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THERE'S a new term in farming: consultation fatigue. While Government purports to want to cut bureaucracy, growers are being asked to spend more valuable desk time this spring responding to [...]

THE first of January heralds the start of the new CAP reforms, but it is just the beginning. Between now and 16 May, growers will have to complete applications for [...]

Managing nutrients responsibly is going to be essential for farmers to run their businesses efficiently and to protect water quality, in the future. That is the view of the Agricultural [...]

LIKE your salad potatoes? There's an increasing chance those succulent tubers you're eating this summer are French rather than British-grown. With France now Europe's number one exporter of fresh market [...]

SHORT-TERM vegetable growers in dispute with farmers over who should be allocated fruit, vegetable and potato single farm payment entitlement authorisations (FVPs) are likely to win the argument in the [...]

The announcement that new-season UK ammonium nitrate is being offered for under [pounds sterling]180/t, about [pounds sterling]160/t less than last year, has surprised many growers prompting questions about what really [...]

How much nitrogen should you apply? If growers followed RB209 advice, they'd be looking for a return of around 6:1 at current prices, Yara's Mark Tucker said. But that might [...]

Who is likely to be offering energy contracts and what will they be looking for? The expectation is that demand will be lead from the public sector. The key recommendation [...]

Mention worthwhile profits and wildlife in the same sentence and most farmers laugh. But well-managed wildlife could soon deliver real cash benefits. 'Biodiversity offers farmers a new dawn. Consumers want [...]

How well do we understand our soils? On the evidence of mounting criticism of fertiliser bible RB209 and considerable variability in on-farm soil testing highlighted by the investigation we carried [...]

Cross-compliance. RB209. Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. Words becoming increasingly important to concerned growers. With grain prices so low and a need to achieve the best yield and quality possible from expensive [...]

FARMING cannot support the level of breeding taking place in the UK and an infrastructure that reflects agriculture in the 1970s and 80s. That's the view of Nickerson's head of [...]

WITH FACILITIES half a century old, the time has come for James Carlisle to upgrade the grain storage capability at Oldfield Farm, Henlow. With capacity of 1300t in a mixture [...]

THINK local and think people. It's a simple message but one that has stood one of the UK's best-known agrochemical distributors in good stead since its formation in 2000. Five [...]

IF YOU didn't know otherwise, you would be forgiven for thinking the whole of the US is covered in GM crops. While the reality is somewhat different, there is no [...]

I CAN'T help feeling I'm being suckered. Listening to American farmers talk about biotechnology and what it can deliver makes it all seem so matter of fact. 'You have a [...]

THE NFU has called on the European Commission to get tough with the UK Government over its policy towards meeting EU biofuels targets. Announcing at Cereals 2005 that the Union [...]

THE carbon-cycle credentials of UK cereals and oilseed rape production are in pretty good shape, but there's room for improvement. That's the conclusion of a report commissioned by the HGCA [...]

READ our report and you'll think differently about GM. That's the hope, if not the expectation, of the American Soybean Association, from its report Dispelling the myths--the real facts about [...]

ANYONE who's grown hemp in the past decade or so has either loved it or loathed it. Loved it because of its low management requirement and small demand on inputs. [...]

BACK IN 1996, the first commercial genetically modified crops were being planted in the US. The result of years of scientific research by the major biotech companies, there was much [...]

ANYONE INVOLVED with hybrid oilseed rape will understand the importance of the male restorer plant to deliver the vigour and desired yield potential hybrid technologists have long promised growers. But [...]

Beetle banks 'ESTABLISH them with a reversible plough ploughing the two sides back into each other,' says Mr Ward. Hand-sowing the grass seed mix is easiest and cheapest, Mr Jarvis [...]

A NEW rental model could allow growers and their landlords to set effective rents independently of each other by using a third-party intermediary. The idea proposed by the HGCA's director [...]

WITH DEFRA predicting 42,000 farmers might apply to the Entry Level Scheme in the first tranche of applications this spring, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's just a matter of [...]

