CropCast

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Welcome to Cropcast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Iain Wilson from Stracathro estates who is a strong advocate for the using sheep to graze cereals. 

 Tiffany is also joined by Dr Robin Walker, a senior researcher focusing on low input cropping systems to discuss trials he has been involved in and the potential benefits of winter grazing cereals for both the arable farmer and the livestock farmer. 

Related Resources

Mixed Project – (4th year of the project) – Winter grazing cereals with sheep Home (au.dk) 

Farmers Guardian article Grazing sheep on cereals does not reduce yields, Scottish trials find | Farm News | Farmers Guardian 

Whitriggs – Winter grazing of crops Whitriggs - Winter Grazing of Crops | Information helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service (fas.scot) 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Donald Dunbar, a senior agricultural consultant at SAC consulting, along with Dr Steve Hoad, a team leader in agronomy, physiology & genetics at SRUC, to discuss the latest Scottish variety trial results, which will help growers to choose the best winter and spring barley varieties for harvest 2024. 

Linked Resources

For the most recent Scottish Recommended list 23/24 https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/scottish-recommended-lists-for-cereals-202324 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Donald Dunbar, a senior agricultural consultant at SAC consulting, along with Dr Steve Hoad, a team leader in agronomy, physiology & genetics at SRUC, to discuss the latest Scottish variety trial results, which will help growers to choose the best winter wheat varieties for harvest 2024. 

Linked FAS Resources 

For the most recent Scottish Recommended list 23/24 https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/scottish-recommended-lists-for-cereals-202324 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Julie Clark, senior knowledge exchange manager at AHDB, to discuss the importance of benchmarking and how it can ultimately allow you to make better decisions. 

Tiffany is also joined by Olivia Bonser, a Market intelligence analyst at AHDB, to discuss current and longer-term market forces and how these are likely to impact cost of production going forward. 

Linked FAS Resources

Farmbench - a farm business comparison tool | AHDB

Farmbench results: past, present and future | AHDB 

Tools | AHDB 

Cereals and Oilseeds markets | AHDB 

GB fertiliser prices | AHDB 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Dr Henry Creissan an applied plant pathologist at SRUC and Professor Adrian Newton, a cereal pathologist/ Agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute, to discuss their work, which is looking at the impact of reduced tillage on integrated pest management (IPM) and how farmers can practically incorporate IPM into their own businesses. 

Linked FAS Resources 

• The Centre for Sustainable Cropping is: https://csc.hutton.ac.uk/  
• Hutton’s IPM website: https://ipm.hutton.ac.uk/ 
• Grieve’s House Tillage Platform: https://ghplatform.hutton.ac.uk/ and virtual tour: https://virtualtours.hutton.ac.uk/grieveshousetour/ 
• Arable Scotland: https://www.arablescotland.org.uk/ 
• Groundswell Scotland is this: https://www.fwi.co.uk/regenerative-agriculture/falkland-estate-to-host-new-regenerative-farming-event-in-scotland  
• Bayer open day at Boghall trial site. https://cropscience.bayer.co.uk/events/bayer-field-day-edinburgh/ 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Iain Lindsay, area Manager at Syngenta UK to discuss low drift nozzles & closed transfer systems. 

Related Resources

Spray Assist App to aid application on target | Syngenta

Collaborative closed transfer system for UK evaluation | Syngenta

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government 

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Adam Christie, Managing Director at Scottish Agronomy and Professor Fiona Burnett to discuss winter and spring barley disease management (For winter wheat, please see episode 11). 

We also discuss T0,T1, T2 & T3 spray timings and what you need to consider for this year's spray programme. 

Linked FAS Resources 

SRUC Crop protection report Crops | SRUC 

Scottish Agronomy Homepage - Visit Scottish Agronomy For More Information 

Scottish Recommended lists for cereals 2023/24 SAC RL centre pages 2010 (sruc.ac.uk) 

AHDB – Fungicide programmes for Barley https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/fungicide-programmes-for-barley 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government 

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Adam Christie, Managing Director at Scottish Agronomy and Professor Fiona Burnett to discuss crop disease management in winter wheat.

We also discuss T0,T1, T2 & T3 spray timings and what you need to consider for this year's spray programme.    

Linked FAS Resources 

SRUC Crop protection report Crops | SRUC 

Scottish Agronomy Homepage - Visit Scottish Agronomy For More Information 

Scottish Recommended lists for cereals 2023/24 SAC RL centre pages 2010 (sruc.ac.uk) 

AHDB – Fungicide programmes for Wheat Fungicide programmes for wheat | AHDB 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government 

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Natalie Wood, agronomy operations manager at YARA UK & Ireland along with George Chalmers, a senior agricultural consultant at SAC Consulting, to discuss best practice for applying nitrogen efficiently this coming season. 

Related FAS Resources

Technical Note (TN731) Nitrogen for Cereals, Rapeseed & Potatoes (fas.scot)

Other Related Resources

Fertiliser application and spreading advice | Yara UK

Agronomy podcasts | Grow the future | Yara UK

Nitrogen-Use Efficiency | Grow the Future | Yara UK

Yara UK on Twitter: "Our latest podcast is available! 🎧✔️ Yara agronomist Natalie Wood talks to Ken Rundle about the role micronutrients play in crop establishment and how they are no less important than macronutrients.🌱💧 Listen here 👉 https://t.co/S8cvADqc3T https://t.co/Bs0V9sI5Fe" / Twitter

Natalie Wood - Agronomy Operations Manager - Yara International | LinkedIn

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government.

In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Gordon Whiteford from Lower Mill of Tynet farm, who uses intercropping as a technique to produce crops to produce feed for his Banffshire based business, Highland Eggs. 

Tiffany is also joined by Dr Robin Walker, a senior researcher focusing on low input cropping systems to discuss his research and the potential benefits of intercropping to both arable and mixed farmers.  

If you are in Scotland and interested in taking part of the intercrop VALUES project, which Robin is involved in, please contact Robin  [email protected].

Linked Resources

The current intercropping project SRUC and SAOS are involved with is the EU funded Intercrop VALUES project.  (https://twitter.com/IntercropVALUES; https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088203159247; https://www.linkedin.com/company/intercropvalues/posts/?feedView=all) 

If you are a farmer, maltster or craft brewer in Scotland and are interested in being a part of the Intercrop VALUES project, Robin would be keen to hear from you. Robin & team plan to explore potential problems and solutions within the value chain of high-quality craft beer made from barley that has been produced using intercrops, e.g., barley undersown with grass-clover, or barley grown in a mixture with a grain legume such as pea. Please contact [email protected]. 

 There is a range of intercropping information already available from some of SRUC’s previous projects, such as the ReMIX brochure (PDF) and the YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxVldHWHJAoU8xHNZ0efCQ/videos). These will soon be transferred across to the Intercrop VALUES YouTube channel (IntercropVALUES - YouTube) and website once fully up and running as the project progresses. For further information, please contact [email protected].