On Tuesday, Defra announced they would not be accepting any further applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2024 scheme in England. This news has taken everyone in agriculture by surprise and we understand the concern and frustration being felt across the industry. In this blog, knowledge exchange manager Michelle Nuttall and sustainable farming advisors Jim Egan and Fiona Tweedie outline what the changes mean for different circumstances, the updates to look out for and some resources for support.

London wheat closed at £189.30/t last Wednesday before sliding £5.75/t to a low of £183.55/t on Monday. This is the lowest the May contract has traded since early May '24.

Paris wheat followed a similar pattern closing at €226.50/t on 27^th November, trading to a low of €224.5/t on Monday before closing at €228.75/t on Tuesday.

Chicago's May '25 wheat futures contract was the most bearish, trading to its lowest point since the contract started in back in July 2022 and reaching a low of $5.506/bushel on Wednesday.

This content was previously published in our AGRONOMY newsletter, you can read the full issue on our website at www.frontierag.co.uk/agronomy 

As many of you have entered the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme for 2023 and others are now entering SFI 2024, I feel it's important to emphasise that you should consider the whole rotation when deciding on the actions you want to implement on farm. 

Are you new to liquid fertiliser or considering it as part of your crop nutrition programme? Or have you been using it for a while but would like to really make the most of the advantages that it brings?

There are many reasons to consider liquid fertiliser; it can deliver a host of benefits ranging from more precise applications and greater flexibility, to reduced use of plastics and can support you to make the most of your labour, machinery and space. 

During this year's harvest, the industry noted increasing reports of ergot appearing in cereal crops across the country. There are a few theories as to why it's increased over the last few years and why it's so prevalent this season, but it's important to bear in mind the picture can look quite different on a regional basis and there are many factors at play.

As we head into a new season, it's important to consider the potential impact of ergot, subsequent actions when it's found and any management considerations required in the field.

In this blog - originally published as an article in the June issue of Crop Production Magazine - SOYL technical manager, Simon Griffin and head of crop nutrition, Ed Downing, share the value of data collection and how the insights can be used to make more informed, evidence-based decisions. 

Oilseed rape (OSR) has the potential to be one of the most profitable break crops in a rotation, but it isn't without its challenges. Most notable are the difficulties in establishing, maintaining and protecting the crop from cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB).

With the right guidance and support, OSR can deliver profitable margins for your business. But ultimately, crop success is dependent on good establishment so in this blog we're sharing some of the ways to help achieve this. 

This year we've continued to see an elevated amount of storage challenges across the industry, a problem faced by both farmers and professional stores alike.

Last year's harvest was a mixed affair depending on your geographical location, but most experienced a very catchy harvest with varying bulks being presented to stores.

In a lot of scenarios this meant putting product into store that covered many variables (dried, not dried, hot, cool, lower quality, ad-mix etc). For storekeepers, this once again meant that bringing the bulks down in a quick, efficient and consistent manner also put a strain on store equipment.

Looking at the crop that is destined for harvest this summer, the words 'variable quality' probably don't do the challenge facing farm and commercial stores justice. On top of this, there may be some stores which aren't fully emptied ahead of harvest.

In this blog - originally published as an article in the April issue of Crop Production Magazine - closed transfer specialist, Nick Badger, crop production technical lead, Paul Fogg and Richard Garnett of Wisdom Systems look at how closed transfer systems came to fruition and the benefits the technology brings to operators, the environment and the wider agricultural industry. 

Earlier this year, we published a blog about the benefits of growing maize in your 2024 rotation and how the crop can deliver a gross margin equal to a first wheat. We mentioned the positive market opportunities for home-grown maize and the Sustainable Farming Incentive actions that could be incorporated with the crop.

In light of the challenging weather we've faced this winter and early spring, maize could be a great alternative cropping option. Whilst maize can be a very successful crop, it will need looking after just like any cereal crop. In this blog, we'll be highlighting what you can do nutrition-wise to ensure your maize crop receives the boost it needs early on to perform well further down the line. 

