Agricultural contractors are being advised to watch out for yellow rust in their winter wheat.

Although most agricultural contractors are wary to the relatively higher risks of septoria, yellow rust is common on wheat varieties Oakley and Robigus. Those contractors that have drilled Viscount and Solstice should remain alert to the potential spread of this disease.

 Early drilled crops are currently at T0, with administrations of fungicides being crucial to help prevent the threat of yellow rust, however, those crops which were sown later may not be getting protection at the right time. An expert agronomist advises that agricultural contractors adjust the T0 timing for those crops that are at increased risk.

Further south in the country, wheat crops in Devon are displaying high levels of mildew and septoria, whereas agricultural contractors in Hampshire are reporting crops at GS30 stage, hence not quite ready for T0 applications. An agronomist from AICC recommends that at T0 and T1 spraying follows robust procedures, with fairly significant applications of triazole.  He advises that agricultural contractors would benefit their yields and long-term profits to start off with an aggressive program, which can always be reduced as the crop progresses if possible.

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The grain markets are again in the news, but this time for the considerable drops in the futures. Agricultural contractors will be keeping an eye on the market and may be hanging off selling for the time being.

Last week old crop wheat prices dropped by £8.50/t. In the past eight months British agricultural contractors are used to seeing futures rise by unexpected amounts, so what has contributed to this decrease? A spokesman for Openfield claims that the short supplies across Europe will not influence British grain futures until early summer, as currently agricultural contractors in the UK have been priced out of the world export markets.

Furthermore, agricultural contractors outside of Europe are more positive in their expected yields. America have been experiencing some much needed rain, improving the prospects of their emerging crops. China also announced that it is storing 100m tonnes of wheat, coupled with news that their drought situation is improving, this has helped to reduce the pressure on European sources.

On a final note those at ruralcontractor would like to spare a thought for the lives lost in Japan and for the Japanese farmers who have seen a large part of the agricultural land washed away in a matter of minutes.

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Agricultural contractors may be eager to read the new publication of the SAC Recommended List of cereal varieties.

 This years publication should benefit agricultural contractors when designing their drilling program. As well as providing a list of grain varieties to choose from, the publication also advices agricultural contractors in the North as to which types are best suited to their growing conditions.

A few exciting new varieties have been added to the list compared to previous years, making it slightly lengthier, giving agricultural contractors more options to weigh up. However, some varieties have dropped down the rankings falling in to the ‘outclassed’ section.

With regard to barley planting, Optic remains a strong contender, thanks to its proven reliability. Two new additions to the spring barley list include Shuffle, which is a high yielding grain and Moonshine, which matures early.

Agricultural contractors thinking of drilling wheat this coming season will find that for whisky production Viscount and Alchemy are still the key leaders in this field. However, two new recommendations include the high yielding, strong disease resistant varieties of Gravitas and Denman. For wheat destined for the biscuit making market Tuxedo is considered an exciting new variety, with improved disease resistance and similar yields compared to Robigus. 

For more comprehensive information agricultural contractors are recommended to read this latest publication by the SAC.

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This week is the 20^th anniversary of National Chip Week! National Chip Week was the inspiration of the Potato Council in an endeavour to increase the awareness and consumption of potatoes.

 In keeping with this theme, scientific investigations have revealed a new method for agricultural contractors to increase their potato yields.

Current irrigation procedures require the application of approximately 42 – 60 tonnes of water to produce 1 tonne of grade 1 potatoes. However, a research project funded by DEFRA has shown that applying just 23 tonnes using water scheduling can produce the same yield of the highest grade of potato. However, as the current investigations were conducted on only 1 hectare the application of these findings to agricultural contractors farming large areas of land is yet to be shown.

 The potential benefits of these results for agricultural contractors will be present in increased yields for lower economic input. By using a drip fertigation process, at scheduled times, this new irrigation system is set to reduce the amount of chemicals as well as water which need to be applied to potato crops.

 The three year trial conducted ends this year, after which EMR are set to produce guidelines and regulations to fully inform agricultural contractors on this irrigation system.

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In a bid to encourage more farmers and agricultural contractors to take active involvement in the Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) Jim Paice has threatened to enforce agricultural contractors to set-aside land.

The CFE encourages farmers to create and keep environmental stewardships. In particular these stewardships should be focused on benefiting British wildlife. The CFE was created to improve the environment after the withdrawal of set-aside land in 2009. Although the campaign started as a voluntary initiative for agricultural contractors to partake in, Mr Price currently feels that farmers are not being sufficiently supportive.

 Mr Price stated that the farming community need to show that they can prioritise their local environmental needs themselves, without the requirement of legal enforcement. However, with the increase in cereal prices it seems that less agricultural contractors are willing to leave land un-farmed and follow the guidelines of the CFE.

