This blog was first featured as an article in the November issue of Three Counties Farmer: The sun has continued to shine. As I write, the weather forecast shows a considerable rain event over the coming weekend preceding another settled spell. Autumn drilling and harvest continues but, with my growers at least, there isn't an air of comp...

WHEAT Russian rumours rumble on The world's leading wheat exporter has played a major part influencing prices this season. Wheat yields slashed by adverse weather saw their crop drop more than 15 million tonnes on last year's record 85 million tonnes. In August, rumours of a possible Russian export ban sent the world's wheat future markets soaring ...

When I was a lad at school the laws of physics, including Newton's third rule "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," seemed of little consequence to me. However, as I grew up I came to realise that the laws of physics are all around us every day and life is bound inextricably to them. To a certain extent nature applies its own ...

WHEAT Ensus announcement weighs on prices in the North On Monday, CropEnergies announced that their Ensus bioethanol plant in Teeside would pause production from the end of November "due to the difficult market conditions". With the plant having historically used a combination of both wheat and maize the news came as a shock to the UK grain trade, ...

Boron is a key nutrient for oilseed rape, with its main functions associated with aiding stem elongation and flowering. While these developments will happen later next spring, it is important to start addressing some of this need now before the crop enters winter.  The last thing we want is OSR coming out of the colder months with a deficiency...

World markets US wheat futures have traded down to six-week lows. This is partly due to poor US export figures but, for the most part, is lead by politics. A two-month high in the US dollar is weighing on US wheat, as are falling equity and crude oil markets. A number of weather issues have been impacting grain markets but these are now well accoun...

Over the last five-to-six years, it's been clear to see an ever-increasing area of maize being grown across the UK. Maize has a number of production uses but the most notable are bio-gas and forage. With so many now taking on the crop and due to the nature of which it is grown, it's important to consider careful management while it's in the ground ...

With autumn drilling well underway, I thought I would share a little insight into how our SOYL customer cupport team works with growers during these busy months. Farmer support SOYL customer support offers advice and assistance on a variety of different areas in precision farming. From step-by-step guidance for connecting iSOYL to a drill control s...

WHEAT Quiet markets drift Fresh market features have been lacking this week and, helped by firmer sterling, UK wheat prices have dropped to a four-week low. Consumers have good cover through to the new year and with port stores bulging with imported wheat and maize, any short term price improvement looks unlikely. Bull traders continue to look to R...

WHEAT UK markets UK wheat markets have traded defensively this week. Demand continues to be serviced by the market in an orderly fashion, keeping prices and milling premiums subdued. This comes even as the pace of farm gate selling slows significantly, in part due to the ideal drilling conditions this week. DEFRA figures The market has now had time...

Oh, to be more organised! Much of what we see around the farm is reactive, driving past a field or walking across it and recording what you see. This is how crop development has been managed and monitored for a very long time. However, there is a different way and it is based upon the information that you have already recorded across the farm. Data...

This blog was first featured as an article in the October issue of Three Counties Farmer: Every conversation I have with people in the agricultural world seems to conclude with the opinion that "When it rains, it won't know when to stop." A common term used, especially in the autumn period when focus turns to potato harvest, autumn cereal drilling ...

​For the most part, many of us will admit that when it comes to fertiliser applications we can be guilty of concentrating solely on the application of nitrogen. The most common questions often revolve around the correct nitrogen rates and predicted yield responses but, in all honesty, it isn't all we should be thinking about. As an industry, when f...

The drilling of cereals is progressing at pace in many parts of the UK, with the majority of crops going into good seedbeds. However, there are some areas that could do with a decent night's rain and, more importantly, those who have fields with a black-grass problem should actually be prepared to wait. Managing black-grass It is now well accepted ...

This blog was first featured as an article in the October issue of Three Counties Farmer: There are few jobs that could be classed as 24/7, 365 days a year but farming is one of them. For those who sell their combinable crops, the grain market is ever changing and the global markets also sit within this 'open all hours' bracket. We often draw paral...

WHEAT  Demand for UK feed narrows premiums Consumer demand for feed wheat leant support to UK prices this week, with futures and physical grain trading up £4-£5 over the five days. Strong demand from the pig and poultry sectors, as well as ruminants, pushed some feed compounders to consider current lower prices as a 'buy.' Pitched against a we...

I had the pleasure of attending Tillage Live 2018 last week. This year, the event was held in Dunbar, East Lothian and although SOYL have always supported the event, it had been of couple of years since I'd been myself. I was really looking forward to exploring the site, talking to lots of attendees and seeing the impressive demonstrations on show....

​Imagine if there was a way to automatically know which areas of your production system are most profitable and those which are loss-making. Wouldn't it be great to know which management decisions had paid off, which new methods of working had or hadn't worked and if all of this information could be collected with minimum effort? For farmers that t...

As I write this, I am travelling on the train from Edinburgh to Newark. What is great about travelling on the train is seeing, in detail, the beautiful British countryside. It's a great opportunity to review the land and see the huge variations that exist within fields. Even within stubble fields you can see the differences in crop thickness from o...

Catch crops, sown in the summer, can be used very effectively as part of an Ecological Focus Area (EFA) greening requirement. These crops offer potential benefits to soil and rotation management beyond the financial rewards of EFA. However, it's important to comply with EFA criteria around management dates. Catch crops that were established by the ...