If you want to know how healthy you are, there are a myriad of tests and tools to help you ‘quantify’ yourbody condition – blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol level, for example. Now there is a move todevelop ways to quantify the health of your soil, too. In 2016, AHDB and BBRO funded …
Soil Health: Let’s Get Physical (Chemical And Biological) Read More »
AHDB Animal Scientist, Siwan Howatson, takes a closer look at the potential to incorporate livestock into the arable rotation through establishing a grass ley, while improving soil organic matter and increasing soil resilience. Soil organic matter (SOM) is an essential element because it provides the soil with the resilience it needs to sustain a crop, …
Cost of production? Cash only net margin? Machinery depreciation per hectare? Holly Shaw, AHDB’sKnowledge Exchange Manager for Benchmarking in East Anglia looks into the detail. AHDB’s Farmbench online benchmarking tool hopes to take the mystery out of physical and financial performance of multiple farm enterprises. The updated tool now incorporates cross-sector recording, including combinable, potatoes, …
Charlotte Rowley, AHDB Crop Protection Scientist runs the rule over CSFB in 2019 If you are a regular Twitter user, you might be wondering how there is any oilseed rape left in some parts of the country following the onslaught of cabbage stem flea beetle this year. Pictures have been posted from across the country …
All that glitters is not gold. Harry Henderson, AHDB Technical Knowledge Exchange Managerdiscusses the latest thinking in machinery costings. With all the debates held at Monitor Farm meetings, which rumbled on about machinery costs a couple of spin-off debates came to fruition. A recent visit to Scotland found me standing in front of farmers talking …
We are all in need of healthy soils but how can we create that magical organic matter cocktail,Dr James Holmes from AHDB shares some simple advice on what to look for Soil organic matter is a mysterious substance with legendary qualities yet practical guidance on how to manage it has been thin on the ground. …
AHDB’s Crop Protection Scientist, Charlotte Rowley, assesses new methods of control against slugs in the face of theindustry losing metaldehyde. Following the announcement from Defra on the withdrawal of metaldehyde in 2020, thoughts are again turning towards slug management. The good news is that there is an effective alternative: ferric phosphate has been shown to …
Dr Jon Knight, AHDB Head of Crop Protection assesses the shifting political emphasis on environmental protection and the future for Integrated Pest Management What is Integrated Pest management (IPM)? The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations definition is as follows: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) means the careful consideration of all available pest control …
Why Integrated Pest Management Is Closer Than We Think Read More »
How much do you really know about your soil and its health? Elizabeth Stockdale, NIAB and knowledge exchange lead for the AHDB Soil Biology and Soil Health Partnership takes a closer look. Recent work on soil management carried out by AHDB with grower groups across the country highlighted a lack of information on soil biology …
Virus-spreading aphids and the risk they pose to winter cereal crops are the subjects of a new management tool and aresearch project funded by AHDB. Barley/cereal yellow dwarf viruses (BYDV) are mainly transmitted by the bird cherry–oat aphid and the grain aphid – via wingless and winged forms. Wingless aphids, which live on grass or …
