BASIS Agronomy Matters

With harvest of cereals and oilseed rape now complete across the UK, this month we talk about crop storage.

Compared to selling grain at harvest, storing grain for sale later can attract a premium. This economic incentive can mean grain is stored for long periods prior to processing. During this time the grain may be at risk from pests, fungi or moisture.

In this podcast we are joined by two guest speakers who provide us with guidance on how we can help minimise the risks to stored grain.

Our first speaker is Dhan Bhandari, Senior Cereal Product Quality Scientist at AHDB. Dhan talks to us about the best ways to monitor our grain stores, what we should be looking out for and the factors that might affect grain sampling. Our second speaker is Martin Cobbald, aka Chief Pest Geek, Managing Director at Dealey Pest Control. Martin provides some fantastic information on how we can identify and deal with pests in our stores. If you are looking for a qualified pest controller to help you then check out BASIS PROMPT our register of verified pest controllers. You can also find out more about the courses mentioned in the podcast.

Listen to the end to claim 1 CPD point for listening.

This month we talk about black grass - one of the biggest challenges to profitable arable farming in the main cereal growing areas of the UK. With its high seed production, variable dormancy and herbicide resistance, black grass has become a major headache to many farmers.

We have been forced to adapt our way of working to manage the threat of black grass competition and in this episode of Agronomy Matter we are joined by three experts who help us to understand the best methods of black grass control.

Firstly, we have Richard Hull, a research technician at Rothamsted. Richard talks to us about his current research including cultural controls. You can read more from Rothamsted Research here https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/new-%E2%80%98early-warning-system%E2%80%99-finds-blackgrass-evolving-resistance-glyphosate.

Our second guest is Stuart Kevis, Business Development Manager at BASF. It is widely accepted that we need to combine non-chemical control methods with herbicides to improve overall control, so Stuart speaks about the chemical options including resistance issues.

Finally, we are joined by Paul Roche, Product Placement Lead at Syngenta, who brings it all together for us and adds a little bit about how we might incorporate the control of other problem weeds.

Weed management including both IPM and herbicide programmes are covered in depth in the BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection so if you are interested in developing your knowledge in this area, please visit our website for more details.

Health and safety is stereotypically a bit boring. Like with legislation it’s one of those topics that just comes with a bit of a yawn and a sigh, but with continued and rising concern over the high level of accidents within the agricultural industry it’s important that we, at BASIS, do what we can to support our members safety.

This month’s episode has been released early to show our support for the Yellow Wellies campaign; Farm Safety Week.

We know our BASIS members will often find themselves working on or near farm yards, working alone in fields, clambering over gates and fences and playing with soil so making sure that we are all aware of our surroundings, looking out for ourselves and others should be a top priority.

We are privileged to have been joined by 5 speakers keen to share their top tips for staying safe on farm:

Our speakers take us through some of the top risks our BASIS members are likely to come across and how they can help themselves and others to stay safe.

Please listen through to the end of the podcast to find out how to collect a CPD point for listening.

This month’s episode of the Agronomy Matters Podcast focuses on Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE). Nitrogen use efficiency has become a bit of buzz word recently but can be regarded as something that is not easy to define so this podcast aims to help listeners improve their understanding of nitrogen use efficiency and explain how we can use it to help improve our nutrient management in the future.

Nitrogen Use Efficiency has always been important but with unsteady and unpredictable fertiliser prices and changing agri-environment schemes it is becoming ever more relevant. It is for these reasons that NUE is also the topic for this year’s FACTS online assessment.

The FACTS online assessment is completed by all BASIS FACTS Qualified Advisers annually as part of their continued development. The content of this podcast should provide some of the knowledge needed before our members complete the FACTS Online assessment and provides a brilliant insight to the efficient use of nitrogen.

We are joined by three brilliant guests on this podcast….

If you are not already FACTS qualified and this is something you are interested in then please do visit our website www.basis-reg.co.uk or contact me [email protected] for more information.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members area on the BASIS website.

The removal of the Basic Payment Scheme and introduction of the new Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) is one of the most significant changes to UK agriculture in a generation. There are three new schemes being introduced over the new few years, starting with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, with applications opening to all farmers and land managers later in 2022.

During this episode of the Agronomy Matters podcast we hear from two speakers who can explain a bit more about what these schemes are all about, how it will impact UK agriculture and what opportunities it will provide for farmers and land managers:

Tom Lewis, who works at Defra as part of the team developing the Environmental Land Management Schemes, outlines what Defra are trying to achieve through ELMS and how it will help farmers produce food and enhance the wider environment at the same time.

Teresa Meadows, Head of Environment, Audit and Public Affairs highlights what BASIS are doing to provide training and professional development opportunities focussed on environmental management and sustainable farming practices.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point for listening.

Click here to see more information on the NEW Principles of Sustainable Land Management Course Information

With the return of LAMMA, the UK’s leading agricultural machinery, equipment and technology show, on the 4th and 5th May, we thought we would focus this month’s episode of the Agronomy Matters podcast on cultivations.

Net zero is a current hot topic and there is no doubt that reducing cultivations can be a factor in cutting carbon dioxide emissions and increasing sequestration in the soil but what are the benefits of cultivations, and when and why should cultivations be used. Well on this episode of agronomy matters we have three experts to shed some more light on the importance of cultivations.

