The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Summer arable events
No need to miss out on seminars, advice and technology as organisers adapt to coronavirus pandemic restrictions
The key arable farming events planned for 2020 – Cereals in England and Arable Scotland on the outskirts of Dundee – are going virtual this summer to ensure farmers don’t miss out on all the seminars, advice and technology that were lined up before lockdown.
Cereals has been rebranded Cereals Live and will be delivering content on June 10-11 by beaming headline speakers straight to farm offices. Discussions will focus on how the latest developments, cutting-edge equipment and advice can help producers and boost productivity.
Meanwhile Arable Scotland, launched at Balruddery Farm last summer, will target its key activity around the original date of July 2, with another suite of webinars, videos, podcasts, articles and resources delivered online.
Alternative crops is the theme of the Scottish event which will look at pulses, inter-cropping, novel crops and oats, and the “arable conversations” which were popular last year will take place as interactive webinars.
These debates include sessions on plant health, zero carbon, markets and opportunities and Farming Diversification – Is A Plant-Based Diet The Way Forward?”.
Each topic will be introduced by an industry lead who will outline the key issues, and this will be followed by comments from specialists and leading stakeholders and finally discussion and debate and the opportunity for farmers to table questions and air their thoughts.
Cereals Live will investigate data and digital innovation, and include a session from Matthew Smith, chief product officer at Agrimetrics, into how to get the most from data, the growing market for it and how valuable it is to agriculture.
Angela de Manzanos Guinot from Fungi Alert, will explain the importance of understanding the pathogens in soil; Olmix’s Chris Gamble will consider the benefits of bio stimulants and how they could become a more routine part of the crop health armoury; and Yara agronomist Natalie Wood will discuss the importance of micronutrients and having a strategy to manage costs.
A session on plant breeding technologies will see Kim HammondKosack at Rothamsted Research and James Brosnan, chairman of the International Barley Hub, reveal how plant breeding will deliver resistance to pests and disease and how it can address issues of resilience and climate change.
Precision farming will be tackled by Jonathan Gill at Harper Adams who will provide an update on the Hands Free Farm and discuss the cutting edge of autonomous farming.
No arable farming event can avoid the issue of weeds, and here it will be tackled by Nick Tillett at Tillett & Hague Technology who will explore how precision farming techniques are being utilised to progress spot-spraying tools.
He said: “We have managed to make the technology work but it’s expensive, so we need to work with manufacturers, growers, agronomists and chemical companies to make the technology more cost-effective.”
Other sessions will explore farmerled innovations. Mike Donovan, editor of Practical Farm Ideas, will pick his top farmer inventions over the past decade; Liz Bowles of the Soil Association will describe the impact of the work in farmer “field labs”; and Daniel Kindred from ADAS will discuss the outcomes from farming innovation groups.
Young and aspirant farmers will be catered for with a full range of seminars.
Event director Alli McEntyre said: “Farming is as much about looking to the future as it is optimising the now; meaning that improving soil health and opening doors for the next generation should be part of every arable business.”
Jeremy Moody of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers is one of the speakers who will discuss land availability.
He said: “Putting land into the hands of the proficient is vital to the future of the industry, and the more opportunities – through tax incentives, for example – there are from the government the better, as these will allow the change the industry needs to become more productive.”
There will also be a chance to hear about the potential opportunities of share farming, and from one young farmer on how he secured a tenancy with no agricultural background.
For more information about the events visit arablescotland.org.uk and cerealsevent.co.uk