News

New Holland Agriculture partners with The Prince’s Countryside Fund to help three agri-businesses get ‘Up to Speed’ with a free machine for a year

The Prince’s Countryside Fund and New Holland Agriculture are launching their new ‘Up to Speed’ scheme, offering three lucky recipients in the UK the use of a New Holland machine free for a year.

The Fund and New Holland are working together to help ensure that forward thinking farmers can get their business ‘Up to Speed’. The scheme is open to any British farmer who can justify how the loan of a machine will help their business develop and therefore become ‘up to speed’.

This may be:

• A new entrant who could use the machine to kickstart their business.
• An existing farmer who is looking to become more efficient on farm.
• A...

Frederick Hiams Ltd using RTK to improve efficiency in Potato production.

Frederick Hiam Limited is a diverse Farming and Fresh Produce Business, with farms in Suffolk & Cambridgeshire.

Growing a wide range of crops including Potatoes, Onions, Parsnips, Parsley Root, Cereals, Sugar Beet, Maize, Grassland & Forestry. Introducing Precision Farming equipment and using the RTKF Net signal has allowed them to improve efficiencies in all their crop production.

Here’s what they have to say:

“We have been using RTKF Net for 5 years now and it is used across the board with all of our production. For our Potato crops we do all our ridging with RTK, this has allowed us to...

Remote Control System

Our remote control systems enable operation of the engine and compressor from your tractor cab. This gives you the ability to start/stop the engine, control the engine revs, divert back to tank and start/stop the compressor.

The engine shut down system can be built in, in case of any engine failure.

This system is reliable and unbeatable.

We provide a service second to none. All our products are designed and manufactured in house so you deal direct, cutting out any middle man. 24/7 direct line with the designer and manufacturer means you have a back up service no other company can offer.

This system can be installed to existing systems...

UK Agricultural Finance continues to add to its business development team

UK Agricultural Finance (UKAF) hires to help continue its expansion.

UK Agricultural Finance is a specialist business lender to the agricultural sector that offers traditional, responsible lending to farmers throughout England, Scotland and Wales and is expanding due the demand for its services.

Farm finance is on the rise again and brokers able to access specialist business lenders, can really help their clients build their businesses. Farm finance is an attractive sector for brokers as competition is limited, loans tend to be large and secured against real asset.

On the...

Written by Billy Wickham

A study tour in the Netherlands allowed seed potato growers from the United Kingdom (UK) to see first-hand the developments in growing practice of a competing nation.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) head of potato exports, Patrick Hughes, this week joined 22 growers on a three-day mission to see Dutch innovation in action – focussing particularly on grading.

The team, which arrived in Amsterdam on Monday 20, January, visited Van Hees Machinery (VHM), in Ens, to see the company’s current grading equipment before meeting with Dutch farming cooperative Agrico to learn about potato cyst nematode (PCN) controls in the country.

There were...

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow visits Wallasea Island

Written by Defra Press Office


Minister Rebecca Pow with RSPB's Martin Harper (centre right), Natural England's Aidan Lonergan (far left) and Paul Miller of the Environment Agency at Wallasea.

The Environment Minister Rebecca Pow toured RSPB’s Wallasea Island in Essex yesterday, ahead of the introduction of the landmark Environment Bill in the near...

Written by John Swire

A new UK-wide cattle and sheep industry group is to be created to speed up progress against endemic diseases and reputational challenges which are costing the cattle and sheep sectors at least £500 million per year.

An industry consultation* on creating the new group had a strong majority supporting the move in principle, with many believing it will accelerate work to control conditions like liver fluke, mastitis and lameness.

As a result, the new Ruminant Health and Welfare Group (RHWG) will be formed on April 1.

The consultation was facilitated on behalf of the ruminant industry by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Quality Meat Scotland...

Written by John Swire

LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) is offering 60 farmers the chance to participate in pre-pilot trials looking at aspects of the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS), that will pay Land Managers for delivering public goods under the 25 Year Environment Plan.

LEAF, which has nearly 30 years of experience in the development and promotion of sustainable farming delivered through Integrated Farm Management, has been asked by Defra to explore how training and advice can help farmers to provide the ‘public goods’ towards which public money will be directed.

Lucy Bates, ELMS project coordinator from LEAF explains: “We are delighted to be working with Defra in...

Written by Agriland Team

A new network of “landscape leaders” is meeting for the first time to bring about positive environmental change in Scotland at the biggest possible scale.

The group, participating in a new Landscape Leadership programme, includes a mix of private landowners and managers, NGO and community trust land managers, who collectively manage over 80,000ac of land.

All have diverse aims for their landscapes, but are united in their desire to restore climate and nature for Scotland’s future generations.

“A once in a generation change is needed now,” explained David Michie, deputy director of Soil Association Scotland, who will be leading the Landscape Leadership programme...

Written by Agriland Team

AGCO – the company behind the Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Valtra and Challenger agricultural machinery brands – has confirmed a further expansion of its Massey Ferguson manufacturing site in Beauvais, France.

The news was revealed yesterday, Monday, January 20, by Martin Richenhagen, chairman, president and CEO of AGCO at the Choose France summit, led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The expansion is in line with AGCO’s intention to ramp up the site’s production volumes to 18,000 tractors/year.