If you read my recent blog, you'll be fully informed of how to check the nutrition status of your crop. Attention now turns to final nitrogen applications which will need to be as efficient as possible to make up for this seasons low levels of soil nitrogen.

Your crop requires as much support as possible right now and in this blog I'll be guiding you through the techniques you could implement to ensure this.

Following on from a previous blog about early nutrition strategies, unfortunately due to continued wet weather there has been limited opportunity to complete many field applications. For some, this has been very 'stop/start'. For others, it's been absolutely impossible to get out in the field.

Many of you will be looking for guidance on how to manage the impacts this is having on farm. Let's look at some pointers on how to keep an eye on crop nutrient health as we enter into a period of peak applications and big biomass growth.

Many of you will be aware of the urea stewardship scheme due to come into force in England from 1^st April 2024, however, for some there are still questions as to what the new regulations include.

Back in May 2023 when an early announcement was released about the rules, I outlined everything you needed to know. In this blog, I think some of that information is worthy of a recap, particularly why Defra is focused on the stewardship of urea fertilisers, as well as a reminder of what you need to do in certain scenarios to stay compliant with the regulations. 

Last year I shared some advice in this blog about managing sugar beet to optimise yield, and in it I contemplated what kind of results the autumn was going to bring given some of the widespread late planting we saw.

Now that we're well into 2024, it was great to see the majority of sugar beet crops doing well throughout the tail end of last year. However, for many crops harvest was delayed until January 2024 due to the wet autumn and frosts in early December. 

As the season has been so challenging, it's great to be able to demonstrate the positive results from our variable rate nitrogen (VRN) trials which can make a difference on farm. In this blog, we'll be talking through the benefits and value of this technology, as well as how the findings from the trials can be replicated on your farm to achieve the same positive results.

The recent wet and mild conditions have brought early crop nutrition into sharp focus and you may be looking to address some of the negative impacts on any autumn-drilled cereal crops.

During autumn 2023, most of the UK experienced significantly above average rainfall and this depleted soils of any residual nitrogen. There's also no doubt that rooting was compromised due to waterlogging. 

This blog is a combination of insights and guidance for crop nutrition, variable rate technology and biostimulants – all of which can play an important role in your spring strategy to boost biomass and maximise profit margins. If you follow some of the below guidance, any lacklustre crops should stand the best chance of turning things around in time.

Last month, I had the privilege of talking about Frontier's closed transfer system (CTS) at LAMMA as part of the event's Live Theatre sessions. I was thrilled to be able to bring this innovative piece of technology to the show, highlighting the benefits it's already bringing many farmers and sprayer operators at a time when on-farm safety, product stewardship and sustainable farming are extremely important.

While at the event, I had great conversations with visitors about the equipment – many of whom had questions about the technology as well as the practicalities of adopting it on farm. I thought it'd be great to reflect on these discussions here and explain why the closed transfer system is proving such a valuable solution for many growers.

Throughout 2023, the weather played its part for many maize growers. Adverse conditions made the task of growing a successful crop interesting to say the least.

Maize sowing was delayed in many areas due to a very wet March and April. It was then followed by drought conditions into June where the heat set maize on its way to record harvest yields. July arrived and so did the rain - just in time for cereal harvest! It almost feels like it hasn't stopped raining since.

Five new varieties of winter wheat have been added to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Recommended List for 2024. These new arrivals offer valuable alternatives for planting next autumn and bring some much-needed diversity to the feed wheat sector, breathing fresh life into the tired looking Group 1 bread-making and Group 3 biscuit markets.

During the recent visit from Storm Babet, exceptional levels of rainfall fell in a short period and saturated a lot of land in many parts of the UK. The concern now – particularly with more rain on the way – is the interruption caused to drilling progress, with some fields already destined for spring cropping. Crops drilled more recently have also been affected by waterlogging and significant runoff, which causes ruts and the loss of seed.

If you've found you're experiencing some of these issues in the aftermath of such severe rainfall, you're probably wondering what the best course of action is. Depending on your situation, there are a few options that could still mean you're able to get a crop in the ground and off to a good start.