Serving the farming industry across East Anglia for over 40 years
King’s award for slug pellet manufacturer
The UK’s only manufacturer of slug pellets has received a King’s Award for International Trade –recognising the company’s growth in overseas sales. Supplying both the farming and the amateur home and garden sectors, Nottinghamshire-based Doff Portland has seen overseas sales growth of 300% over three years. Exports now represent... Read more
Liquid fertiliser: why more growers plan to switch
Growers switching to liquid fertiliser are being advised to start planning now for the autumn cropping season. A wet eight months mean more arable farmers are moving away from solid fertiliser, says Phil Burrell, head of crop nutrition for Yara. Now is a good time to start planning for... Read more
Renewed focus on hybrid rye in arable rotations
A renewed focus on hybrid rye as an energy crop for anaerobic digestion could lift the UK planted area well beyond 50,000ha, say industry experts. “Hybrid rye is super flexible in the rotation and an excellent choice for growers,” says Agrovista arable seed product manager and agronomist Ted Williams... Read more
Pulse Pioneers seek top eastern region growers
A ground-breaking project to show how pulses can reduce greenhouse gas emissions is looking to recruit eastern region growers. The Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) project aims to increase pulse and legume cropping in arable rotations to 20% (currently 5%) – and displace up to half the soya imported into... Read more
Cope introduces three new high-yielding varieties
Lincolnshire-based seed supplier Cope has launched three high-yielding varieties – offering growers a wider choice and more flexibility. The launch of spring wheat variety Everlong, winter barley Aretha and spring pea Marler coincided with a new company website and rebranding of the business, which was formerly known as Cope... Read more
Emergency application granted against potato viruses
An emergency approval has been granted for paraffin oil product Olie-H in seed potato crops – helping growers tackle non-persistent aphid-vectored viruses. Non-persistently transmitted potyviruses – sometimes called mosaic viruses – are the most problematic viral diseases affecting British potato production. Currently, the dominant species is potato virus Y... Read more
Latest arable pest management  tool unveiled
Norfolk farm sale ‘biggest’ of 2024
Three Norfolk farms with a combined value of almost £10.7m have come to market in what agents believe could be the county’s biggest farm sale this year. The productive and versatile arable farms, spanning 965 acres of land between the villages of Mileham and Gressenhall near Dereham, are currently farmed as a... Read more
Call for next government to recognise farming
Would-be MPs are being urged to recognise the role of food and farming as candidates pitch for the rural vote ahead of next month’s general election. Confidence among farmers is the lowest since the NFU began its annual state of the industry survey in 2010. Farm businesses are being... Read more
New improved SFI offer is broader and more flexible
More than 100 options to generate additional revenue are now available to producers who sign up to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). The government’s latest offer – which increases the number of SFI options from 23 to 102 from July – was published on 21 May as the government... Read more