Written by cpm
Download PDF Farmer-led groups, co-ordinated by scientists, are exploring innovative ways to boost OSR productivity and combat cabbage stem flea beetle. CPM reviews some results. You can’t underestimate how rewarding it is carrying out a trial and having a scientist on your farm. By Tom Allen-Stevens It may seem a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face, but early trials work conducted by a group of farmers suggests cutting or grazing oilseed rape can significantly reduce damage from cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) larvae. The snag is that the first year of trials have also resulted in an average yield penalty of 14% from the winter defoliation. A second year of trials is now underway aiming to explore this practice further and shed more light on how timing in particular could have an influence. It’s carried out through Innovative Farmers, a network that supports farmers who want to carry out on-farm trials. Launched in 2015, this brings groups of farmers together who work directly with a researcher to design field labs – on-farm trials that can be set up quickly and are designed to be practical. The group decides on the topic and the researcher helps design…
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