issues such as the food industry’s transition to nature-positive. However, the agriculture industry is extremely complex and collaboration is often hampered by the lack of a “common language”.

    Imagine living in a town where every business, citizen, and public service provider names streets in a different way: it would be impossible to provide a unique address and do simple tasks such as receiving mail or arranging to meet. Rather than having a ‘unified picture’, everyone’s knowledge of the space would be limited to their usual areas of interest and never beyond. This is exactly what happens today in agriculture. Each company maps the land in their supply-chain to provide services to farmers, or to invest in carbon offsets, for example, creating a ‘multiverse’ of overlapping mapping systems that describe the same land in uncoordinated and often conflicting ways.

    This makes it impossible for stakeholders in the industry to effectively communicate and share actionable information (or ‘intelligence’, as we say) in a way that is compatible with other stakeholders and with farmers. While each organisation may have a piece of information, without a scalable and standardised reference system, data discoverability becomes extremely complex. Making the most out of agricultural data needs to begin with an easy-to-use system for all.

    Fragmentation and data silos have been a key challenge for years. While many startups focus specifically on micro-level compatibility between different services, a broad, systematic approach that can cover the entire world is required to democratise access to data and create the conditions to mobilise climate finance for the transformation of the sector.

    Global FieldID

    This system was created to tackle the challenges associated with data fragmentation and provide a unified geospatial reference system for farm and field-level data. The service first creates a registry of field polygons at the national level, and then keeps track of subsequent changes in their shapes over time. By assigning a unique alphanumeric code to each plot of land, the Global FieldID system creates a simple way to transform spatial information into standardised codes. These can then be used freely by stakeholders across the supply chain, including digital farming tool providers, farmers, purchasing managers and more.

    Available as an API and with an easily accessible user interface, the service seamlessly integrates with existing platforms, automatically syncing updates to fields across all linked Global FieldID applications.

    Users can locate a field and know its ID by querying via specific latitude and longitude coordinates, an area of interest on the map, or also via their ‘own’ polygons (the application will return a matching score and assign the most probable ID or send an error message). Most importantly, since the database cannot be 100% accurate in describing millions of polygons, it is possible to add or modify the database by drawing or uploading new field boundaries.

    Global FieldID is a foundational service for a future regulatory scenario where location information is going to be extremely relevant to document and report nature and climate-related impacts of supply-chains and to mobilise the required evidence from farmers and data partners. It is engineered to consolidate information from multiple digital farming tools, sensors, and external partners, into a unified dataset.

    The service can also serve as a streamlined way to onboard farmers onto digital farming applications, by allowing them to upload or import their fields on a free service, without the need to define them repeatedly. By connecting existing tools with the API, the platform facilitates easy integration with farm management systems, enabling farmers and agribusinesses to exchange IDs without any change to their current workflows.

    The common geospatial reference can be used for data sharing, therefore documentation of farming practices becomes easier and less cumbersome.

    Davide Ceper

    The difference in mapping fields across the world

    The intricacies of mapping agricultural fields vary across different parts of the world, reflecting the diversity in landscapes and farming techniques. In countries like the United States, the task is comparatively straightforward due to the presence of large, clearly marked fields. These extensive, regular plots are easily identifiable and can be mapped with distinct boundaries that are visible via satellite imagery. This clarity and consistency simplify the process of data gathering and field recognition.

    In contrast, certain farming systems present a more complex picture. In smallholder markets with tiny land parcels or where tree crops are cultivated, for instance, the delineation of actual boundaries is much more complex. Mapping smaller plots with freely available remote sensing imagery can be challenging and may significantly increase the costs of providing and maintaining these services, potentially to unsustainable levels. Other factors like frequent cloud coverage may make the process complicated too.

    This is where Global FieldID features become useful. The system’s strength lies in its user-centric approach, allowing for alternative (including private) sources of data to be ingested, and users (farmers, agronomists, retailers) to modify and more accurately define their own field boundaries. By allowing users to delineate their own fields, the system ensures that each plot is accurately represented, considering its unique characteristics.

    This adaptability highlights the significance of Global FieldID as a universal solution. It facilitates effective field mapping across different regions, accommodating the broad spectrum of agricultural practices and conditions. The capacity for users to contribute precise, localised data enhances the system’s overall accuracy and relevance, building over time to what could become the most accurate source of agricultural-related location information.

    The ‘split-and-merge’ functionality helps maintain accurate historical records of field geometries’ evolution. Every change is carefully recorded to maintain an ongoing history of the land plots.

    In essence, Global FieldID is a hybrid between ‘Google Maps’ and ‘Wikipedia’. A universal tool creating de facto standardisation in geospatial reference systems to more efficiently and transparently enable data exchange in agriculture, leading the way for more climate finance, better services and cheaper access to capital for farmers that invest in regenerative farming practices, for example.

    The bottom line

    As a system based on network effect, Global FieldID’s effectiveness depends on widespread adoption. As more farmers and organisations adopt the system, the chances for effective collaboration across the entire supply-chain increases. We believe that this will be key to transitioning towards a nature-positive food system.

    For this reason, Varda and its parent company (Yara International) have decided to offer the service under a multi-stakeholder, not-for-profit consortium, to ensure it will provide benefits to all industry actors, in particular to farmers that are facing increasing pressure to comply with regulations requesting evidence about farming practices.

    The consortium will be aimed at forming an ‘Open Nature Intelligence Exchange’ (ONIX), which will serve as a federated network comprising data and solution providers. Its purpose is to accelerate systemic agricultural transformation through the secure sharing of data among stakeholders at all stages of the value chain. At the heart of ONIX’s mission lies a goal to support the frontlines of food production – farmers – by mobilising more funds to aid them. There will be a difficult, and sometimes risky, transition to new farming practices, but it will be crucial to offer a new source of revenue through the data that is generated, as well as recognising their role as stew

  • The trait that could transform wheat farming

    The discovery of a grass that makes its own antibiotics may have wide-reaching implications for restoring soil health and improving water quality. Tech Farmer considers the implications of the trait for UK wheats.

    There’s a type of grass that thrives in the tropical pastures of Colombia that confounded scientists for decades. Brachiaria has been dubbed as a ‘wonder grass’ for its ability to grow in soil that has negligible mineral nitrogen, and no means to sequester it.

    Scientists at the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), led by Dr Guntur Subbarao, unlocked the secrets to this remarkable biological phenomenon. Now they’ve bred this ability into modern wheats – high-yielding elite wheat lines are currently in the field that produce the same yield and quality as their parent control with 40-50% lower nitrogen inputs.

    They’ve also shown there’s a staggering potential for these curious crops to reduce massively the estimated 70% of nitrogen lost from soils and washed into the world’s waterways. Most of this is applied as synthetic fertiliser – a global consumption of 150M tonnes that’s responsible for 5% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

    Guntur Subbarao has been studying Brachiaria and its ability to grow in soil that has an almost complete lack of mineral nitrogen.

    What’s more, according to Guntur, farmlands are increasingly leaking out this overapplication of fertiliser. “They’re leaking nitrogen uncontrollably. And if you can’t keep nitrogen in soil you can’t keep the carbon in either,” he says.

    So what is the secret to keeping nitrogen from being leaked out? Guntur explains it comes down to “a little bacteria” that lives in the soil and eats ammonium, that binds to soil particles, and excrete as nitrates by-product. “Many plants can use nitrates as a nitrogen source, but nitrates require more metabolic energy to assimilate, thus expensive for plants to metabolize compared to ammonium. In addition, another major problem is that nitrates cannot bind to the soil and wash out.”

    The Green Revolution, while it transformed global food grain production, has brought about a 30-fold increase in nitrogen fertiliser consumption. This, he says, has disrupted the complex microbial networks in the soil and changed their population dynamics. “These little bacteria that used to perform a small, subdued microbial activity, have grown now into a monster. It’s consuming nearly 95-99% of the fertiliser nitrogen and spitting it out into harmful nitrates and nitrous oxide (N₂O) gas. We should question whether we are applying nitrogen fertilisers to feed crops or to nurture this monstrous nitrogen-eating bacteria.”

    The plants learn to use every picogram of N that’s available.

    Guntur believes this has made soils of the modern farming systems increasingly sick. “When you are sick, you take antibiotics. And that is what we discovered about Brachiaria. It produces large amounts of antibiotics from its root systems. These antibiotics tightly control the nitrifying bacteria. It doesn’t kill the bacteria, but just keeps them in a kind of coma state.”

    What the team at JIRCAS realised was that this natural Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI) allowed plant roots to moderate the conversion of N in the soil precisely to its needs. “The plants learn to use every picogram of N that’s available.”

    The concept was introduced in 2006. “At first no one believed us – the plant-nutrition community tried to shut us down. We had to prove certain plants were exhibiting BNI,” recalls Guntur.

    BNI-Munal left Munal control right in low-input system close

    “The big breakthrough came when we developed an assay that detected the presence of BNI. That allowed us to really understand the phenomenon – what controls it, how it is regulated and what makes it effective and stable in soil systems. We published what became a landmark paper in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA) during 2009.”

    But then the funding for the research program came under threat. “So we set about exploring important staple crops such as sorghum, wheat, and maize for a BNI trait.”

    The function was detected and characterised in sorghum in 2011. But the big goal was wheat and maize as they consume nearly 50% of the nitrogen fertilisers applied to farmlands globally. “We worked with commercial wheat lines from across the world, but couldn’t find a single one that had a significant BNI capacity.”

    Eventually the team found two wild wheats with the BNI trait – Leymus racemosus and Leymus mollis. “We identified the chromosome arm that carried the trait – 3NsbS – and successfully transferred this into a modern Mexican wheat, Munal, in 2021.”

    Maria Hernandez-Soriano has been investigating historic wheat cultivars with specialised root traits for control of nitrogen transformation in soil.

    And with this came another big breakthrough. “We thought the entire elite agronomic architecture of the crop would change, that we would need decades of backcrossing to take out undesirable traits from wild wheat that we’d introduced. But to our amazement, there were no detectable differences, apart from a high level of production of BNI. We even checked the production of bread-making quality.”

    This discovery has profound implications – it meant the trait can now be safely crossed into any modern wheat lines, without the need for genetic modification nor any novel genetics. To date there are five wheat lines that carry the BNI trait, including Borlaug 100, an elite-wheat variety from Mexico’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, CIMMYT, which has spearheaded the Green Revolution by developing high-yielding semi-dwarf fertilizer-responsive wheat varieties.

    But Guntur believes the potential for the BNI wheats goes much further. Studies indicate BNI wheats not only suppress nitrification potential, but also reduce N₂O emissions, a major greenhouse gas emitted from farmlands. In addition, they alter N metabolism to improve its use efficiency in the plant and raise N uptake from soil organic matter under low N conditions.

    “They perform in both high and low-fertility situations and in a few years from now, will be available to all farmers. Our hope is that in the next 10 years, most of the wheats grown in different parts of the world would have this ability built in as a core trait,” he says.

    “These large amounts of antibiotics from wheat root systems will bring a natural control to nitrifying bacteria and reduce the amount of nitrogen fertiliser applied in future. It’ll improve the health of our soils, the state of our waters, and stop so much fertiliser going to waste.”

    DNA analysis of rhizosphere samples has shed light on the effect of the Watkins lines on the soil microbiome.

    UK introductions

    Discussions are currently underway to bring the BNI wheats into studies at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, presenting the prospect of introducing the traits into UK commercial lines.

