Blog by Alison Karley, The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK
Staying on top of the latest farming innovations is a tough task – the farming calendar is busy enough without trying to find time to check the latest updates on your social media feeds, read the farming journal that just slapped onto your doormat, take part in any number of online webinars and seminars, or extract useful snippets from ad hoc conversations with neighbours and colleagues. Where to start? Well, you could try coming along to Balruddery Farm on Tuesday 2nd July, where we have done the work for you – bringing together the latest research and industry developments for you to see, test hands-on, and discuss the pros and cons with professionals and colleagues across the sector.
With more than 30 exhibitors from research, breeding, advisory, policy, agro-input and machinery suppliers, we have covered all the bases in arable farming. Research plots will showcase the latest evidence on the environmental outcomes from regenerative agriculture and biodiversity promoting practices. There will be demonstrations of the AHDB’s recommended list cereal varieties, including some from our annual sponsor KWS UK Ltd, as well as new breeding populations, cover crops, and alternative crops like hemp, flax and pulses where new market opportunities are emerging or strengthening. Exhibits range from innovative pest management tools, and farm decision support using online gaming, through to novel crop protection products, and to farm advisory and support networks.
Back for a second year, we have working machinery demonstrations showcasing the latest equipment for cultivation, drilling, precision inputs and soil carbon management. Amongst the equipment on display, you’ll see:
- Amazone self-propelled Pantera
- Amazone Ceus 4000-2TX
- Amazone Catros 6002-2
- Valtra tractor
- One Claas 660 Cematic CEBIS tractor
- One Claas 650 Hexashift CEBIS tractor
- One Claas 650 Hexashift CIS+ tractor
- One Lemken Zirkon 12/300 power Harrow c/w Lemken Solitair 8/300 seed drill
- One Lemken Juwel 7MVU 5 furrow reversible plough
- One Grange Machinery 4 metre CCT tool bar
Check out the event map for a full list of exhibitors
Photo credit to Alan Mackay Machinery
Picture credits for Scot Agri
New for 2024, there is a series of short practical workshops for hands-on training in key skills for arable farming in a new era. To complement the seminar about soil resilience, the AHDB’s Emma Willis will run a short workshop on soil quality assessment. Emma will discuss how to integrate soil biology, physics, and chemistry to assess soil quality as part of the AHDB soil health scorecard and give further practical advice on how to improve and maintain soil health on farm.
Next up, Prof Fiona Burnett (SRUC) and Dr Neal Evans (Voluntary Initiative) will be explaining how to maximise the benefits of integrated management practices. This interactive workshop really gets into the detail of the impacts of integrated pest management (IPM) and explores how they align with regenerative practices. Fiona and Neal will work through some key IPM actions, explaining the available evidence behind them, and discussing and scoring options to reach a consensus on the most useful. The workshop will finish by pointing you towards key resources to keep on with your IPM journey.
Finally, Sebastian Raubach and colleagues at the James Hutton Institute will reveal the hidden secrets underpinning crop assessment in research trials. Phenotypic data collection underpins large parts of crop research and breeding. High accuracy and efficient data collection tools are needed to replace time-consuming hand-written note taking. Sebastian will showcase a novel method of phenotypic trait data collection for crops using a free mobile application called GridScore. Outside of plot trials, GridScore can be used for various data collection purposes. You will get a chance to try the app yourself by scoring plant height of different barley crosses with the variety Karma using a barcoded measuring device.
The workshops will run in the morning and again in the afternoon. Space will be limited, so be sure to book in and secure your place as you enter the reception tent.
