Weed mapping has been around, in various guises, for some time. For example, it might be in real-time by identifying weeds in the field and directing a spray nozzle during application. Or it could be based upon creating maps of weed infestations ahead of application. Application technology will get more accurate and, if we allow our minds to wander...

The weather has improved lately and workload for growers and advisors has increased. I am a relatively new member of the crop applications team at SOYL precision and I thought I'd share some insight into our role and how we support farmers. The crop applications team - what we do to support farmers: We create fertiliser recommendations for over one...

Recent dry and warm weather has encouraged oilseed rape crops into full flower and the countryside is dappled with bright, yellow fields. It is easy at this stage to forget about the preceding weather and the impact it has had on managing these crops this year. The relatively warm autumn and early winter meant that soil nitrogen levels were potenti...

After an extremely cold and wet period across March and early April, it's good to finally see some warm and dry weather. In fact, we had the warmest April day for nearly 70 years, so the change in forecast has been quite remarkable to say the least. This has been great for crop growth and has allowed significant amounts of spring crops to be drille...

Well, what a change in the weather. Spring has finally sprung after two autumnal weeks. Crops will now begin to move rapidly through their growth stages. The long-range weather forecast shows rain is forecast but in and around some bright sunny weather, allowing growers to finally catch up with their long list of outstanding jobs. The recent weathe...

SOYL have undertaken a nitrogen sampling project at a number of sites across the UK. These sites had a range of differing soil types, allowing us to assess over-winter changes in soil nitrogen levels. A comparison of nitrogen levels in March, compared with those measured in November, has shown a significant over-winter loss, averaging 50kg/ha N or ...

T1 is one of the key fungicide timings and can be the most variable from a fungicide input point of view. T2 is widely regarded as the most important timing and brings the best yield responses, by protecting the flag leaf. T1 can be used for anything from protecting the freshly emerged leaf-three through to playing catch up because of the weather. ...

​New season fertiliser will be upon us in the next couple of months. With many farmers caught out by this season's price rise, what can you do today to mitigate your risk? What caused this year's price trend? Global urea values increased by £60 per tonne throughout the season. China – the world's biggest producer – had reduced exports by almos...

The AHDB Recommended List saw the addition of four new wheat varieties available to market for crop 2019. With many of my growers in the south seeking more information on these additions, I thought it would be worthwhile taking a look at the pros and cons of each as well as investigating how they compare against current options.  1. RGT Gravit...

Often overlooked, the humble grain moisture meter is a significant piece of equipment that can help to determine the key characteristics of your crop while harvesting, drying and ensuring the correct storage. Accurate readings are crucial for safeguarding the condition of your grain so it's important to ensure your meter is in full-working order. W...

While a distant memory, the warm, dry weather of October and November allowed most winter crops to be drilled in fairly good conditions and establish well. It also encouraged mineralisation, producing good levels of nitrogen to aid early growth. In fact, in the run up to Christmas it very much looked like soil nitrogen levels would be higher than n...

Well, the winter workshop campaign has finished for another year and was hugely successful – it is always a pleasure to tour the country seeing our customers. At the workshops, I talked about what we have been developing at SOYL over the last year, as well as how and why farmers should be using these innovations within their businesses. Importance ...

SOYL have been conducting trials using variable rate plant growth regulators (PGRs) on both winter oilseed rape and winter wheat. The premise for variable applications on both crops is the same – that there will be a yield benefit from applying a full rate of PGR on crops that are at risk from lodging because of over-large canopies. However, if the...

Over the past few seasons, SOYL has been developing precision farming services for the grassland industry. Grass is the UK's largest crop and is grown in every county. A particular area that became a focus was that of pasture management and we discussed this during our winter workshops. A grassland and livestock famer needs to make constant decisio...

Although the 'beast from the east' has now left us, it certainly made an impact in Herefordshire by bringing with it a blanket of snow and -5 temperatures, not least with the chaos it caused across the country. Because of this, it's not surprising that input discussions and fertiliser recommendations were put on hold. However, ahead of the storm we...

It is always the first question we get asked when it comes to customer iPads – is mine compatible when it comes to variable rate? It's easy to assume that "an iPad is an iPad, so it will just work" but unfortunately this is not always the case. Some iPads only have wifi capabilities as opposed to 4G data, while others may not have a GPS module insi...

As you may already know, over the last couple of months we've been speaking to growers up and down the country as part of our series of #3DThinking seminars. We've seen a great turnout and the seminars give us a really good opportunity to talk about our trials progress and the discoveries made so far. In particular, I've been sharing our findi...

I had the privilege of meeting England 1966 World Cup goal scorer Sir Geoff Hurst at the beginning of my career. Sir Geoff was giving an after dinner speech at an awards ceremony during my time at Bishop Burton College. One of the things he said to us was: "Go out and be the best you can be in your chosen field and never give up." These words are a...

Recently, there have been huge variations in weather between the counties and over very short distances. A generalisation that it has been either wet or dry wouldn't necessarily be true for all. With that in mind, I want to take a look at the weather and the influence this has had on soils and cropping over winter. In Herefordshire and the three co...

We are now over half way through the marketing year, with harvest '18 in our sights. I am based out of our Ross-on-Wye Frontier office, farm trading in the West and with our grain markets still at relatively static levels this has sparked more focus for long holders to start securing end markets for old crop grain. Many growers across the three cou...