    But they’re not the only wheats that exhibit this curious ability to suppress the activity of nitrifying communities within the soil microbiome. Work has been ongoing as part of the WISH-roots project (Wheat Roots Improving Soil Health) to investigate cultivars with unusual rooting ability. Two in particular have been identified with nitrification potential and will be brought into farmers’ fields for testing in a commercial setting.

    The project is a three-year programme of work involving a consortium of seven research institutes across Europe, China and South Africa. The aim is to explore the ability of the wheat roots to control the soil microbiome to improve soil health and optimise rhizosphere nitrogen cycling and availability.

    “Modern wheat varieties seem to have lost the capacity to control nitrification,” notes Dr Maria Hernandez-Soriano, who leads the JIC team on the project. Field trials have been exploring the attributes of ten landrace varieties from the Watkins collection, along with ten durum wheats. “We’ve selected these Watkins wheats because previous studies have shown they are good at controlling nitrogen transformation in the soil.”

    The wheats have come from a collection of 826 cultivars, collected from over 32 countries around 100 years ago by AE Watkins,a civil servant who worked with the board of Trade in London . The collection is now looked after at JIC and their phenotypic traits and genomes are being explored through a number of ongoing projects.

    “We’ve been studying rhizosphere soil samples collected from the 20 cultivars and analysed these for microbiome composition, using DNA sequencing, and potential nitrification rate using a novel nitrate-selective sensor.”

    Maria’s been looking closely at the activity of two of the most prevalent nitrifying communities, Nitrososphaera and Nitroscosmicus archaea. These have become the biomarkers in the rhizosphere of modern cultivars following N-fertiliser application, to the detriment of other communities.

    “The abundance of these microbes in soil dramatically increases when you apply ammonium-based fertilizers, rapidly turning ammonium into nitrate, which is highly soluble and easily lost to the environment through leaching or gas emission as nitrous oxide,” explains Maria.

    The Watkins lines in the trial responded to the application of the fertiliser and immediately started to control the nitrifying microbes.

    “We’ve narrowed down ten Watkins lines that react to the application of the fertiliser. They immediately control the microbes and slow down that transformation.

    “We have found higher N availability for plants and lower N microbial consumption in the rhizosphere soil across those Watkins lines, compared with modern wheat varieties. Two lines in particular stand out – Watkins 238 and 580.”

    These two lines are now being multiplied up as part of a separate, £1M Defra-funded project led by the British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN). TRUTH (Thriving Roots Underpin Total soil Health) is a three-year project during which farmers are work with scientists to understand soil and root health and improve crop productivity. On-farm trials will be carried out by Root Rangers, up to 30 progressive UK growers. They will receive training to study and sample wheat roots, with rhizosphere samples sent to JIC for DNA analysis.

    “In the final year of the project, for 2026 harvest, the Root Rangers will each get the opportunity to grow one or both of the Watkins lines to see for themselves how they perform next to their farm-standard wheat. They’ll also study the effect on the rhizosphere of nitrogen application, to see for themselves the activity of the nitrifying communities and how the Watkins lines suppress it,” she says.

    Previous trials at JIC have identified several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) or areas of the wheat genome responsible for the nitrification inhibition trait using crosses of Paragon and Watkins 238. The next step is for breeders is to incorporate this trait into current elite varieties.

    “These wheats definitely have the potential to make a huge improvement to nitrogen use efficiency. The plant will regulate better fertiliser transformation and uptake and have more time to use it, rather than having these inefficient spikes. That could also mean a decrease in the amount of fertiliser applied and less losses to the environment – it’s a win on many levels,” concludes Maria.

    The first half of the article on the work of Dr Guntur Subbarao at JIRCAS, was first published in Views on Agriculture, www.viewson.ag.   

    For more information on TRUTH, go to www.truthproject.uk


  • No-Till’s future depends on practical tech & regulation

    Written by Mackane Vogel, Assistant Editor, No Till Farmer

    New technology in the world of no-till needs to be solutions-oriented in order to reach farmers in a timely manner.

    No-till farming, much like agriculture as a whole, has evolved a lot over the last several decades. From new machinery and technology to scientific solutions for weed suppression, there is always something new being introduced to no-tillers. But according to Robert Saik, an agricultural technology expert, he thinks that there is one major obstacle keeping new technologies from being smoothly implemented into the agriculture industry.

    “It’s called confidence,” Saik says. “The only way to get the confidence level up is to talk to people who have been there and done that. I argue that the best expert to help your farm is probably somebody you don’t know yet.”

    But Saik also believes that making no-till successful in the future is not only the responsibility of the farmer. He thinks that consumers and
    politicians also need to recog-nize their role.

    “My main concern for the future of no-till and agriculture as a whole is the disconnection of consumers, and in particu-lar, politicians from the pragmatism of agriculture,” Saik says. One key trait that almost every farmer possesses, accord-ing to Saik, is the ability to adapt and change on the fly. Saik believes this is crucial for the success of no-till in the future.

    “People make mistakes in their career, but you learn from them,” Saik says. “People seem to forget that we are pretty good at learning, unlearning and relearning in agriculture.”

    Ag History

    To understand where no-till is headed in decades to come, it’s important to take a look at the his-tory of notill and agriculture. According to
    Saik, there are 5 main categories of agriculture’s evolution: muscle, machinery, chemistry, biotechnology and convergence. “The era of muscle was really just trading horse, oxen and human calories for food calories,” Saik says. “It was a slow, laborious process usually involv-ing the tilling of land. Then kerosene and diesel fuel came along as well as machines. We’re still in the machinery age. The machines are bigger and more advanced but that part continues on.

    “Then came all of the chemistries that we used, and we start-ed to figure out how to control weeds and insects in differently. We’re still in the
    chemistry age, but the chemicals we use are more precise now. And genetic engineering came after that. But today we live in an era of convergence, and you can’t separate the technologies.

    And I argue that biotechnology and digital technology, machinery, remote sensing, computing power — all of it is coming together.” Saik says that because of all this convergence, it can be hard for farmers to keep up, and as a result, it can cre-ate what he calls “technology
    gaps.”

    “The things that our iPhones can do that we don’t use them for, the things that your tractors and combines and sprayers could do that you don’t use them for, those are some of the technology gaps,” Saik says. “We can use our imagination to make new technology
    work for each individual’s needs.”

    Technology as a Solution

    Saik says while technology could provide solutions to reducing fertilizer costs and agriculture’s environmental footprint, there are also government regulations as well as consumer stigmas that could get in the way. “The future could be organic, but it would have to be genetically modified organic,” Saik says. “Because the only way I see us being able to reduce a lot of the pressure that we have to fight
    insects and diseases is genetic engineering.

    RNA MESSENGER TECHNOLOGY. Colorado potato beetles, Varroa mites, two-spotted spider mites, pollen
    beetles and fall armyworms are just a few of the pests that are current-ly being combated using RNA
    messenger technology. The graphic depicts how this technology could work to fight Colorado potato beetles

    Organic of the future would have to be genetically modified, or it could utilize technology. It could be geo-mechanically organic like robots
    or laser beams, but either way, it’s GMO.” Specifically, RNA messenger technology is important in the world of agriculture right now. Colorado potato beetles, Fusarium, fall armyworms, these are all insects and diseases that people are working on right now using RNA technology. But Saik says it is important to make sure that the right kind of regulations are in place to allow people to start working with these kinds of compounds.

    Saik says that one of his main worries is that too many pol-iticians pass policies that may look OK on paper but are unrealistic and not pragmatic in the world of a farmer. Sri Lanka is one example. The country passed a law in 2021 that essentially banned the importation of synthetic fertilizers and crop protection products.

    “At that moment in time, you were able to predict the downfall of Sri Lanka because tea production fell,” Saik says. “They weren’t able to trade
    tea. Foreign currency started to fall. Farmers said, ‘There’s no point in farm-ing anymore.’ They haven’t got the tools to farm.”

    Consumer’s Role

    Saik feels strongly that no-tillers can do a better job of embracing technology faster on the farm. “Our current adoption rate is simply too slow,” Saik says. “There’s a lot out there and not enough making it to the farm fast enough.” But to help solve this problem, Saik believes it might be beneficial to think about crops from the consumer’s stand-point. “Consumers will continue to demand convenience and transparency,” Saik says. “They want transparency so they can build trust with the people who grow their food.”

    Part of the issue is that there are so many different labels on food products at the grocery store that it can be confusing and misleading for consumers. We are pretty good at learning, unlearning and relearning in agriculture…

    “Maybe a sustainability index would be better on food products,” Saik says. “Maybe a consumer would be inclined to pay more money for a food with a higher sustainability index. I think this is where we need to go.”

    Saik’s idea for a sustainability index on food would have a scale based on answers to questions about soil testing, use of slow-release nitrogen,
    crop rota-tion, soil health focus and more.

    Keeping It Simple

    Much of the latest technology is meant to help give farmers detailed reports on each of their fields and how their crops are performing, but Saik thinks it’s pos-sible to give a farmer too much data. A large quantity of data can distract from the true problems in the field. Farmers and agronomists alike can be managing dozens or even multiple hundreds of fields at a time and simply want to wake up in the morning and know which field demands their atten-tion first.

    “If you don’t have good agronomy and apply it to precision ag, all you’ve got is poor agronomy precisely applied,” Saik says. “Technology will tell a farmer where he has a problem and what the problem might be, but why is the problem there and how to fix it — that’s going to be the realm of the human being for a long time.”

    Saik believes there needs to be a focus on the bottom line, and new technology and the world of “digital agriculture” should solve existing
    problems. “Digital agriculture fits especially well into no-till,” Saik says. “Digital agriculture fits into strip-till, cover crops, all of this because it reduces your environmental footprint. It makes efficient use of labor. And I think we’re going to see more and more of that. At the end of the day, it’s about dropping profit into your pocket. That needs to be the focus.”

  • Levy-funded trials help fine-tune fungicide choice

    AHDB Technical Content Manager Jason Pole explains the role of the fungicide performance information in choosing the best technology to protect crops.

    For 30 years, there’s been a trusted team that’s tested the efficacy of chemistry used to battle major crop diseases in the fungicide performance project. The wheat trial series is the oldest, going back 30 years (1994), followed by barley (2002) with oilseed rape introduced in 2006.

    Fungicides can make big differences to yield, as illustrated by the yield-pushing protocols in the Recommended Lists (RL) trials. For winter wheat, the current fungicide-treated, five-year (harvest 2019–23) control mean yield is 11.04t/ha, which compares with 8.77t/ha for the fungicide-untreated control mean. Even varieties with relatively high levels of disease resistance, like KWS Extase and Mayflower, show a yield benefit of more than 0.5t/ha from fungicide treatment (on average).

    Understandably, many farmers want to drive down input use to optimise return on investment. This is where fungicide performance data can help. It can be used to identify the best products and calculate appropriate doses – in the context of local (and frequently fickle) disease risks. Even if you delegate decisions to the agronomist, fungicide performance data can inform discussions to ensure the approach taken fits in with your farm’s aims.

    Untreated fungicide performance plots at a Cereals Event

    Trial background

    To maximise treatment differences in the trials, the team selects high-risk sites and susceptible varieties to the target diseases, which currently are:

    • Wheat – Septoria tritici, yellow rust, brown rust, and fusarium and microdochium
    • Barley – rhynchosporium, net blotch, ramularia, mildew and brown rust
    • Oilseed rape – light leaf spot and phoma

    For cereal and oilseed rape trials, treatments are applied once and twice, respectively. Four doses are used to allow the creation of the classic ‘dose-response’ curves, which generally show how much more disease control and yield uplift is associated with higher doses. The curves also reveal the relative performance between products.

