In this issue... The lure of LAMMA page 44 Septoria shudder page 8 Euro giants line up beside British kit Strategy shift as resistance looms Nutrition knowledge page 30 Brexit debate page 66 Opinion 4 Talking Tilth – A word from the editor. Volume 18 Number 1 6 Smith’s Soapbox – Views and opinions from an Essex peasant….. February 2016 91 Last Word – A view from the field from CPM’s technical editor Technical 8 Disease control - Appropriate dosing essential to safeguard SDHIs The breaking news in December was the discovery of new strains of septoria with reduced sensitivity to the SDHI group of fungicides. 16 Tech Talk - Stay on the front foot With disease presenting an ever greater challenge to the fungicide armoury, a new strategy may be needed to keep it at bay. 20 Lodging control - Will soggy roots create a lodging problem? After a winter where parts of the country have practically been building Arks, the big question is whether the extreme wet will effect lodging risk. 24 Weed control - ID key to grassweed grip Wild oats and brome may play second fiddle to blackgrass, but they can become a real problem if control isn’t matched to specific species. 30 Nutrition - More to nutrition than meets the eye When it comes to getting crop nutrition right, it’s as much about Editor understanding your soil as selecting the appropriate product, rate and timing. Tom Allen-Stevens 34 Theory to Field - Rebuilding the crop nutrition ‘bible’ Technical Editor The Fertiliser Manual, RB209, is currently under review, under new Lucy de la Pasture management and is set to benefit from a wealth of relevant research. Sub editor 38 Arable resilience - A solid base allows for tailored nutrition Charlotte Lord Crops that yield a consistent margin above the cost of production are Writers key to maintaining profits during a price slump, but how do you feed them? Tom Allen-Stevens Melanie Jenkine Olivia Cooper Lucy de la Pasture Machinery Nick Fone Mick Roberts 44 LAMMA 2016 - Home-grown equipment on show at LAMMA 16 Design and Production LAMMA still stays close to its roots providing a shop window for many Brooks Design British manufacturers. Advertisement co-ordinator 56 On Farm Opinion - Accuracy aim as business expands Peter Walker The experience of Shrops-based Cooke Farms which upgraded its Publisher spreader to manage variable-rate applications and auto shut-off. Angus McKirdy 65 Machinery news - New options for section control Business Development Manager Amazone’s Section Control; KRM Bredal; Quadtrac birthday Charlotte Alexander To claim two crop protection BASIS points, send an email to [email protected], quoting reference CP/37178/1415/g. Features *the claim ‘best read specialist arable journal’ is based 66 Conferences - Brexit battle commences on independent reader research, conducted by the Passions rose and accusations flew at the Oxford Farming Conference, while National Farm Research Unit 2014 resilience in the face of resistance was the focus at technical events. Editorial & advertising sales 72 Insiders View - Added lustre in the Group 1 line-up? White House Barn, Hanwood, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY5 8LP When it comes to bread winners, RGT Illustrious looks like it might just take Tel: (01743) 861122 E-mail: [email protected] the top spot in 2016, having so far demonstrated that it’s a cut above the rest. 76 Insiders View - Puts in a polished performance Reader registration hotline 01743 861122 The latest oilseed rape variety to reach the market looks to be taking Advertising copy another leap forward in yield. Brooks Design, 80 On-farm Innovator - Landscape leader 24 Claremont Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1RD A Wilts estate manager whose determination to transform the business Tel: (01743) 244403 E-mail: [email protected] in the wake of foot and mouth literally changed its environment. CPM Volume 18 No 1. Editorial, advertising and sales offices are at White House Barn, Hanwood, Shrewsbury SY5 8LP. Tel: (01743) 861122. CPM is published ten times a year by Roots CPM Ltd and is available free of charge to qualifying farmers and farm managers in the United Kingdom. 