 Defra will be posting out their annual survey to 5,500 land owners and agricultural contractors across England in order to establish what measures have been currently activated to support the CFE. The results of this survey are predicted to have a substantial impact on the future of the campaign.

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Unite, the union which was created as a voice for farm workers, such as agricultural contractors have submitted a pay proposal to the NFU. Unite, which currently has 154,000 members, proposed a ‘substantial counter-inflationary pay rise’ for agricultural contractors in England and Wales. They also appealed for a public holiday on April 28^th to celebrate Workers Memorial Day. Unite plan to release more detailed information behind their claims prior to the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) meetings in June. In October a new Agricultural Wages Order will be created. Unites initiatives are designed to improve the health and safety of the farming industry and acknowledge that farming is a highly skilled sector. 

The NFU have described these proposals as ‘outrageous demands’. This response has caused much criticism from agricultural contractors. Unite national officer commented that the NFU opinions were ‘disappointingly familiar’.

Unite are concerned that agricultural contractors are facing a very difficult year, with the substantial increases in the price of food and fuel farmers will find it hard to keep going. Unite want the NFU to acknowledge the serious consequences of the current economic climate by forgetting previous disagreements and work together to ensure agricultural contractors get a fair deal from the supermarkets.

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Agricultural contractors who are currently planning nitrogen applications are advised to review the performance of last years crops prior to making their standard crop walk inspections. Peter Dampney, from ADAS, informs agricultural contractors that factors such as soil characteristics and history of the field are more significant in their contributions to determining the nitrogen requirements than seasonal factors.

The impact of the cold weather means that crops are more likely to benefit from the first applications of nitrogen in February/ March than in previous years. Crops extract less nitrogen from the soil when it is cold; this has two implications for agricultural contractors. Firstly, crops especially OSR, are lagging in development. Secondly, nitrogen which has fed into crops is at reasonable risk of leaching, DEFRA rainfall maps are yet to be released which will help inform agricultural contractors of key at-risk areas.

 Although some crops are looking in need for nitrogen applications, Allison Grundy (GrowHow) advises agricultural contractors not to be too keen to apply their first applications. Nitrogen applied to soil temperatures below 5C is unlikely to be soaked up efficiently by the crops, wasting both money and time.

 Agricultural contractors are also reminded to keep careful records of their nitrogen planning in order to comply with the new legislations to Nitrate Vulnerable Zone program.

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At the Association of Independent Crop Consultants conference in Birmingham last week discussion of the Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP, as it is more commonly referred to as, was high on the agenda.

It is predicted that agricultural contractors will see a direct loss in payments after 2013 as a result of the averaging out of payment levels over the European Union. As it stands the level of payments given to agricultural contractors differs widely from country to country, for example, agricultural contractors in Latvia receive the equivalent to  £17.60 per hectare, in comparison to Greece’s £340/ha.

Mr Gooch, speaking for Smith’s Gore, suggested that there could be an emergence of a three tier system. Tier 1 would be cross-compliance as it currently stands, tier 2 would be an extra band, for agricultural contractors who where actively supporting steps to improve environmental efficiency, and tier 3 would be direct payments for those farming in more challenging areas, with specific natural constraints. 

 Together these two steps of averaging and moving direct payments to specific areas are thought to have direct losses for agricultural contractors, specifically the second step is likely to be significant for farmers in the lowland sector. 

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It is feared that agricultural contractors will be the loosers in the new supermarket price wars. With the increase in VAT the 4 major supermarkets have announced active price cuttings. Most noticeably Asda have promised that the average shopping bill will be 10% less than Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons.

 Whilst this may seem good news to shoppers, the supermarkets are going to be seeking to reduce their profit loss by making cuts of their outgoings, with agricultural contractors being the principal targets. In particular dairy farmers are thought to be highly vulnerable, with the price of milk being sold for less than a bottle of spring water in most supermarkets.

 NFU president, Peter Kendall has called for the immanent introduction of a retail watchdog to ensure that agricultural contractors are not the subjects of irresponsible exploitation. However, the British Retail Consortium oppose this idea, claiming that there is no evidence that agricultural contractors are the victims of competition between the supermarket giants.

 Finally, a thought must go out to the agricultural contractors of Australia, who are expected to faces losses of over $1.5 billion (£948 million), with the devastation of crop land in the recent floods. Some agricultural contractors are reporting individual looses of the equivalent of £2.5 million, with over 10,000 ha of wheat and cotton crops being destroyed. However, these losses should be put into perspective by remembering that 15 lives have (to date) been lost and over 50 people reported missing.

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