    For cereals, the doses are quarter, half, full and double the recommended label rate (the latter improves the ‘fit’ of the curve but is not published). For oilseed rape, the doses are quarter, half, three-quarters and full (higher doses are not used in order to avoid growth regulatory effects).

    Septoria trials

    As the most damaging foliar disease of UK winter wheat, Septoria tritici has the most trials, with seven replicated trial sites in 2023 (shown in the table). Septoria fungicides are tested as either a T1 (GS32), T2 (GS39) or an intermediate timing (emergence of final leaf 2), with trials classified as having either protectant (P), eradicant (E) or mixed (M) activity.

    Table 1. Trial site information (2023)

    The full data spans several seasons. For example, the current over-year (2021–23) data for septoria control in a protectant situation is based on 17 trials (see dose-response curve example).

    Fungicides tested in the septoria trials in 2023

    • Arizona: folpet (multi-site)*
    • Proline 275: prothioconazole (DMI/azole)*
    • Myresa: mefentrifluconazole/revysol (DMI/azole)
    • Peqtiga: fenpicoxamid/inatreq (QII)
    • Vimoy: isoflucypram (SDHI)
    • Ascra Xpro: bixafen + fluopyram + prothioconazole (SDHI + SDHI + DMI/azole)
    • Revystar XE: fluxapyroxad + mefentrifluconazole (SDHI + DMI/azole)
    • Univoq: fenpicoxamid + prothioconazole (QII + DMI/azole)

    *Only tested at full dose in 2023.

    Figure 1. Septoria control: over-year (2021–23) fungicide performance data

    The project also compares new (pre-registration) active ingredients against established standards, which allows the rapid release of efficacy data when new products hit the market.

    For the first time, the winter 2023/24 data included information on a new SDHI-based product called Vimoy (from Bayer, marketed as ‘Iblon’), which has isoflucypram as the active ingredient.

    Vimoy demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against the diseases evaluated. Using it in conjunction with prothioconazole is a good resistance-management tactic and may improve overall control, although no data on this was included in the latest data set. However, mixtures of active ingredients (rather than straights) gave the largest benefit to disease control and yield protection in these trials.

    Septoria pressure swings

    Last year provided a tough septoria test. Wet and cool conditions in spring boosted the disease in many areas – as observed in fungicide performance trials, RL trials and commercial crops.

    In RL trials, despite the use of a robust fungicide programme weighted towards T2, the disease was commonly seen on the most susceptible varieties. In some trials, it looked like the disease could run out of control. However, the hot, dry spell in June helped to curb its development.

    We used to try to keep disease below 5% in fungicide-treated trials. If disease was above this, the yield information would not have been used in the main data set. However, with today’s chemistry, it is increasingly hard to keep disease this low and we were forced to rethink how genetic potential was assessed. We now include data from fungicide-treated yield trials where disease reaches up to 10%, even above this if the protocol has been followed.

    Fungicide performance board at an ADAS-AHDB open day in Herefordshire

    Despite the high levels of septoria in 2023, RL 2024/25 disease rating calculations take account of year-to-year differences in disease pressure, so the ratings held up well. This is good news, as varietal resistance is the foundation of disease control, helping to underpin less intensive fungicide programmes, especially in low-disease-pressure seasons. Recent on-farm trials, as part of the Strategic Cereal Farm network and ADAS fungicide margin challenge, show the best margins can be achieved with low-to-moderate fungicide inputs.

    It’s also worth noting that AHDB has commissioned work to provide more information on variety performance in lower-input scenarios, with the research due to report its findings in spring.

    AHDB fungicide-resistance monitoring detected no major shifts in fungicide sensitivity in septoria pathogen populations in 2023. However, to continue to protect efficacy, always follow labels and resistance management guidance. It is particularly important to use a dose that will give effective disease control for the disease pressure and variety. Fungicide performance data can show where good levels of control can be obtained with lower doses and which ones need doses to be kept up. For resistance management, it is also important to combine septoria-active-fungicide mode of action groups across the programme and protect straights in mixtures.

    Value for money

    The AHDB sector plan for Cereals & Oilseeds (2022–2027) has scope to fund independent product testing, like in the fungicide performance project, if it is likely to provide a good return on investment. However, calculating such returns is a challenge for many research projects, including fungicide performance. The project’s information is just one part of a complex decision-making process. Often, results arrive at the farm indirectly too (via an agronomist).

    In 2021, AHDB commissioned an independent evaluation. The evaluators worked with farmers (150), all advised by independent agronomists, and identified a typical net yield gain worth £17.67 per hectare associated with a change to a superior fungicide product. With this figure in mind, it would only require positive fungicide decisions driven by this work on a few thousand hectares to cover the cost of the project (approximately £125,500 per year). It gave the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds sector council confidence to continue investment in the project.

    As part of the evaluation, telephone interviews (17) identified ways to improve the project. Generally, agronomists were relatively happy. AHDB works closely with agronomists because of their role in developing practical field-level recommendations. However, the focus on the agronomist may come at a cost, with a feeling that the project is too disconnected from farmers.

    So, why not take time to connect with the latest data and talk through the results with your trusted on-farm adviser?

  • Data-driven decisions open up new opportunities

    Bringing all the data together within a management system has allowed a Lincolnshire arable business to rationally assess new markets. Farm manager Nick Young discusses the changes with Agrii.

    The 1200ha Holton Farms in north-east Lincolnshire is fully invested in precision farming technology. From automated guidance and yield mapping to soil texture analysis to variable-rate seed maps, these systems deliver a range of management benefits, believes farm manager Nick Young.

    Bringing the layers of data together in a single program to enable management decisions that support the future viability of the business, however, has been central to unlocking the true potential of the information collected.

    Nick reckons data in all its forms has been central to improving profitability. Its evaluation has helped determine the extent to which the estate should engage in the sustainable farming incentive (SFI) and consider how interest in carbon sequestration might come to be an opportunity.

    Crop yield data is collected by the John Deere 790 combine harvester fitted with the firm’s proprietary GreenStar system. GreenStar is also fitted to the farm’s SAM sprayer while the fleet of CASE IH tractors use CASE’s native program, AFS Connect.  The tractors connect to the farm’s two seed drills, a John Deere 750A and a Weaving Sabre Tine.

    Apart from the yield recording capability of the combine harvester, which is a genuine form of data generation, both GreenStar and AFS Connect are designed to promote operational efficiency through automated guidance and section control. This may be enough for those who wish to save on fuel or crop inputs through reduced overlap. But Nick believes the insight to be harnessed from layering data from multiple sources will be central to accessing new markets such as carbon trading.

    “Soils, and specifically management actions to promote and protect them, are a priority of the SFI with new actions set to be added to the list of options for 2024. It is not yet clear what will be required of land managers, but having good data on the soils that span the farm will make it easier to assess the viability of such actions be they under the SFI or Countryside Stewardship. The same applies to the hedgerow and buffer strip options while the addition of four new ‘precision farming’ actions under the SFI for 2024 is to be welcomed,” he says.

    Like many farms and estates, Holton Farms has many miles of hedgerows and ditches in need of maintenance. It also has a legacy of field drains that are coming to the end of their life.

    Many of the these were installed in the 1970s and ‘80s and are now needing to be replaced. To fulfil this, a programme of works spanning 15 years will see new drains installed. Running in parallel is a two-year programme with a contractor operating a tree shear to clear overgrown ditches and dykes. 

    To bring all the data together for complete analysis, Holton Farms turned to Rhiza. The priority was to produce soil conductivity maps that would be the foundation of a move to variable-rate seeding.  This is done within the rotation, but the aim is to scan roughly 150ha each year beginning with those soil types with a higher magnesium content. On non-mapped fields, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green Chlorophyll Vegetation Index (GCVI) imagery is used to produce seed maps.

    These maps are produced by David O’Donohoe, the Rhiza crop input specialist for the region, and sent via wireless connection from the Contour platform direct to the tractor console. “The maps are impressively accurate – more than once I’ve worried we’ll run out of seed, but it hasn’t happened yet,” notes Nick.

    Seed maps can also be adapted to reflect areas where rates are to be increased for other reasons, such as previously identified patches where blackgrass presents a challenge or on headlands where compaction might hinder establishment. Using the Rhiza platform also makes life easier, he finds, and removes delays and difficulties in getting equipment to work together.

    Having maps based on soil zones has become especially worthwhile. The soils at Holton Farms range from 93% sand through to some beautiful-to-work loamy clays. “When the drill operator, who has been on the farm for 43 years, tells you the system is not just easy-to-use, but also worthwhile it is immensely reassuring. Aside from the saving in seed costs, the crops develop far more evenly. To the operators, this is highly satisfying.”

    From a management perspective, Nick believes one of the main advantages of the Contour platform is that it serves as a single point for data analysis. “Being able to layer soil maps, field boundaries, satellite imagery and both NDVI and GCVI makes analysis easier and more complete.

    “Through the Contour platform we also produce variable rate fertiliser maps based on soil analysis for nitrogen applications in sugar beet and nitrogen and phosphate at drilling in oilseed rape. The assessments so far, suggest it will be less worthwhile in combinable crops, but that may change.”

    The contrasting soils and the irrigation capacity needed to sustain them are the basis for the cropping rotation.

    On the lighter soils, the rotation typically comprises six crops: winter barley – oilseed rape – rye – carrots – spring barley – spring beans.  The rye was introduced in 2021 as an alternative cereal and for its suitability to lighter soils – at 300 litres per tonne of grain produced its water requirement is typically 25% lower than that of wheat or barley.  While it does well, it may be that the area is reduced to make way for forage maize which brings management advantages through time savings and a later harvest.

    On the heavier land the intention is to have 200-250ha of winter wheat, but this is weather and rotation dependant.

    It is on the lighter land that soil scanning and testing is proving especially worthwhile, says Nick. “The SFI offers several options whereby the focus is on improving organic matter content; we are already applying large quantities of organic amendments in the form of manure, compost and digestate, so having data to hand that supports the SFI’s objectives is to the benefit of our application.”

    Like many other farms, Holton has its share of small fields – the average field size is 12 ha – and while the temptation is simply to take the smallest or most inaccessible fields out of production, there are other considerations. Yield maps help to inform such matters. Beginning with the least productive parcels of land or those in need of remedial work, such as addressing compaction or where drainage needs attention, the intention is to place this land into the SFI.

    Exploiting the opportunity presented by the SFI and HLS is an objective for the farm. “Like many other holdings, there are parcels of land that for one or more reasons are not worth farming in the current climate. The most suitable course of action in such circumstances is to take them out of production. Placing them into an environmental scheme that offers financial compensation for doing so, is the logical option.”

    The precision farming tools adopted over recent years are central to identifying these land parcels, beyond the obvious array of small or out-laying fields.  Unproductive headlands, field corners and the like all up for consideration.

    Quality mapping data has also helped Nick appreciate the effect of one particular threat to production: compaction. “It is the biggest impediment to performance at Holton, but its presence is not always obvious from a height of six feet.”

    In many respects, compaction is unavoidable and efforts to correct it often conflict with how the farm seeks to manage and protect its soils. “Using the RHIZA Contour platform, it was possible to assess the impact on crop performance and determine the cost to the business. It quickly became clear that correcting the issue would more than pay for itself and, consequently, the cultivation regime has since been amended.”

    Under pressure to cut costs, protect soils and store carbon, the farm moved to a direct drill approach wherever possible. This has worked well so far, but with sugar beet and other root crops in the rotation and large quantities of muck applied, the plough remains a vital piece of equipment.