- David Purdy, a territory business manager for John Deere. David has over 35 years’ experience in the agricultural machinery industry and tells us about the role cultivations still have in agriculture.

- Philip Wright, an independent soil consultant with a wealth of experience in soil structure and the impact of cultivation methods.

- Glenn Bootman, joins us from HE-VA where he is both Territory Manager for South Central England and Product Manager. Having been involved with the farm machinery sector for almost 30 years Glenn focusses on how we can choose and optimise machinery use.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members area on the BASIS website.

For this month’s episode of the Agronomy Matters podcast, we are focussing on Regenerative Agriculture.

We were joined by Joe Stanley, the author of Farm to Fork, which was chosen by our members as the first book for the BASIS Book Club. Joe gave us a great insight into the content of his book, a glimpse behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a published author and provided us with a fantastic introduction to regenerative agriculture to kick of this month’s podcast.

We were then joined by three members of the team at Wheatsheaf Farming:

Farm Manager - David Miller

Agronomist from Crop Management Partners - Ben Burrows

Stewardship Adviser from Wessex Farm Wildlife - Alison Cross.

Wheatsheaf Farming was formed in 2002 and operating regenerative and sustainable farming practices over their 700 hectares is at the forefront of what they do. Together they explain what inspired Wheatsheaf Farming to implement regenerative techniques, how these are monitored and measured, and how they all come together in their different roles to work towards a shared goal of creating a more sustainable farming business.

At BASIS we are committed to supporting agriculture and protecting the environment for a more sustainable future, and many of our BASIS qualifications cover the concepts of regenerative agriculture which will help us achieve this, for example Quality of Soils and the Soil and Water Management Certificate.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members area on the BASIS website.

For this month’s episode of the Agronomy Matters podcast, we are focussing on how new technology and innovative growing practices are being utilised within fruit production to develop more sustainable, productive and efficient farming systems. We were also joined by Tanya Kesterton, BASIS’s Head of Digital Learning, who explained how we are using technology at BASIS to offer new and improved products and services to our members, candidates and to the wider industry.

Our three guest speakers on this episode are:

Salih Hodzhov - Production Director at WB Chambers LTD:

Salih told us about how a major fruit grower, both in the UK and across the world, uses technology to produce fruit which meets the required standard to end up on the supermarket shelf.

Andrey Ivanov - Farm Manager at Wilkin & Sons of Tiptree:

Now I am sure at some point you will have all eaten some Tiptree jam, and Andrey explained how this historic company is using innovative techniques to produce fruit for its famous products.

Gary Saunders - Fruit Agronomist at Agrii:

Gary discussed how he uses technology as an agronomist to provide the best possible advice to his customers so they can produce fruit in a sustainable and profitable way.

Make sure you listen to the end of the episode to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members’ are on the BASIS website.

On our first episode of 2022 we speak to four guests about mental health awareness in agriculture.

Firstly, we speak to Sheena Horner, a chilli farmer from Scotland. Sheena founded Run1000, a running event set up to increase awareness of rural mental health and raise money for mental health charities. Having raised over £51,500 for charities including RSABI, DPJ Foundation, Vetlife and YANA, Sheena won the British Farming Hero Award 2021.

Our second speaker, Kate Miles, joins us from the DPJ Foundation. Kate gave us some valuable advice on how we can look after our own mental health and how we can support others. We also hear more about DPJ’s share the load service. Share the Load 0800 587 4262 or text 07860 048799.

Richard Heady, an arable and beef farmer from Buckinghamshire discusses mental health awareness from a farmer’s perspective. Richard is England’s Team Captain for this year’s Run1000 event and tells us how running helps his own mental health.

To close the podcast Alex Phillimore at the Farming Community Network tell us about the causal factors of poor mental health and gives us 10 top tips for better mental health looking forward into 2022!

There is lots of support and help available should you need it from both the DPJ Foundation and FCN as well as a number of other organisations.

YANA https://www.yanahelp.org/ 0300 323 0400

Mind https://www.mind.org.uk/ 0300 123 3393

Rabi https://rabi.org.uk/ 0800 188 4444

Vetlife https://www.vetlife.org.uk/ 0303 040 2551

Make sure to listen to the end of the podcast to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members area on the BASIS website.

On our final episode of the year we have decided to do a 2021 in review episode, where we will be speaking to three guests about their experiences over the last 12 months, as well as what their predictions are for 2022.

Firstly we spoke to independent agronomist Patrick Stephenson to get his view on the challenges farmers and agronomists have had to face in 2021, as well as looking at what changes might happen in the industry over the next few years.

Our second guest on this episode is Natalie Wood, arable agronomist for Yara in the UK. Natalie was able to provide an insight into 2021 from the perspective of our FACTS qualified advisers, with the global fertiliser market providing some unique challenges for farmers and advisers, especially in the final few months of the year.

Finally we spoke to Hannah Joy, environmental services specialist at Hutchinsons. Hannah explained how the Environmental Land Managements Schemes have developed over the past 12 months, and also highlighted what opportunities will become available to farmers and land owners through these schemes in the years to come.

Make sure you listen to the end to find out how to claim one BASIS CPD point via the members' area on the BASIS website.