Episodes
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In agriculture there are many periods of 'watch and wait' which gives the impression that farming is a laid back industry, but nothing could be further than the truth. The speed of change hitting the industry at present is exhausting. As one hill is climbed, another appears on the horizon, many currently feel they are looking at a mountain range.
Whilst we at BBRO can do little to level the landscape, we hope that we provide enough information to make growing sugar beet easier to navigate. This month we encourage you not only to engage more with us but to also look at the plethora of events and discussion groups available to you, that might just help provide that all important guide rope over the coming months.
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With a special day approaching many growers will be wondering what they might find under the tree. Well BBRO's wish list, or to be more accurate Alistair's wish list does not entail large shiny vehicles, he's looking for something slightly smaller and with the help of Roger Barker from Living Optics he puts a small package with big potential to the test.
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Missing episodes?
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Autumn is a time for reflection but also for change, and in sugar beet things are certainly changing with the introduction of a new way to secure your seed. Nick Morris (British Sugar) and Arthur Marshall (NFU Sugar) explain the changes and the advantages these could bring to growers.
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Chairman of the Sugar Beet RL Board Mr Mike May joins us this month to explain some of the processes of the RL variety selection and how these data can be used by growers.
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With much interest in cover crops this autumn we speak to both Dr Georgina Barratt and Dr Alistair Wright about their thoughts and what to expect from the BBRO research currently taking place.
We also meet with industry stalwart, Tricia Cullimore, who has just retired from NIAB following 52 years of trials and the sugar beet Recommended List.
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If your beet leaves have become 'holey' it could be the Silver Y moth at play, so please watch your crop carefully throughout July for this pest and for any signs of foliar disease such as Cercospora Leaf Spot.
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'Tis the season of events! The BBRO team have been out and about meeting growers and discussing some of the in-field issues and hopes for this season's crop.
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With so many tillage choices, how do you ensure you have made the right choice for your soil, the conditions and your crop? BBRO are investigating these implications at Holkham Farming with interesting results.
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With a high Virus Yellows forecast and aphids expected around the 10th April we look at mitigation strategies to help growers protect the crop in 2024.
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We join Simon Bowen and Stephen Aldis at a Drill Operators training day, to hear the latest info on improving crop population, establishment and ultimately yield through good preparation and drilling.
We also meet with 5 drill manufacturers; Grimme, Kverneland, Kuhn, Monosem and Vaderstad.
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As many experienced harvester drivers will tell you there is a lot more to harvesting a good beet crop than you'd think. We spend some time in the cab with a new driver and carry out a harvester test to really put him through his paces - will he pass muster?!
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First podcast of 2024. We look at a frequent grower question received during the 2023 campaign. Walking through the collection of data process at British Sugar with Perry Bateman and then hearing from Simon Bowen regarding some of the potential influences to low sugars and higher impurities.
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Quite a few growers are using or considering the use of cover crops, but getting the species mix is only one consideration, you also need to plan for destruction particularly where followed by sugar beet. Roger Bradbury, sugar beet lead for Bayer Cropscience and Dr Georgina Barratt (BBRO) discuss the use of glyphosate.
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Whilst weather stopped play, for trials harvesting the BBRO team took some well earned time out and visited Beet Europe in France, and came home with a wish list.
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We visit one of the BBRO trial sites to see the impact of Virus Yellows on varieties available for drilling in 2024 and also discuss some of the exciting findings regarding new material being tested for future use.
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Many of us have stood mesmerised at agricultural shows watching a robotic display and wondering if they have a place on the farm. Well Sentry Farming have partnered with Autonomous Agri Solutions and BBRO to test the theory in a commercial sugar beet field. We meet those involved to see how things have worked out in the first year of trial.
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With the sugar beet seed order being imminent, we discuss what to look for in variety traits and how to use this knowledge to shape your choices for the 2024 crop.
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The crop is now surging ahead with good canopy cover across much of the growing region. With this in mind we look to our fungicide programmes to ensure the canopy remains healthy to optimise yield potential.
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Catch up with the topics of conversation following our May BeetField events.
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As we enter May the first of the aphids are known to be in flight, so as they launch so do we by commencing the aphid survey. This year monitoring is ramped up with 12 special monitoring sites.
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