    Balancing this dilemma means ploughing is limited to where it is needed to bury muck. This is normally ahead of sugar beet, but is otherwise avoided, especially on the sands due to the risk of wind blow. Where autumn land is not ploughed, a Sumo Trio with or without discs to a depth of 200-250mm is the extent of the cultivations.

    All of the above reflects the pressure to cut costs while maintaining output and promoting the environment that many others across the industry face. Where Holton Farms differs from some is perhaps how it has chosen to employ technology in a bid to achieve these ambitions. It also reflects a view of how the regulatory landscape is changing and the opportunities this may bring.

    Nick highlights the SFI as an example. “We’ve generated a lot of data mainly in the form of visual assessments such as yield maps, soil texture or aerial imagery. These have been used to support both variable seed rates, identify underperforming areas in need of attention, and parcels of land suited to environmental schemes,” he notes.

    “And it probably won’t stop here. The SFI is likely to be just the first of a series of policies that seeks to encourage farmers to change behaviour. Large consumers such as Nestlé, PepsiCo and General Mills have either introduced or are developing policies that pay for much the same type of activity as the SFI, but in a more targeted manner.

    “The data captured so far will be central to determining interest in such schemes should the opportunity arise, but more will be needed to demonstrate their value to society.”

    The emerging market for carbon is another case in point, reasons Nick. “The capacity of soil to store carbon for the long term is currently the subject of great debate and there is open disagreement about the methodology employed to calculate it, but such issues will be resolved. Of less debate, is that this carbon is likely to be of increasing interest to consumers although it is less clear how as an industry, we can profit from this.”

  • Precision future for pesticide application

    Precision application techniques enable farmers to deliver products more effectively and with greater accuracy onto intended targets, says James Thomas, Syngenta Head of Precision Agriculture EU+.

    Rapid adoption of precision application techniques gives the potential to get a better result from every gramme of active ingredient in the field, and reduce the risk of any active finding its way out of the field and into the environment. Both those objectives make absolute sense, for the farmer to achieve a better result in economic yield and crop quality, and for wider ecological protection.

    Across the EU there has been a stated position to see a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. While the UK is no longer bound to abide by the EU legislative framework, there will inevitably be some consensus in common standards and conditions. Although recent reports of farmers’ direct action in the EU has seen some publicised watering down of political proposals and omissions of immediate pesticide targets, in reality those pressures are not going to go away. 

    There is a wider societal desire for reduced reliance on pesticide use. Growers can respond by looking at ways to implement changes as quickly and effectively as possible that will demonstrate continued capability for productive agriculture, within the constraints of the tools available.

    Optimising sprayer set up and nozzle selection first step in precision application

    Environmental protection is higher on the agenda and more rigorously policed than ever. More sensitive testing can now detect residues in food and the wider environment at infinitesimally small levels. While the science may say that level of exposure is of no consequence, inevitably the drive will be to see zero tolerance of detection.

    Precision application techniques have the potential to help growers to meet the primary  challenges of regulatory measures, including reducing spray drift and its impact on off target crops or features, such as water courses and environmental areas; mitigating the risk of point source contamination during the filling and operation of sprayers; preventing exposure of operators during application and cutting potential for residues in food products to a minimum.

    Adopting precision application technology will also enable growers to radically change their approach to crop agronomy. Historically the approach to any weed, pest or disease issues has primarily been a broad-brush blanket approach to treating the whole field the same. Now, a combination of advanced monitoring and detection, with precision application techniques can enable targeted application only when and where the challenge presents. That offers huge potential to reduce the overall level of product use – thus meeting legislative obligations for reductions, along with lowering production costs and improving efficiency.

    It also opens the exciting potential for new products designed specially for targeted application that could never be economically viable on a broad-acre field application basis.

    The potential for precision application is two-fold – to protect the chemistry that we have for longer within the regulatory framework, and to potentially enable more new products to be developed.

    Mapping & set up for precision application

    Increasingly new actives are being introduced with either a reduced number of applications or lower rates of application permitted. With only one or two applications, it becomes even more important to target treatment more effectively. Precision application techniques have shown the potential to deliver the same, or better, results, from significantly reduced active ingredient use.   

    The future also holds the introduction of more biological products, for use in their own right or as integrated strategies with conventional pesticides. Precision application also has an essential role in the development of biological products. With the extensive trials and Syngenta R&D investment with biological products, it is understood that the results require more nuance and as a result the outcomes can be less consistent than with traditional CP products. This further emphasises the importance of accurate and timely applications. 

    The first step to precision application, which doesn’t require any great investment or new technologies, is getting the basics right with the farm equipment currently being used and integrating optimum ways to deliver products, including nozzle selection; water volumes; adjuvant formulation technology and sprayer set-up.

    Syngenta optical spot spraying trials to target grass weeds in pasture – Ireland 2023

    Within Syngenta, the R&D investment is looking at precision application technologies that will meet objectives for growers to improve productivity, while also fulfilling regulatory objectives. The primary focus areas within that include weed control, including grass weeds in cereals and clean seedbeds; insect pests in high value vegetable and fruit crops where losses can be catastrophic and disease control including open field crops.  

    When we start to look at more specialist developments in precision application, there are a number of approaches that can be taken to better target treatments, compared to broadcast spraying.

    The first technology that has been established for many years is band application, where the spray is just focused on a specific defined target area within the field, be that directly on the crop plants for a pest or disease, or the soil between the crop with a strip herbicide, for example. Band application works extremely well in row crops, such as vegetables or sugar beet and typically offers 40-60% reduction in spray use. Camera operation to ensure accurate row following can fine-tune targeting, but is always limited by relatively slow work rates, typically less than 8 km/hr.

    Drone technology potential for futire specialist precision application

    In Syngenta trials for cavity spot control in carrots, for example, the band application of SL567A fungicide achieved the same levels of disease as overall treatment, with up to 40% reduction in fungicide use.     

    The next stage would be prescription application, looking to adjust the appropriate amount of a product applied on an area defined by a pre-generated pattern, more akin to variable rate seeding or fertiliser applied to the crop, but adapted for crop protection spraying.

    New uses for crop protection rely on detection and treatment algorithms, which can be successfully generated on a field scale by satellite or drone, to create a prescription map. The process is relatively simple, but in practice has generated some significant challenges. The human eye and agronomists skills are incredibly adept at detecting issues in the field, compared to digital imagery. Artificial Intelligence has come on leaps and bounds, but still lags way, way, behind in terms of accuracy. 

    The other challenge is the technological interface between the digital mapping interface and the application equipment, which in many instance is hugely complicated. Actually getting system to deliver desired results is also being compromised by limitations for controlling existing sprayers – if the map wants to treat one small patch, but the sprayer can only be controlled in boom sections, the precision potential is being seriously compromised. Smaller sections, or individual nozzle switching does give the granularity to put the technology into practice.

    Syngenta trials for inter-row precsion herbicide application in cereals

    Direct chemical injection systems overcome the limitations posed by tank mixes in enabling successful variable rate applications, while pulse width modulation (PWM) technology does enable far better integration for variability while retaining droplet spectrum to optimise product performance.      

    In Syngenta trials in oilseed rape, the technology did enable up to 85% reduction in PGR treatment and 30% saving in fungicide use across a mapped field, offering significant savings and better matching the state of the crop. 

    Thirdly prescription banding integrates both technologies, to only place a spray application around where a seed or plant is growing in a closely defined target area.

    Finally, within the realms of current technologies, bringing the best elements of precision agriculture together into optical spot spraying that offers the same advantages in a completely dynamic and autonomous decision-making system operating in real time.

    The principle of using sensors mounted on the sprayer to detect targets in the crop, and transform that information to switch on or off the nozzles, can give ultimate control. There are already a number of businesses starting to utilise the technology and, for some crops and some targets, it is working well to deliver savings in excess of 80%.

    Prescription mapping for variable rate application in oilseed rape

    The challenge, as with prescription mapped systems, is with generating the algorithms to reliably drive the technology. Where there is clear differentiation between the target and the non-target, such as clumps of grass weeds in a stubble – or green on brown – for example, it can deliver excellent reliability at high speeds and efficiency, particularly in areas with low or patchy weed populations.

    In Syngenta trials for green-on-green optical spot spraying, however, while the sprayer technology and nozzle switching has undoubtedly shown promise to target specific weeds and reduce overall product used, the software and algorithms have yet to prove sufficiently reliable and consistent in field operation.

    The concept of being able to better target specific weeds in grassland, for example, has enabled the control of yield robbing docks, thistles and nettles, while leaving desirable clovers and herb-rich pastures. At the same time up to 60% reduction in product use during standard field-scale sprayer operation offers significant savings and compliance with dairy farmers’ customer demands for more sustainable farming practices.            

    Syngenta nozzle trials for precision application in potato desiccation

    There is a lot of talk about drone application in the sphere of precision application. It does have certain benefits and potential uses, including removing risks to operators in complex situations and giving access to difficult or dangerous positions. In specialist agriculture and amenity sector the technology may offer significant advantages and attractions. The technology will be able to make use of optical spot spraying innovation as it develops, but with the need for miniaturisation down to on-board drone scale. However, for broadacre crop, and certainly within the current legislative framework, drones are unlikely to feature without significant future investment.

    Precision application developments continue to move at a fast pace. Each iteration is more reliable and offers greater advantages. The challenge for growers is often at what point to adopt the technology and which options to invest in that will be future proofed for the farm business.

    But the direction of travel towards more precise techniques that allow better target application is essential for the efficiency of farm production. And with better targeting comes the chance to meet regulatory objectives, that will assure future product availability.

    James Thomas – Syngenta
  • The promising potential of agri-tech

    As the three Agri-Tech Centres come together, Phil Bicknell, their new CEO, describes what the term means and how it can help accelerate growth in UK agriculture.

    The importance of soil health for holistic, regenerative and sustainable farming practices is increasingly well recognised; healthy soils promote good carbon sequestration and biodiversity outcomes, and there are brilliant agri-tech innovations that can boost sustainable production.  

    Agri-tech is revolutionising production and productivity and offers opportunities in every type of agri-business across the entire supply chain. From finding solutions to climate change challenges and issues around disease prevention and labour availability to boosting productivity and profitability. The term ‘agri-tech’ now covers an extensive range of innovations that span far further than farm-focused machinery drones and spreadsheets.

    From robots picking produce in nurseries to overcome labour issues, to biotechnology improving our crops’ health and alternative proteins, the transformational impact of technology – agri-tech – on agriculture and the wider agro-industrial is vast.

    A huge area of agri-tech is the ability to provide farmers accurate real-time insight on their business. From soil health and quality monitoring, to affording the opportunity to forecast and predict yields. The Agri-Tech Centres are looking at technologies that enable this under our strategic theme of ‘Intelligent Agriculture’, an area that utilises data, remote sensing robotics and AI, to enhance and transform current agriculture practice. In a recent project with AgriSound and a Dorset farmer we were able to use a combination of artificial intelligence and bioacoustics sensors to collect data 24/7 to establish a biodiversity baseline of birds and pollinators across the farm. Another great example is working with new novel chemical-free weeding robotic developers Earth Rover in developing and trialling their concentrated light autonomous weed and scouting robot that uses AI and satellite-enabled technology to identify and eliminate weeds. Both are examples of intelligent agriculture being used to support sustainable farming.

    The Agri-Tech Centres are creating greater cross-sector working opportunities and systems-wide approaches to agri-industry challenges, with thriving soils being fundamental to the overall health of the agri-system and food production.