'LOOK out for what's critical this year,' independent crop consultant Simon Draper says of the cross-compliance regulations. 'As of 1 January 2005, there are the various Statutory Management Requirements, but [...]

What is the difference between torque and power? If you're banging a nail in, then the 'force' of hitting the nail is equivalent to the torque. Power is a combination [...]

FOOD production must continue to be the centrepiece of a reformed British agriculture. That's according to Forum for the Future project director, and the Sustainable Development Commission's, Jonathon Porritt. Although [...]

DON'T think about spring crops in terms of fire-brigade drilling for failed winter crops--they have to fit in with the overall business structure. That's the key message from Philip Wynn, [...]

FARMERS MUST get to grips with change, break their dependency on government support and seize new opportunities, Crops Conference delegates in Cambridge and Perth were told. But above all the [...]

A NEW market for 200,000t of contract-grown rapeseed for biodiesel will be created in time for plantings next autumn thanks to the construction of a new processing plant at Immingham, [...]

ONE hectare of wheat can provide enough bioethanol to drive your car once around the globe, and it could save up to 60% on carbon emissions compared to normal petrol. [...]

GROWERS need to spend more time protecting their grain price and less time predicting it, according to speakers at this year's HGCA Grain Market Outlook Conference. The likelihood of continued [...]

INEFFICIENT sugar beet growers stand to lose at least [pounds sterling]65/ha if reforms cut A and B beet to [pounds sterling]18 a tonne. That's the conclusion of figures provided by [...]

SPEAK to anyone about this year's wheat harvest and with almost unanimity they'll cite lodging and orange blossom midge as the key factors in this year's results. 'The results are [...]

SOME growers may have been pleasantly surprised by their winter barley yields, particularly in the south, but rock-bottom feed barley prices are not likely to encourage a sudden surge in [...]

How much are you doing to optimise your water use and co-operate with other growers? The answer for many is probably not enough. But that needs to change according to [...]

Not even the rain clouds on the first morning of the Cereals event could put a dampener on what will be remembered as one of the more upbeat Cereals events [...]

Growing added-value industrial oilseed rape on a fixed-premium contract provides valuable security in an increasingly uncertain farming world for the Boyes family at Moorbarns Farm near Lutterworth, Leics. But achieving [...]

Can you have confidence in food produced in China? It's an issue which has started to dominate discussions between the world's most populous nation and its potential export markets. As [...]

INTERESTED in collaborating? Need to cut costs? Want to improve output? A Yorkshire farmer is achieving all this and is still enjoying farming. Nick Baker farms at Bainton Heights near [...]

IS DEFRA'S fertiliser bible RB209 underestimating the nitrogen requirements of modern feed wheat varieties? That is what a new HGCA-funded project hopes to find out. RB209 is the standard the [...]

BIOFUELS specialist Greenergy has diversified into the short-rotation (SRC) coppice market thanks to a deal with Teesside-based, SembCorp. Greenergy is underwriting a 10-year contract with SembCorp which is building its [...]

JUNE 22 sees the publication of formal proposals on EU sugar regime reform, taking effect from 1 July 2006. Draft proposals in July 2004 included a dramatic price cut which [...]

DO YOU farm a combinable crop farm with typical bank borrowings? Then have you reflected on the cost to the business of late receipt of the single payment? According to [...]

GROWERS are being urged to exercise caution when it comes to negotiating contracts for quality crops such as malting barley and milling wheat. Agreeing to accept a 'Final receivers' terms [...]

PESTICIDE manufacturers take note. Waste management regulations due to come in to effect this summer could force a rethink in the formulation of chemicals and the design and size of [...]

AS the winner of last year's Silver Lapwing award, Chris Dowse knows a thing or two about combining business sense with care for the environment. Managing 2,980ha (2,630 arable) on [...]

WITH increasing pressure on time and costs, and changing weather patterns, there's been a gradual comeback of the pre-emergence herbicide in sugar beet. That's according to Broom's Barn's Mike May. [...]

INDUSTRY collaboration is essential to take cost out of farmer-controlled businesses. But increased business size needn't be an obstacle to retaining the key focus of delivering farmer benefits. So says [...]