In article, we focus on some of the issues surrounding effective soil analysis, against the backdrop of the prolonged wet conditions experienced by many this year. This has led to soils being in their poorest state many have ever known, particularly heavier, higher clay content soils. Careful management will be required to ensure that the problems encountered this year do not carry over into the next. Soil structure is an important consideration when interpreting soil analysis.

There has been a lot of focus recently on environmental schemes, partly as a response to the now rapidly decreasing Basic Payment (Delinked Payments) and partly in response to the rapidly increasing challenges thrown out by the weather; with some areas of the UK facing their third challenging autumn in five years. Some of the […]

Potash (potassium, K) has a major effect on yield and quality of potatoes as well as the general health and vigour of the crop.

Potash use has historically been linked to fears that so-called “luxury” uptake may cause staggers (Hypomagnesaemia) and other mineral disorders in livestock. Although metabolic problems can be costly, so too is sub-optimum use of potash. We review the facts.

The latest PDA news highlights the benefits of potash for cereal crops. Cereal crops need at least as much, if not more, potash than any other nutrient. Potash controls cell sap content to maintain the turgor of the plant and supports the movement of all materials within the plant. Potash supply is thus essential for all nutrient uptake by the roots and movement to the leaves for photosynthesis, and for the distribution of sugars and proteins required for plant growth and grain fill.

Cover and catch cropping form an important cog in the arable regenerative farming wheel, helping to provide soil cover at times when no plants would otherwise be growing, and providing the living roots after harvest to help feed bacteria and fungi that form part of the food web and maintain soils in a healthy state.

Looking back at last season with robust soil and crop analysis data is a fantastic means of assessing how the season went and determining how to improve performance for the coming season with insightful management decisions.

The Fertiliser Manual (RB209) makes recommendations for Phosphate and Potash based on the Index system. This has proved to be the most efficient means of ensuring soils have sufficient available nutrient to optimise crop growth each year, however this one-off assessment may need monitoring to ensure this remains the case for each specific soil type and across the years between sampling and even within fields.

When it comes to crop nutrition, soil pH must be considered the starting point, as the availability of all nutrients are affected by the pH of the soil. The optimum availability of most plant nutrients occurs around a neutral pH of 6.5 to 7, however the optimum pH for soils will vary depending on the soil type and the cropping.

In such uncertain times placing greater scrutiny on all inputs is understandable. However, farmers must be careful not to reduce inputs which are crucial but, like potash, whose benefits are not visual or directly obvious.

During the last four decades, yields of clean beet and sugar in the UK have been increasing linearly, at an average annual rate of 0.8 t/ha of clean beet. In this article, we consider if the currently recommended potash application rates are adequate to support this.

Nitrogen has hit the headlines in the last few months, not just within agriculture, but across the mainstream media on the back of factory closures. Within agriculture the focus has clearly been on the steep price rises and the resulting impact on the economic optimum rates. These calculations are wholly justified, but as is often the case, are very singular focussed.