    The role of livestock and soil in the global carbon cycle is also well recognised in agri-tech innovation and came to the fore in CIEL’s Net Zero & Livestock report, Bridging the Gap, a guide to informing and accelerating innovation which will enable progress on the road to net zero. The report highlighted innovative approaches to optimise soil carbon sequestration and remove carbon dioxide, such as multi-species swards, forage crops and the potential for biochar application, as well as the research needed to support the development of some of these technologies.

    Finally, adoption is a key part of the merging Agri-Tech Centres’ vision and future work areas: in becoming the UK’s largest dedicated agri-tech organisation we shall accelerate adoption rates by supporting co-developed solutions, de-risking technology, demonstrating benefits and collating and disseminating evidence to inform adoption investments across the sector.

    The opportunities for agri-tech innovation across the agri-industry’s supply chain are limitless. Scientific research and the development and deployment of technology-driven innovations are having a significant impact on the productivity, profitability and sustainability of businesses across every area of the agri-industries.

    To capitalise on this opportunity, we need a unifying force to generate greater cross-sector working across agri-tech’s wide-ranging ecosystem of agri-tech start-ups and scale-ups, established agri-tech businesses, academics and scientists, investors and end users.

    This is why I’m delighted to be leading the newly merged Agri-Tech Centres at this critical juncture. We will create the largest dedicated agri-tech organisation in the UK, one that the entire agri-systems supply chain can trust for leadership and guidance on progressing transformational change that benefits humanity and the planet. By taking a systems-wide approach to the many challenges in the agri-industries sector and nurturing cross-sector collaboration, we can provide a major boost to agri-tech innovation. We can connect agri-tech innovators and businesses to world-class knowledge, funding, expertise and facilities that will save them time and accelerate the progress.

    We plan to drive responsible agri-innovation at unprecedented levels, securing society’s supply of food, fuel and fibres and stimulating economic growth for the UK and beyond. If any of this has grabbed your attention, get in touch at info@agritechcentres.com

  • The vital role of humus

    After a wet winter, Steve Holloway, Soil Fertility Specialist with Soil Fertility Services, considers what can be done to breathe new life into sad soils.

    When soils sit wet over extended periods consequences can arise, including the development of anaerobic conditions in the soil.

     This is because water-logged soils lack sufficient oxygen supplies to allow the beneficial aerobic micro-organisms to support healthy plant growth. This can lead to a decline in soil fertility and nutrient availability. Additionally, prolonged wetness contributes to a decrease in soil temperature.

    Colder soils can impede seed germination and slow down root development, affecting the overall growth and vigour of these crops. This reduced metabolic activity can also limit nutrient uptake and photosynthesis, further compromising yield potential.

    Imagine how much more productive your soil would be if it could hold onto water in drier times; what if the soil “sponge” was large enough to soak up excessive rainfall, limiting the standing surface water – and what if that sponge could also hold onto more nutrition for the growing crop that could be used in times of need?

    It’s worth considering the different holding capacities of soil constituents for water and for nutrients. If you flattened out the same volume of sand and clay, sand would cover a dining table while clay would cover about an acre. Humus, however, has over four times the surface area of clay and can also hold up to 90% of its weight in water. These qualities underlie its importance, which is why we should be improving its levels in the soil.

    Humus is the result of things rotting down; it cannot decompose any further. It acts as food for soil dwellers and performs much like a soil glue, creating stable aggregates, and ultimately, will be the “biological buffer” in times of hardship. So how do we begin to build this safety net?

    It might be easier to consider what destroys it: Excess tillage and fertiliser can effectively burn off organic matter by speeding up its breakdown process, thus creating a less stable form of carbon. In times of need the plants and their biological neighbours will use this valuable, but depleting resource. Some soil systems are already completely depleted and, without this safety net, have a narcotic dependence on synthetic inputs.

    For humus to form it requires a mix of aerobic and anaerobic soil conditions, where fungi and bacteria break down the organic matter (OM) into its simplest elements. Some of the OM resists complete breakdown and undergoes a transformation into a more stable, complex, organic, material known as humus. This process is called humification. Humus is highly resistant to further decomposition, making it a vital and longer-lasting component of soil.

    Just applying compost and FYM to the field won’t guarantee a healthy content of humus. OM, including muck and compost, has to fully break down to form humus. So it’s the rate of decomposition, rather than volume of OM, that brings humus. You need soil dwellers like fungi and microbes to turn OM into humus, so having soil that can breathe is critical to the critters.

    The regen farmer may say they are “maximising soil biodiversity and utilising cover crops, minimising soil disturbance,” when simply put, it is about improving your soil and get it cycling air, water, and nutrition better.

    For years, Soil Fertility Services have been recommending Humic SC to growers where soils haven’t quite been performing as well as they should. It helps the soil breathe better by actively opening those tighter spaces. Humic SC contains anionic surfactants that act as “soil conditioners” by modifying the surface properties of water and soil, making it easier for water to penetrate compacted or tight soils. This promotes even moisture distribution, better root growth and an overall improvement in soil structure which leads to better biological activity.

  • The unknown offers a new approach

    Feed the soil to nurture new thinking in farming, suggests Grant James, business development manager at Sea2Soil

    Agriculture has landed at a very interesting turning point. The last 50 years are marked by a heavy reliance on NPK fertilisers. Industry evolution has been steady, and change has been minimal.

    The times ahead for all of us working within it, however, are exciting. They may hold incomparable potential and opportunity as we begin to navigate through a massive transformation.

    It’s a future that’s hard to predict, but that element of the unknown is where I believe we can tap into a whole new approach. This will be led by creative thinking and application and eventually new methods will be accepted as normal practice.

    Soil health is where knowledge is ramping up, and its importance of it to all of us in agriculture is rising up the agenda. We’re taking great leaps in the understanding of our biodiversity and our underground ‘livestock’. As in the biometrics of humans, the microbes in the soil hold the key to health and longevity.

    Grant James believes we’re taking great leaps in the understanding of our biodiversity and our underground ‘livestock’.

    The transition into biodiversity that the wider industry has taken tentative steps towards is akin to the smart phone and its development. What we see today is only the beginning of the sustainable applications to the benefit of the industry. Development continues at pace behind the scenes, all with the promise of delivering the extraordinary.

    But the process of change to a high biodiverse soil structure is never rapid. Years of good practice will pass before soil structure builds up to a detectable level of benefit and change. But the rewards are clear:

    1. Lower fuel use
    2. Easier workable soil
    3. Fast straw breakdown
    4. Increased porosity
    5. Healthier plants
    6. Increased photosynthesis
    7. Carbon return
    8. Improved water quality
    9. Enhanced fungicide activity
    10. Possible reduced synthetic nitrogen applications

    Not all these benefits have yet been quantifiably recorded on a regular basis with trials data. However, with the combination of less soil movement and beneficial soil activators/biostimulants to feed the microbes during the growing season, many farmers who have committed to feeding the underground livestock are seeing positive results over time, both across the UK and EU.

    Feeding the microbes, balancing the fungi and bacteria in the soil, brings the plants that grow in it increased access to the nutrients they need, to help secure the productivity growers strive for, and to help them thrive under several stressful conditions.

    Soil activators and bio stimulants increase better organisation of the soil organic matter and its fertility over a long period of time, resulting in constant quality and yield from season to season.

    The Sea2Soil team work closely on joint ventures, trials, and farm demos and with the addition of international food processors, can deliver an active sustainable map to support farmers and growers through the change to regenerative farming practices.

    For more information, email grant.james@pelagia.com or visit www.sea2soil.co.uk.

  • Direct Driller is looking for female farmers to write for their “Farmer Focus” articles

    Written by Annie Winn

    If you’re a female farmer in the agricultural industry who would like to share your journey in farming, explain how agriculture is changing whilst telling us what you know about the SFI scheme, regen ag, farming practices and more, please get in touch.

    Direct Driller is calling for women who continuously contribute and drive the agricultural industry forward, to give them the platform they deserve whilst raising awareness of how vital a female’s contribution is and perspective can be.

    Annie, the Creative Content and Marketing Manager for Direct Driller magazine (Agri Web Media) and the driving force behind the call for women participants, says, “Even before joining the agri industry, I’ve always been an advocate for supporting women where I can. I know the word ‘feminist’ can cause eyebrows to raise, but I really do think it’s important to understand that women are still sitting politely beneath the surface, especially in this industry.”

    She continues, “I’m not from a farming background but I’ve been in the industry for about 9 years now, which I love, and I’ve learned so much along the way. I’m also not afraid to point out the obvious; in this case, my marketing campaign for Direct Driller at Cereals in June is very focused on men in farming, which I don’t have a problem with, of course. However, I know there are female farmers out there who would probably love to have the chance to get their voices heard too, so why not ask them to join us?” She smiles, “I think everything in life is about balance, and by no means is this meant to divide men and women. I’d just love to see some women farmers featured in our magazine and Direct Driller at Cereals marketing campaign as well. So, if you’re interested, we’d love to have you on board!’”

    The aim for the campaign for Direct Driller magazine and Direct Driller at Cereals 2024 is:

    • To encourage and create balance throughout the Direct Driller magazines and marketing by having a greater range of writers.
    • To create awareness for women’s contribution and influence within the industry.
    • To give the opportunity and allow Direct Driller’s platform to share women’s experience and knowledge.

    Direct Driller Magazine would like to take this opportunity to thank all their current article writers , supporters, sponsors and patrons (male and female) and wish to encourage more female farmers to join the “Farmer Focus” community.

    Want to get involved? To write for our magazines or give a quote for Direct Driller at Cereals, email info@directdriller.com and reference “Women in Farming articles and / or Farmer Focus Quotes” or call 01543 396770 to discuss further.

    Visit the Direct Driller Magazine website to find out more about Direct Driller and Direct Driller at Cereals 2024 (Tues 11 & Weds 12 June, Bygrave Woods, Newnham Farm, Herts) www.directdriller.com

    * Farmer Focus articles are written by farmers with the aim to share knowledge and farming practices to benefit the readers of Direct Driller Magazine. These articles are not advertising spaces.

    **A Women in Farming Feature Stand sponsorship opportunity is available for Direct Driller at Cereals on 11 & 12 June. Sponsorship includes a stand at Cereals, marketing campaigns as WiF sponsor online, in Direct Driller Magazine and more. For more information email annie@agriwebmedia.co.uk or call 07385908902

  • Biostimulants Introduction

    Improving resilience is the key to yield, margin and securing sustainability.

    Welcome to our Biostimulant Supplement, exclusive to readers of Direct Driller magazine. I hope you enjoyed reading our last supplement on Adjuvant Technology and it proves useful as we head into the spring spraying season. In this issue we explore the valuable role of plant biostimulants in helping farmers adapt their agricultural systems to an increasingly volatile climate, while enhancing food production sustainably.

    As we come out of 2023 with some of the driest, hottest and wettest months on record, the effects of climate change feel ever more real. Building stronger, healthier, more resilient crops better able to tolerate adverse climatic conditions, as well as reduce reliance on synthetic inputs, feels increasingly vital, both agronomically and financially.

    More and more farmers are turning to biostimulants in a quest to make their growing systems more resilient and sustainable, but with mixed results in the field for some, and with a plethora of options available – where do you start? In the pages that follow we examine the case for considering biostimulants in your growing system, how to get the most out of them, and showcase how several farms across the country have been getting on incorporating biostimulants into their growing systems as part of their journey to achieve improved resilience and sustainability. If you have a journey of your own that you’d be willing to share, we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch below.

