7th February 2018 – Nafferton Farm Spring Wheat trial photos
Holly Jones2018-02-12T15:47:06+00:00
Progress photos of the Spring Wheat trial site at Nafferton Farm.
7th February 2018 – Cockle Park Farm Spring Wheat trial photos
Holly Jones2018-02-12T15:44:04+00:00
Progress photos of the Spring Wheat trial site at Cockle Park Farm. The crop growing well. The project team are due to meet on the 22nd February to discuss spray regimes.
11th January 2018 – Trail plots at Stockbridge Technology Centre
Holly Jones2018-01-15T09:28:16+00:00
Trial sites at Stockbridge Technology Centre. So far the crop has good establishment. The ground is wet but not too bad for this time of year.
The project will focus on it’s spray program for 2018.
2nd January 2018 – Trial plot at Nafferton site
Holly Jones2018-01-11T10:53:10+00:00
The trial plot at Nafferton, University of Newcastle
19th December 2017 – Farmers Guardian
Holly Jones2017-12-21T16:18:55+00:00Following our conference last month there was a write up of the project details in the Farmers Guardian: https://www.fginsight.com/news/trials-show-biopesticide-potential-47360
9th December 2017 – Spore diagnostic equipment
Holly Jones2017-12-21T16:44:01+00:00Following on from the conference last month, discussions continue as to how the project could utilise spore diagnostic equipment to pre-empt disease periods. The operational group hope to obtain a device to monitor this in the New Year.
The Spore diagnostic equipment would be able to identify:
- Septoria – tritici but also nodorum
- Rusts – yellow (brown to a lesser extent)
- Tan Spot
- Powdery Mildew
- Fusarium
23rd November 2017 – Crop Health North Conference
Holly Jones2017-12-21T16:46:40+00:00Crop Health North held a conference on Thursday 23rd November aimed to inspire farmers and agronomists to think differently about how biopesticides for wheat could have a role to play in the future. The audience learnt why biopesticides have been used and what effect they have on the plant’s health. This was an opportunity to explore different methods of practice sharing ideas on how to develop the project further. Following the presentations explaining the spring wheat trail findings, the biological product that is being used and the trial design for next year’s winter wheat trials, the audience had an opportunity to participate in a round table discussion. Themes that came up included;
- Can the project analyse conventional timings vs. optimum biological timings.
- Can the project use spore capture technology to identify when spores land?
- Can the project demonstrate financial viability?
- Can the project access crop monitor farm data as a comparison?
- Can the biological add value through nutrition uptake?
- What is the perception of biologicals with farmers and the general public?
You can view the presentations here:
Crop Health North Overview by Prof Rob Edwards
IPM and Biopesticide use in Arable Crops by Dr Roma Gwynn
An Introduction to Bayer Biologicals by Tim Lacey
Tom talks through the spring wheat trials and plot designs for next year’s winter wheat.
23rd October 2017 – Further drilling
Holly Jones2017-12-21T16:35:20+00:00The crop was successfully drilled at Stockbridge Technology Centre.
16th October 2017 – Drilling preparations
Holly Jones2017-12-21T16:36:14+00:00Nafferton and Cockle Park farms successfully drilled for winter wheat earlier this week. The two wheat varieties the trial will focus on are Skyfall and Leeds. The thousand grain weight (TGW) for Skyfall is 54g and Leeds is 51g. Both have 98% germination. The trials will run 6 replicates on each site of the three sites, Nafferton farm, Stockbridge Technology Centre and Cockle Park farm. You can find out more about our work package 2 here: https://www.crophealthnorth.co.uk/work-packages/
4th July 2017 – Spring Wheat Demonstration Day
Holly Jones2020-02-10T15:39:34+00:00It was a rather wet and drizzly day for our Spring Wheat Demonstration Day in the North East. The event took place on Tuesday 4th July near Morpeth and was open to all who were interested to learn about the progress of the trials.
Prof Rob Edwards chaired the discussions and we heard from Tom King, Eurofins, who is leading on the trial site analysis at Cockle Park and Nafferton Farms.
Left to right: Mulika variety Conventional, Conventional/Biological ( Integrated Pest management, IPM), Biological
Observations from the samples:
The Mulika examples look a lot dirtier – you can see the yellowish leaves. Due to the brighter and drier weather conditions this year, there has not been a great amount of disease. It will be useful to see the yield of the grain and the protein content and to make a visual comparison with Stockbridge Technology Centre based further south. These samples have not been counted and were for observation purposes only. This may not necessarily be a negative. The vision of the trial is to see how plants can increase their natural defences. A plant may have yellow septoria, however, could be a stronger variety as a whole and better equipped to fight off disease.
Trial Site, Cockle Park Farm, Morpeth