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Premium Crops have published a new Linseed a new Growers Guide booklet in association with CPM Magazine...

 (click on the image to view the booklet on CPM's website)

  "CPM is pleased to support this technical guide that's been compiled by Premium Crops. The company's put considerable investment into testing varieties for the UK market and developing the agronomy of the crop. Much of that information has been brought together into this guide" - Tom Allen Stevens, Editor CPM

The NIAB TAG Cabbage stem flea beetle survey has now gone live, in this its third year. Reports from across the country suggest that the problem is may be less bad in Cambridgeshire this year but has continued to spread out north and west and south.

NIAB TAG have issued the following message to growers....

"To give us a really good grasp of the true situation, if you are a NIAB TAG member and you want to participate go to the membership website and the section on Crowd sourcing. Early-sown crops will be at the make or break point by now in which case, please respond now. For later-sown crops it might be more informative to wait for a few more weeks.

Select the survey for Growing Season 2017/18

https://www.niabnetwork.com/dashboard/crowdsource/#/osrcabbagestemflea/

For some, the default option brings up the 2016/17 survey so please go to the top of the page and select the new 2017/18 season from the growing season options.

When you get to the map the message at the bottom says “niabnetwork.com wants to track your physical location”.  Please click “Allow once” and the map will zoom in to your part of the country and make it easy to find your farm.

Now you can get started! Go to the + sign in the bottom which allows you to click and drag the pin (top symbol) to drop onto your farm, or to select t i for more information. There are two options to start with:

1. We very much want to hear from farmers who have gone out of rape growing. In this case, select and drop a pin onto your farm and take the ‘given up growing OSR option. Press Save and this leaves a black marker on the map.
2. If you are growing rape this season drop a pin onto a field and answer the questions on:
   1. Type of variety (hybrid/conventional)
   2. Sowing date
   3. Pre-emergence herbicide used? (Yes/No)
   4. Establishment method (autocast/direct drill/non-inversion/sub-cast/plough)
   5. Cropped area (hectares in that field)
   6. Number of insecticides sprayed (type a number)
   7. Flea beetle damage assessment (for that field):
   8. No damage (perhaps occasional shot holes)
      • Mild damage (Frequent shot holes on cotyledons and true leaves)
      • Moderate damage (plant loss and gappy establishment)
      • Severe damage (widespread grazing damage and some bare patches)
      • Complete crop loss (enough to consider crop write-off/re-sowing)
   9. Once you have completed the process and saved, a coloured marker will appear reflecting the field crop area and the damage level.
3. Please go through the exercise for as many of your fields as you can.

Very many thanks in advance for your help in trying to get to grips with this devastating pest and working together to find a strategy to beat it.

If you get stuck, please send me a message on simon.kightley@niab.com or 01223 342339"