    Contents
  • The Growing Challenge

    The Stimulant to Biostimulant

    CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY

    Climate change is causing more frequent and extreme weather events that can significantly impact crop development and yield.

    Heatwaves
    High temperatures can slow the rate of photosynthesis as plants cannot transpire fast enough to remain cool. This reduces energy production and therefore impacts crop development. Heat stress at flowering and fruiting can cause flower and fruit abortion impacting yield and quality. There’s also the risk cereal crops may mature prematurely, resulting in a shortened growing season and reduced yields.

    Drought
    Lack of water during the growing season can cause considerable stress to plants, affecting their ability to photosynthesize and absorb nutrients from the soil. It can also lead to poor germination, stunted growth and increase the plant’s vulnerability to pests and diseases, further impacting crop health and yield.

    Unpredictable weather patterns
    Unpredictable weather can have a profound impact on crop health and how you manage your crops, often putting you on the backfoot to establish/recover crops in season. All this puts yield and profitability at risk.

    Floods
    Excess water from floods can lead to waterlogging, depriving plants of oxygen and damaging roots. Nutrients can also be washed away during flooding, leading to nutrient deficient crops. What’s more, submersion of crops for prolonged periods can cause complete crop loss due to drowning and a lack of sunlight for photosynthesis.

    Extreme cold
    Late spring and winter frosts can damage crops, especially sensitive plants, which can even lead to complete crop failure. Cold temperatures may also delay planting schedules impacting crop development and maturity.

    BUSINESS PROFITABILITY

    Building resilience into crop management programmes is becoming increasingly vital to future-proof farm businesses. Embracing the benefits of biologicals and biostimulants has a number of important drivers to consider:

    Vulnerability
    Farmers are vulnerable to extreme weather events – resilience measures and preparing crops to cope can help mitigate the impact of extreme weather events and therefore risk to profits.

    Resource scarcity
    Reduced water, land and soil health will put pressure on productivity long-term. Finding ways to improve soil health and ensure efficient water management/capture by plants is key to securing access to natural resources.

    Market demands
    Adapting to market demands, consumer demands, the regulatory arena, political environment and end markets are all putting greater emphasis on greener/sustainable solutions to food production, where reducing reliance on synthetic inputs and transitioning to a future without chemicals is moving further up the agenda.

    Market volatility
    Market volatility puts pressure on budgets and cashflow – growing crops in a more sustainable way may offer premiums, which in turn reduces financial risk.

    RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

    Efficient resource management is becoming increasingly crucial due to its profound impact on agricultural productivity, sustainability and profitability.

    Optimising yields and ROI
    Efficient use of crop resources – water, nutrients, sunlight – means fertilisers and pesticides can be used more judiciously, optimising yields and returns. By reducing unnecessary applications, growers can also reduce input costs and increase farm profitability and long-term viability.

    Resilience to climate variability
    With unpredictable weather patterns, efficient resource management is crucial. Finding ways to help use water, nutrients and capture sunlight more efficiently is key to help crops adapt.

    Soil health and fertility
    Healthy soils are crucial to support robust plant growth and reduce the need for excessive fertiliser inputs. As 85-90% of plant nutrients are microbially mediated, thriving soils are key to achieving optimal plant : microbial symbiosis.

    Mitigating pest and disease risks
    Optimising resources for plants is key to help minimise the use of chemical inputs whilst ensuring effective control. Deficiency stress makes the plant much more sensitive and vulnerable to pathogen attacks.

    Environmental sustainability
    Sustainable farming practices involves using resources more efficiently to minimise negative environmental impacts. Avoiding soil erosion, water pollution and the depletion of natural resources is key to promoting longterm sustainabilit

    PEST AND DISEASE RESISTANCE

    With some pests and diseases becoming increasingly resistant to chemicals, and a lack of new modes of action to the market particularly in speciality crops, building fitter healthier plants that have more resilient natural defense mechanisms has got to be a good thing. Plants respond to the biotic stress caused by pest and pathogen attack through their defense system that creates oxidative bursts to stop pathogen spread and by lignifying cell walls to block invasion. Plant hormones ethylene, saclicyclic acid and jasmonic acid play a key role in signaling stress responses all influenced by amino acids and peptides – roles biostimulants can fulfill.

    SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES

    As custodians of the land, biodiversity conservation is inherent in the mindset of many farmers. Questions have long presented themselves about the implications of cultivations and chemicals on soil health and biology. But with time comes knowledge and with knowledge comes technological advances, and now there is a greater drive amongst growers to produce food in a more sustainable way. In fact, the move towards more regenerative farming practices – has long been practiced by many. It is up to industry to find ways to support them in doing so, with biologicals and biostimulants now proving they do have a part to play.

  • Biostimulant Building Blocks

    Helping you adapt to growing uncertainty

    Over the past five years the potential resilience and sustainability benefits of biostimulants has captured the attention of the whole industry, becoming the fastest growing segment in ag. But with limited knowledge and experience it is no doubt daunting, and even inconceivable for some farmers, to consider how biostimulants could help them adapt their growing systems to a climatesmart model for the future which is both resilient and profitable. The below explores some key considerations to help you on your biostimulant transition:

    Benefits biostimulants could offer you

    Biostimulants are natural substances or micro-organisms, that when applied to seeds, plants or the rhizosphere, stimulate natural processes to enhance plant growth, development and overall health. Belonging to the family of fertilising products, they help create stronger, fitter and more resourceful plants which are less vulnerable to abiotic stress and pest/pathogen attack. What’s more, the fact they are derived from natural materials – such as plants, algae and bacteria – their circular nature of origin supports a climate-smart future that is more efficient and less reliant on synthetic inputs. When used appropriately, biostimulants offer a wide range of benefits to plants. Here are some of the advantages you could benefit from:

    Faster germination and emergence builds stronger plants from day one
    Some biostimulants, such as signalling peptides, applied to the seed promote better seed germination and emergence, setting a stronger foundation for the entire crop cycle. This can be beneficial because chemical seed dressings have the potential to delay crop emergence by several days, whereas trials and farmer feedback have proven seed treated with biostimulants such as Newton, can emerge two days faster than naked seed and four to five days faster over SPD. Getting crops up and away faster results in a stronger more resilient start to the growing season.

    Enhanced root development is the root to so many advantages
    Building an expansive, more robust root system is the key to optimising resource use efficiency on so many levels and it’s one of the crucial benefits biostimulants can provide. Building an extensive deep rooting network from day one not only creates a more self-sustaining plant that can fully utilise nutrients in the soil, it also puts crops in the best possible position to be able to cope in a drought. Here’s just some of the advantages:
    • Increasing the plants retrieval of nutrients from the soil reduces reliance on synthetic fertilisers.
    • With increased access to water, heat sensitive crops such as potatoes can maintain transpiration, crucial to yield.
    • It could provide the crucial water crops need to survive a drought period.
    • It may avoid/delay the need to irrigate crops, conserving water and reducing management costs.
    • It helps to ensure nutritional balance, making crops more resilient to pests and pathogen attack.
    • Improving the structure and size of roots creates a bigger habitat and food source for beneficial microbial interactions

    Improved nutrient uptake
    Some biostimulants can enhance the chelation of metal ions making some nutrients – those locked up and unavailable — more absorbable to the plant. This can lead to further improved nutrient use efficiency and better overall plant nutrition.

    Supports productivity whilst protecting profitability
    The primary goal for many farmers using biostimulants is to improve productivity. Increasing the growing efficiency of the plant, making better use of the nutrition you apply to your fields, combined with the ability to reduce synthetic inputs, all supports this aim.

    Supports sustainable agriculture
    Derived from natural sources, biostimulants fit well into integrated pest management strategies, supporting a more sustainable approach less reliant on synthetic inputs. Many biostimulants are also compliant with organic farming practices and provide organic and sustainable alternatives for improving crop performance without the use of synthetic chemicals.

    Could biostimulants complement your wider programme?

    Biostimulants have a lot of potential to benefit your crop management strategy but to get the best out of them you need to consider how to make use of their strengths alongside other inputs throughout the programme. Are there weaknesses in your growing system that biostimulants could help overcome? Consider soils, seed and foliar applications.

    Consider using different biostimulant types

    Biostimulants encompass a diverse range of substances and micro-organisms that can be categorised into different types based on their composition and mode of action. Each work differently on the plant. No single biostimulant will be able to fulfill all the different benefits you may need in each crop. Consider biostimulant mode of action. Much like crop protection products, incorporating different modes of action into your crop management regime is likely to deliver more effective results, but you should be clear about what the biostimulant offers and how your crop is likely to benefit.

    Humic and fulvic acids
    Derived from decomposed organic matter, these acids can be used to improve soil structure, nutrient availability and water retention.

    Phosphite-based biostimulants
    Contain phosphite ions that promote root development and nutrient uptake.

    Seaweed extracts
    Obtained from various seaweed species, these extracts contain natural growth-promoting compounds such as auxins, cytokinins and betaines. Extraction method and seaweed type can influence both purity and effectiveness so check sources.

    Silicon-based biostimulants
    Derived from silicon compounds, these biostimulants improve plant structure and provide resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses by enhancing cell wall strength.

    Amino acids and peptides
    These are organic compounds that serve as building blocks for proteins and play a vital role in various metabolic processes within plants. They can enhance nutrient absorption, promote plant growth and contribute to stress tolerance. Signalling peptides stimulate growth and defence mechanisms in plants and upregulate other growth hormones within plants.

    Microbial biostimulants
    Consist of beneficial micro-organisms that interact with plant roots and soil to improve nutrient availability and enhance plant health. Examples include mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogenfixing bacteria, and plant-growth-promoting bacteria.

    Research and refinethe best options for your system


    Identifying the best biostimulant options for your crops is likely to come down to trial and error, but it will also depend on how you are managing your crops and what the biostimulants you choose are being tasked to do. Here are some general guidelines to help you maximise success:

    1. Understand crop and soil needs – Identify the specific needs of the crop and soil. Define a crop and soil action plan to improve resilience and consider how biostimulants could potentially help.
    2. Consider how biostimulants complement other inputs – Think about the weak spots in your crop management programme that biostimulants could address e.g. speed of germination and emergence; rooting; nutrient uptake; vigour; stress tolerance.
    3. Optimise biostimulant application timing and rate – Timing is crucial. Consider these weak spots and when in the crop growing cycle you might be able to influence it for the best result. Timing is crucial and the application should align with key development stages.
    4. Choose the right biostimulant products – Select the biotsimulant type(s) most suitable for the crop need. Ensure biostimulants used are of high quality as efficacy will wary between manufacturers so its important to choose reliable products. Look for data on the product’s efficacy.
    5. Monitor and evaluate – Regularly monitor crop performance and assess the impact of biostimulant application against untreated controls. On-farm trials are a good way to compare product performance on your soils, in your climatic conditions and within your wider inputs plan. Keep in mind that biostimulants can also be used to bring weaker parts of the field up in terms of performance, and here, large tramline trials are a good way of assessing the benefits versus untreated. Adjust product and application strategy based on observations and results to optimise crop yield and to meet your overall objectives.
  • Biostimulants in a Changing Climate

    The landscape of farming is ever evolving, with new challenges continually giving reason to pause, assess the strategy and adapt to remain resilient in the face of adversity.

    Continual challenge has certainly been the theme over recent years, with growers facing everything from environmental pressures, climatic changes, and the loss of key chemistry from the crop protection armoury, all making day-to-day operations trickier. As such many growers are now looking at what else they can bring into crop management to help support production, which has driven a sharp increase in interest in biostimulant products over recent years.