Announcing the news, Richenhagen said: “We are delighted to keep our promise, made exactly one year ago at the Beauvais 3 Logistic Centre opening event, to...

Written by John Swire

Shepherds are being urged to feed newborn surplus lambs more good quality colostrum during the crucial first 24 hours of life because up to 80% of UK sheep producers may not be feeding enough.

According to results from the annual Volac Lamlac surplus lamb rearing intentions survey, carried out at the end of 2019, only 20% of shepherds plan to feed the industry recommended 210ml per kg of newborn lamb liveweight.

“Just before Christmas we received feedback from more than 300 UK sheep producers about their surplus lamb rearing practices. Encouragingly, more than 85% said they always make sure they administer colostrum to any surplus lambs. However, many should feed a...

Written by Charlotte Cunningham

Farmers could help threatened bee species and improve crop yields with a new wildflower seed mixes according to a study by the University of Sussex, supported by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Charlotte Cunningham reports. Building on recent studies showing the importance of wild bees, the project – led by PhD student, Rachel Nichols – teamed up with Emorsgate Seeds to identity which wildflowers attracted certain bee species in the plots where the wildflower seed is produced. This provided the bees with a super abundance of flowers and so was a very rigorous test of their preferences. The findings of this study also suggest that the current mixes...

Written by Jamie Day

Agronomy services business Agrovista has signed a partnership agreement with Hummingbird Technologies that gives it access to a digital agriculture platform with remote sensing capabilities, as part of its commitment to targeted agronomy. Hummingbird, established as an Imperial College spinout in 2016, has developed a technology platform to capture aerial images of fields from satellite, […]

The post Agrovista partners with Hummingbird over digital agronomy appeared first on AgriTrade News...

Written by Agriland Team

With the lambing season approaching for mid-season flocks, it’s time for farmers to start administering vaccinations.

In particular, a clostridial vaccination should be given to ewes that are four-to-six weeks away from lambing.

It is vitally important that ewes receive this dose as it will have a knock-on effect on their offspring. If ewes are vaccinated on an annual basis it will allow for their antibody levels to remain high, which will then be transferred to the lamb and give it protection.

It is vital that a lamb receives adequate amounts of colostrum within the first few hours of birth.

Clostridia – which is a bacteria – can cause many different types of...

Written by Matt Hopkins

University of Florida scientists are high on new drone technology that can identify two different tomato diseases — […]

The post How Drone Tech Can Help Growers Target Tomato Diseases appeared first on PrecisionAg.

Continue reading on the Precision Ag Website...

Written by Charlotte Cunningham

Over 60% of samples assessed by Bayer in December contained light leaf spot symptoms (3 days after incubation) according to the latest findings from the firm’s SpotCheck initiative. Charlotte Cunningham reports. Mild temperatures throughout the end of 2019 and no prolonged cold spell have resulted in a conducive environment for light leaf spot to develop, particularly latently within the crop, according to Bayer. This, coupled with more and more rainfall furthering the likelihood of new infections, has driven the incidence of light leaf spot symptoms in samples assessed by the SpotCheck initiative. According to Philip Walker, arable plant pathologist at ADAS, the...

Written by Rachel Martin

British Lion has announced plans to pump £1.3 million into its 2020 egg marketing campaign.

The ‘WonderEgg’ campaign focuses on millennials to drive awareness of the nutritional benefits of eggs produced under the British Lion scheme.

In 2019, egg sales to millennials increased by 3% in value and 3.5% in volume in 2019.

Olympic diver and social media star Tom Daley will continue his role fronting the campaign as British Lion egg ambassador.

British Lion is also tapping into the huge growth in podcasts by partnering with Table Manners, hosted by singer Jessie Ware, who entertains her 125,000 listeners a week with celebrity meals and conversation.

The brand will...

Written by Rachel Martin

The long-awaited Bill, which will now start to progress through Parliament, sets out a blueprint for the future of farming in England after the UK leaves the EU, but how have the UK’s rural bodies responded?

The new, revised Bill pledges to reward farmers and land managers with public money for public goods, including higher animal welfare standards, measures to protect wildlife and biodiversity, and actions to adapt to and mitigate climate change.

Another major change is that officials will need to report regularly to Parliament on the UK’s food security.
NFU: Progress, but still protection from imports is still missing

National Farmers’...

Written by Charles O'Donnell

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) says that some of its members are “outraged” over vegan ads appearing on Translink buses in Northern Ireland.

The union says that several of its members have been in contact to express concern over the add, which is being displayed on Translink buses and apparently reads: “It’s not personal choice when someone is killed…use plants or animals.”

The UFU said the ads “wrongly demonise the livestock industry to promote the vegan lifestyle”.

Translink is a public holding company that provides public transport Northern Ireland, including rural and school bus services.

“Our members, many of whom rely on the transportation service of...

Introduction of Agriculture Bill, the launch of the Joint Unit on Waste Crime and calls for greater protection for our ocean

Written by Defra Press Office

Agriculture Bill to boost environment and food production



Today we will introduce our landmark Agriculture Bill to Parliament. This new Agriculture Bill will free farmers from the bureaucracy of the Common Agriculture Policy, boost productivity and reward environmental improvements.

In the future farmers and land managers in England will be rewarded with public...