84 Potatoes - Is your bed too deep? In no way does CPM Ltd endorse, notarise or concur with any of the advice, With potato planting just round the corner, now’s a good time to reassess recommendations or prescriptions reported in the magazine. the approach. If you are unsure about which recommendations to follow, please consult a professional agronomist. Always read the label. Use pesticides safely. CPM Ltd is not responsible for loss or damage to any unsolicited material, including photographs. crop production magazine february 2016 3 didn’t settle at all for the rest of Liz Truss’ announcement on also been to see a Shrops the visit. What’s more, he’d ditch dredging a cautious grower who’s upgraded his traced it and found the welcome –– how ironic! fertiliser spreader to manage source –– a field of So it’s probably just as variable-rate applications and oilseed rape on a well that visit from the EA auto shut-off (p56). slope that had man has knocked a bit of The Features section is been hammered self-righteousness out of me. where you’ll find Insiders View, by pigeons. I’ve always maintained that and we’ve looked at a couple Muddy water had farmers are more sinned of promising contenders this been coursing down the against than sinning, but we month – RGT Illustrious is the tramlines and breached the have to be spotless if we new Group 1 wheat (p72), Am I a pollution 6m grass margin to end up in expect the public to truly trust while Elgar leads the AHDB pariah? the ditch –– goodness knows us and the technologies we Cereals and Oilseeds OSR how much phosphate and take into the wider environment. Recommended List (p76). Also, propyzamide had exited It’s with that in mind that I’d in a new series, we’re seeking The Environment Agency along with it. urge you to progress to the new out the on-farm innovators man came to visit the other There are a host of extenuating Technical section in this (p80). day for a routine inspection. circumstances which make this month’s CPM. It starts on p8, Finally, look out for the new The humiliating thing is that a one-off incident. But I can’t and we’ve taken a close look at Roots section, which this month he actually found a pollution help feeling that the next algal the implications for growers of looks at the latest research on source while he was here. bloom that happens in the news that strains of septoria potato bed preparation (p84). In my defence, the day he River Ock, or subsequently with reduced sensitivity to And Last Word is another new came was the wettest day downstream, that suffocates SDHIs have been found. regular feature in which Lucy of the wettest month of the God knows what pond life, will Tech Talk (p16) continues the casts an agronomic, critical wettest winter most of us can be down to me and my poor theme, and explores disease eye over what’s front of mind in remember. We’d spent a good practices. prevention. the field. couple of hours in the office, The EA man wrote me what You’ll also notice a bit of a So the outcome of the EA with me doing my best to looked a bit like a speeding change as you thumb through visit shows I clearly haven’t impress him, producing ticket, and that’s exactly what it this month’s issue. We reckon got my farm in order. However, records on demand with a felt like, too. But to be fair, he that bringing you the most hopefully you’ll agree the flourish, brandishing my LEAF wasn’t going to get the pollution timely, topical analysis of changes we’ve made to CPM membership and showing him police onto me –– this was an technical issues is where CPM will bring you even more value how engaged I was with the ‘awareness’ visit, and I now serves you best, which is why from the time you put into Water Framework Directive. have to decide how I’m going we’ve brought those features reading it and even more I’d also quizzed him to remedy the offending field. together in the new Technical insight into what promises to thoroughly on the need for What made it that much section. What’s more, we’ve a be a truly challenging season. an inspection, as the NSF worse is that less than a month new technical editor on the Drop me an email to let me one had taken place just the previously I’d been at the team –– Lucy de la Pasture –– know what you think. week before, so wasn’t this Oxford Farming Conference who’s committed to ensuring duplicating effort? I then (see report on p66). We’d those pages are packed with dispatched him into the wind quizzed the politicians on insider insight. and rain with a map while I their plans to release us from Machinery has been brought stayed in the warm and dry. regulation, and their polished further forward, and this month Tom Allen-Stevens has a 170ha But I really wasn’t prepared for presentations spoke of a future includes a full analysis of some arable farm in Oxon … and also what he returned with. rich in opportunity, where a of the highlights from LAMMA down most of the River Ock and He’d filled a bottle with farmer would be trusted to do 2016 (p44).