    With biostimulants claimed to offer a plethora of benefits, from enhanced nutrient uptake, root development, and plant hormone synthesis, leading to increased yields and improved crop characteristics, as farmers seek ways to optimise their production and meet market demands, the potential benefits of biostimulants have garnered attention, explains Andy Barker, research agronomist at Barworth Research Ltd. “The term biostimulant could cover much – from fertiliser to water.

    We founded the company in 2008 and our driver has been to further the use of bacteria and fungi into broadacre agriculture, which certainly back then was quite niche. “Then, as the larger agchem companies began to bring microbial and plant derived products into the market place, we started to see greater interest, but until then biostimulants were a bit ‘fringe’ – in the UK anyway.”

    Finding a place in farming

    So where do biostimulants now fit in this changing climate? Specifically talking about foliar applied and seed treatment biostimulants, particularly those from naturally derived sources, Andy says there’s now a lot more interest from both growers at farm level and those higher up the supply chain. So why is this? A declining armoury of chemistry is a key reason, believes Scottish Agronomy’s Adam Christie. “The conventional pipeline of crop protection products isn’t nearly as strong as it once was and as such, there has been a significant upshot in interest in bio products,” he explains.

    “We always keep copies of the green pesticide book in the office, and it gets slimmer and slimmer every year. It’s very obvious that our pesticide choices aren’t what they once were. “The days of going into a spray store and finding a product to cure all ills is long gone.”

    Quest for efficiency

    Nitrogen use efficiency – and making a conscious effort to reduce reliance on nitrogen — is another driver. “The industry is not quite as obsessed with nitrogen as we were two or three years ago, but it’s still £300/t and a significant spend, so ensuring the efficiency of every application is a big priority for a lot of growers,” says Adam.

    Environmental advantages

    With a growing emphasis on sustainable agriculture and reducing the environmental impact of farming practices, some biostimulants can help aid the sustainability of operations by improving nutrient efficiency and reducing nutrient runoff.

    This is where the supply chain is particularly interested too, notes Andy. “I think commercially, some of the interest in biostimulants is being driven from the supermarkets upwards. Behind closed doors they’re asking questions about what is being done to reduce chemical fertiliser inputs, for example.

    “Building on the theme of environmental challenges, in the form of climate change with increased frequency of extreme weather events, growers are looking into biostimulants as one possible avenue to help ‘soften’ the blow. “Looking at the weather this winter for example, some of the fields around where I am are not going to be dry enough to do anything with until March at this rate. So, I think lots of farmers are trying to see what else is out there to help crops cope better.”

    Investment in research

    Another driver in uptake comes as a result of an investment in more scientific research on biostimulants, highlighting their potential benefits and efficacy in enhancing plant growth and stress tolerance. The availability of scientific evidence and advancements in understanding the mechanisms of biostimulants have contributed to increased confidence in their use among farmers.

    “Historically, hesitancy with regards to uptake of the use of biostimulants comes down to inconsistent results,” says Adam. “Though that is improving due to more investment in trials and research, there is still a lot to learn. “We’re on a learning journey at the moment and getting the best out of biologicals will come with learning exactly how they do and don’t work.

    “I think a lot of people have also seen them as a replacement for pesticides and used them at the same timings, but we’ve actually found best results when they’re used early in the growing season to prime the crop. Andy concurs: “Particularly with some of these foliar products, we do see a response where they’re applied – particularly if there’s a reason for doing so, like crop stress, and we can get on early, before it’s too late.

    We get to choose who we play with, and what we can say is that we’ve seen a response with Interagro’s products in trials.” Adam picks up the conversation and points out that Interagro’s Bridgeway is an example of a product which has definitely got something about it.

    “We’re doing work at the moment to better understand that, but what we do know is that a healthier plant has a better chance of fighting off disease. “We’ve also seen evidence that in some circumstances the seed treatment Newton can benefit seed establishment. Especially with the challenging conditions we’ve had trying to drill over the past four months – and who knows what the spring is going to be like — anything we can do to help a seed in a challenging seed bed is going to be welcome.”

    Among the research bodies looking into the full scope of biostimulants is Dyson Farming Research. Dyson’s research focuses on developing innovative technologies and solutions to address the challenges faced by the agricultural industry and as such have explored the potential of biostimulants in improving crop health, nutrient efficiency, and overall sustainability.

    Christine Jones heads up the potato side of the business. “We’ve been looking particularly at Bridgeway over the past few years to try and get an understanding of what it’s doing in the crop and how best to use it,” she explains. “In our trials, we’ve seen it act as a stress protectant in potato crops, meaning yield losses are reduced after periods of particularly hot and dry weather.

    “We’ve seen fairly consistent results, and because we measure our crops right the way through the season, we’ve got a comprehensive understanding of how crops have behaved and how they’ve responded to the Bridgeway.” One of the experiments Christine has run showed better tuber bulking with Bridgeway after a pause due to crop stress. “By the end of the season, the result was that the yield loss was much less in the Bridgeway-treated plots.”

    But Dyson’s ethos is not to look at just one season’s worth of results. “We want to know why something happened so we can better understand where we can use them in the future,” explains Christine. “With the increased risk of extreme weather conditions as the climate changes, it becomes more likely that potatoes are going to be experiencing hot and dry stress conditions, so we know that in this scenario, there’s going to be a much more likely response to the Bridgeway product.”

    Future outlook Looking to the future, Christine says that getting the most out of biostimulants in an ever-changing environment will rely on knowing how and where to use individual products. “There are quite a wide range of products which come under the biostimulant banner so it’s important to know how to use them best, where they might give you complementary benefits alongside your usual approach or whether it’s something that is going to stimulate the plant to grow better.”

    Andy concurs: “Over the past 12 months, there have been a rush of products coming into the marketplace, some of which we’ve tested in house and would say it’s a bit “horses for courses” – I think it’s important to be aware of products over-promising. But there are good and bad products out there.” Alternative tramlines are a good way to build up an accurate picture of the potential impact a biostimulant can have, he adds.

    “This allows for differences from one end of the field to the other – different soil types, moisture, pH etc.” Adam believes the use of biostimulants is only going to increase over the coming years. “We’re going to have to utilise all the tools in the toolbox. “A lot of investment is being made in the market, so they’re products that should be taken seriously, but they also need to earn their place in the spray tank. However, products should be selected on proven merit, rather than just sentiment, and backed up with science. It’s really important that we don’t let sentiment overrule science.”

  • Seeding Success for the Future

    Safeguarding the environment and maximising efficiencies is key for the long-term sustainability of one Shropshire farming business – with getting crops off to the best start being a key part of the strategy.

    Farming 440ha near Wolverley, second generation farmer Rory Lay has his eyes firmly fixed on cultivating a sustainable business that is fit for passing down in the future. Rory farms in partnership with his father John, operating as a mixed farm, comprising arable and livestock enterprises. Cropping across the various soil types is diverse, with components of the rotation chosen for both their returns potential and to provide the majority of feed for 240 beef cattle and 770 grazing sheep.

    “On the lighter soils we’ve typically grown winter barley on a stubble turnip cover for sheep, but after more than 30 years of turnips every second crop we now have a severe clubroot problem. It has been a steep learning curve to manage it and we now have to be very careful and proactive in where brassicas get planted on the farm.” At £8/ha, nothing comes close to the turnips in terms of seed cost and nutritional value for the sheep as they last “ages” on it, notes Rory.

    “I’ve tried grazing them through the winter on kale – which is clubroot tolerant – after barley, but by the time it is planted, it’s a bit too late for it to reach its full potential so it doesn’t sustain the sheep. At a seed cost of £70/ha it doesn’t really stack up financially, either,” he notes. With this in mind, over more recent years Rory has turned to a nine-way cover crop mix of forage rye, phacelia, two types of clover, sunflowers, plantain, chicory, vetch and linseed that do well planted July time and keep the sheep well fed through the winter.

    Italian ryegrass is also sown on some fields as a short-term ley for the sheep to graze and is cut for silage in the spring, and followed by maize or fodder beet. On the heavier ground, a cover of forage rye, phacelia, clover and vetch is planted in August, fitting into the wheat, wheat, oilseed rape, wheat, wheat, spring bean rotation. All crops are grown for feed, with the exception of the oilseed rape, with the beans also contributing to cattle diets, meaning stock are 99% fed from the farm’s homegrown produce.

    Safeguarding soils

    While sheep feed is the biggest driver for planting the cover crops, as well as avoiding bare ground over winter, it’s the huge root mass and top growth benefits to soil health that Rory puts massive value on – something of which is becoming more and more important to help him achieve his goals of protecting his soils and the knock-on effect this has on crop health.

    “The deep rooting nature of our cover crops not only helps improve soil structure, but also helps to build organic matter and nutrient capture from the soil and sun, which I’m trying to optimise with the diverse rooting depths and growth habits of our covers,” he explains. “For example, forage rye is really deep rooting, as is the phacelia which has a high root length density in topsoil. “Chicory also produces a large root system and has anthelmintic properties, providing a natural wormer for the sheep.”

    Sustainability goals

    Cover crops are just one part of the puzzle, however, and over the past eight years the Lays have put a great deal of focus into ensuring a sustainable business that is fit for passing down to Rory’s children. “To continue to farm we need to look after our soils, and we also need to be profitable,” he stresses. In theory, this transition actually started 25 years ago, when the farm moved away from the plough, switching to a min-til approach to save costs.

    However, we found the cost with the Sumo Trio was actually not all that different, so in 2015 we bought a strip till and straw rake,” says Rory. “Allowing us to establish crops in a single pass created the biggest savings as we were able to get rid of a tractor and reduce labour.” Despite concerns that yield could be impacted by the change in establishment techniques, this hasn’t been the case.

    Instead, Rory has seen benefits to soil health, including improved structure and workability, as well as savings of £70-80/ha. “These savings come down largely to the fact it’s now easier to pull the drill and we can go faster as the ground is more workable. Texture is also crumblier and walks nicer due to less soil disturbance.”

    With economic savviness forming part of the sustainability picture, savings have also been made in the sheep enterprise by reducing the flock of 880 yearling ewe lambs down to 170, making it easier for the Lays to balance the summer workload. “We always sell the sheep the following summer as prime breeding ewes which always clashes with harvest,” explains Rory.

    “But our soils still benefit as we rent land for 600 grazing lambs which deliver a plentiful supply of manure that adds greatly to the soil’s organic matter as it breaks down.” The value of muck is also utilised from the farmyard manure produced by the Aberdeen Angus herd, which is spread on the land to help boost organic matter levels even further. These were measured at a baseline of 4% six years ago and have continued to rise year-on-year, says Rory. “It’s a measure we keep a close eye on.”

    Crop protection strategies


    When it comes to crop protection, Rory is also looking to make savings to his fungicide inputs — not just from a cost perspective, but also to protect beneficial fungi and microbes in the soil. “It all comes down to getting our soils as fit as we can and ensuring a healthy plant from the start, so that we can move towards being less reliant on chemical applications.”

    Being in the “wet West” yellow rust and septoria are the main disease headaches, he explains. “We’re trying to cut back on fungicide in the main crops by reducing rates and the number of applications, but because I need to make a profit to be sustainable, it does very much depend on the season how we do that.

    If it’s a bad disease year we can’t take the risk of losing valuable yield, so we will spray accordingly.” Improvements have been made, however, with the farm already cutting down from an average of four to two sprays a year by reacting to the weather at the time and treating accordingly. What’s more, Rory says he is actively looking at what other tools are in the toolbox to help prime plants from the get-go and reduce the need for fungicides. Varietal choice is one of those tools.

    “We grow all feed wheats and varietal choice comes down to disease ratings – we always opt for varieties with a score of 7 and above for septoria as this cost is the most to control,” he explains. “This year we’re growing Dawsum, Extase, Champion, and I’m also trying a blend of Graham, Gleam, Skyscraper and Extase to see if this can help us optimise disease resistance.

    “What’s more, we’re on our fourth year of home-saved seed to see if we can make a more resilient plant stand through the mixed genetics.” A small acreage of triticale is also grown as it is resistant to septoria. The theory behind this is that it reduces inoculum and has the added benefit of less passes, which reduces workload, explains Rory.

    Another aid Rory has found to be beneficial is a biostimulant seed treatment, which he believes helps to get crops growing well in their early stages, as a healthy plant is more resilient. He first started dabbling with foliar biostimulants eight years ago, but said he had mixed results and therefore has focused on achieving a healthy plant from the outset, with a good root system that can access nutrients and moisture as the season develops.

    “I’ve spent a lot of time reading about soils and how getting the seed growing well with good access to nutrients is the key to reducing reliance on chemicals. It’s these benefits which resonated when reading about Interagro’s biostimulant seed treatment Newton – and also seeing the data to back it up. “Getting crops off to the strongest start is essential and that’s what Newton gives us. Well sown is half grown, and with Newton crops are stronger and the improved rooting is key, helping improve nutrient acquisition from the soil to feed the growing plant.”

    Newton power

    For the past three years, Rory has been treating all of his home-saved seed with Newton for the benefits mentioned, but also as part of a conscious decision to move away from chemical seed dressings. “In 2022 we had some microdochium on the seed, so we had to treat with single purpose dressing Beret Gold (fludioxonil),” he explains.

    “But the autumn 2023 seed has been okay, so we’ve only treated with Newton – saving us £120/t. Second wheats we’ve typically dressed with Latitude (silthiofam), but I’m keen to avoid it if possible, at £200/t.” To look at this potential in more detail Rory set up a trial in three fields last autumn – half with Newton-only treated seed and the other half treated with Latitude + Newton.

    “It would have made interesting viewing, but after the worst autumn on record for the farm, the fields have been sat under water for weeks and I don’t think we’ll be able to take a single field through as seed is just rotting,” he says, disappointedly. Looking at the bigger seed health picture, Rory says he’s also supplementing with a sixway bacterial product called Consortium from Aiva Fertilisers.

    “Three years ago, I added a liquid applicator to the drill to apply the Consortium and also a silicon nutrient product to go down with the seed. To me it makes sense to maximise the rooting with Newton which aids the bacteria and the plant and provides an immediate feed source to the seedling.” This is also part of the strategy helping Rory reduce his fertiliser inputs.

    “Not everything receives farmyard manure, so we’ve started using nitram and polysulphate, we’re not getting the sulphur deficiencies we used to and we’re down to 180 kg/ha N on wheats for a 10t wheat crop, down from 220 kg/ha three years ago.” Turning to spring 2024, and Rory expects a fair amount of drilling with home-saved spring barley seed, which he will drill with Newton.

    But first, the coming months will be spent planting fruit and native trees as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme the farm is part of – with this year set to see an additional 3,000 metres of hedging and trees planted. Tree planting is an annual occurrence on the farms land as Rory is keen to support bird populations and wildlife, the Black Headed Bunting being one of the farms visitors – only the eighth sighting ever in the UK, and the third ever caught and ringed.

    “Our goal is simple – to create a business and a farm which will be here for future generations. But to get there, it requires careful planning, cautious decision-making and utilising every tool available to minimise risk and maximise returns – both financial and in terms of crop and soil health. “Starting with good, healthy seed is crucial and being able to lean on the benefits of Newton helps us ensure that, regardless of whatever else happens that season, we’ve primed crops from the get-go to perform to their full potential.”

  • Sustainability Starts with Newton

    Rising input costs, loss of authorised plant protection products and weather extremes during the growing season are just some of the challenges putting increasing pressure on both growers and crops. And though these pressures are arguably out of the hands of growers, there are measures that can be taken to prime plants… and it all starts with the seed.

    “Optimising plant health from day one, by targeting seeds rather than treating plants – is the number one thing growers can do to achieve a more sustainable start, both environmentally and economically, and protect genetic yield potential,” explains Stuart Sutherland, technical manager at Interagro.

    “Recent seasons have proven just how unpredictable the weather can be which limits everything from sowing to spraying, so by treating the seed, growers are able to take action before they even set foot in the field.” Newton is a biostimulant seed treatment from Interagro comprised of unique stimulating peptides that stimulate plants to thrive, he adds.

    “Managing the balance of growth promoting hormones versus growth inhibiting hormones, Newton not only triggers faster germination, it also signals enhanced root and shoot growth and the defence systems of plants. With proven abilities in the field, Newton not only ensures vigorous crop establishment, it also helps to build stronger, heathier, more resilient plants less dependent on synthetic inputs.”

    Trialled and tested

    Delving deeper into this proven performance, Newton is backed by a wealth of research, field trials data and grower endorsements, meaning you can be confident in its performance, notes Stuart.

    Speedier starts
    Starting with establishment, in 2019 work carried out at the University of Nottingham, replicated germination studies have shown Newton brings forward wheat seed germination by 2 days in comparison with naked (untreated) seed, and by 1.5 days when compared with Vibrance Duo (fludioxonil + sedaxane).

    ”Further germination studies at the university in January 2024, also confirmed benefits in pulses with Newton providing enhanced seed germination in both peas and beans at 6°C,” continues Stuart. For peas the time taken to achieve 90% germination was improved by around 1.5 days and for beans by two days.

    Benefiting growers

    The sooner seedlings germinate and emerge, the earlier crops begin to grow and develop which can have huge consequences – benefits we widely hear from Newton users. Here’s just a few examples below.

    Higher emergence

    With improvements in germination and speed of emergence, replicated trials have also shown improvements in the number of plants establishing per sqm. “This was initially seen in UK 2019 replicated field trials looking at the effects of Newton on Beret Gold (fludioxinil) treated wheat established at various seed rates and drill widths.

    Newton increased the number of plants per sqm by 9% which was statistically significant,” says Stuart. In the same year, field work also looked at the effect of Newton on October (early drilled) and November (late) drilled wheat. There were benefits to plant establishment at both timings with increases of 7% and 12% respectively, though this was not statistically significant.

    “Since that time replicated field trials typically show establishment benefits in both winter and spring crops taken to yield. For example, in this trial in Hungary in 2022 significant improvements in wheat establishment were recorded at three out of four sites, which also went on to show significant increases in root length and tillering at all sites,” continues Stuart. “With the dry springs of recent years, improved establishment, both above and below ground, has featured in many spring barley trials,” he notes.

    Rigourous rooting increases

    Of course, to continue that growth and development, a good root system is vital. “Increasing the efficiency of a plant is key to boosting productivity,” says Stuart. “Poor rooting has implications for plant health and ultimately how you will need to manage that plant during its life.”

    This is where Newton has the potential to make a real difference too, with trials at Nottingham University demonstrating an average 43% increase in root mass in wheat and barley compared with naked seed – see graph (right). “That’s an average of four separate studies, each with four replicates, where Newton increased rooting significantly over naked seed,” explains Stuart. “What’s more, these extensive rooting benefits us and growers are seeing when Newton is applied to naked seed, and when co-applied with chemical seed dressing,” continues Stuart.

    Subsequent studies at the university continue to demonstrate rooting benefits in other crops, including peas, beans, oats and maize. “In the 2023 bean research, significant increases of 66% were seen in root nodule numbers, demonstrating significant increases in nitrogen fixing bacteria,” says Stuart.

    “With no seed treatments available in beans, this makes Newton a really exciting, cost-effective option for growers, both in terms of speed of emergence, and also rooting. This is also reflected in field trials with improved vigour and yield recorded in peas and beans.”

    Higher nutrient uptake

    “Longer, bigger roots mean better nutrient uptake potential,” notes Stuart. “Not only is this better for crop performance, but it also has economic advantages as crops are better able to scavenge the soil for the nutrients they need, rather than having to rely on costly inputs.” These are advantages growers are actively benefitng from on farm, with leaf tissue tests revealing increases in nutrient uptake, as shown right, for example.

    Drought resilience benefits

    Improved rooting also has huge implications when it comes to drought resilience with further studies at the university demonstrating what happens when water is withdrawn. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of Newton on early root and shoot growth in spring barley in a drought situation. Nottingham’s Dr Steve Rossall concluded that Newton enhanced both root and shoot development in the spring barley and that these effects were seen in unstressed and drought-stressed plants. Statistically, this was represented as a 16% increase in shoot growth under no stress, and a 47% improvement under drought conditions. “The greatest effects were seen on root development, and this allowed better survival in field soil when water was withdrawn,” says Steve (as shown below).

    Crop vigour increases

    Further work by the university has also proven a benefit to early shoot growth where Newton was used. “Stimulating more shoot mass compared with naked seed, Newton has the ability to increase crop vigour, giving plants a competitive edge over challenging weeds and suboptimal weather conditions,” says Stuart. In trials this was proven by a 22% increase in shoot mass in both wheat and barley, as well as a 15% increase in shoot mass compared with Vibrance Duo on winter wheat. Similar results were also seen in beans (57% increase), maize (30% increase), peas (27% increase), spring oats (9% increase) and spring barley (6% increase), demonstrating the flexibility of Newton to perform on a wide range of crops,” adds Stuart. “Such benefits we often see in the field, though I would encourage growers to pull plants during establishment to really look for the rooting benefits which is a highly visible benefit of Newton.”

    Soil benefits

    And the benefits of Newton are not just limited to the crops… Enhanced structure and size of root systems makes for a bigger habitat and food source for microbial activity, explains Stuart. “Optimum soil health is key to enhancing plant health — 85-90% of plant nutrients are microbially mediated.

    No matter how much you feed your plants, they won’t be able to access it properly unless your soils are in optimum health.” Nurturing soil biology is therefore key, he adds. “With this in mind, Newton’s ability to improve the structure and size of roots enables biology to colonise and feed. The result is higher root exudates, which provide crucial carbohydrates for microbes to function.”

    The impact of the combination of these individual benefits is that farmers are likely to see yield improvement as a result. “We’ve run numerous yield trials over recent years, on a number of different crops and varieties, and they’ve consistently shown that the addition of Newton can increase yield by up to 10%,” explains Stuart.

    Practical application

    Aside from crop performance, there are many practical benefits of Newton too, adds Stuart. “I think there’s often the misconception with seed treatments that it’s fiddly, costly and time-consuming work. But something we continuously hear from growers is how practical the product is.

    As it’s a non-microbial treatment it has a very long shelf life. In practical terms, this means farmers can leave it on the seed without the worry of it spoiling or decaying like a microbial treatment would do. “Farmers and seed treaters also regularly speak about how well it mixes with other seed treatments, again increasing that practicality.” Looking to the season ahead, with many growers just finding their feet again after what has been a brutal autumn for some, Newton could be an even more useful addition to the programme this year, believes Stuart.

    “Whether it’s re-drilling lost winter acreage or increasing the area of spring crops because of the autumn, there is a lot of pressure on both farmers and crops this season to do well. While there’s no way of knowing what the rest of the year may hold, growers can plan to get crops off to the best possible start by using a proven seed treatment to prime crops against whatever is to come.”