July is over and so is the fifth month of grass harvesting, so only another three and a bit months left to go! This year we have welcomed a new addition to the grass breeding team to assist with those harvests, a new Haldrup F-55 forage plot harvester. This machine has been designed to provide highly accurate results from testing so that growers can have confidence that varietal performance on trial plots will be repeated on farm. DSV runs multiple co-operative projects with manufacturers and researchers into the development of these machines and other new technologies to improve our breeding.

Whilst most grass fields will have produced 70-80% of their out-put for the year, please don’t stop looking after them now. You would not dream of neglecting a cow if she was “drying off” or a ewe if you had just weaned her lambs, you would start laying the foundations for the next productive season. Think of your pasture in the same way.

 A new strategic alliance of industry innovators has been formed to accelerate the identification and development of new technologies to help growers adapt to the challenges of crop production in the future.

 AD4PT brings together machinery specialist Horsch, crop protection organisation ADAMA, plant breeder DSV and adjuvant and biostimulant experts Interagro, with the vision of challenging conventional thinking and testing new approaches.

DSV’s new virtual trial plot tour is designed to give visitors all the latest information on the company’s varieties across all crop types and go some way to replacing the experience they would have had at this year’s technical events, says the company’s Sarah Hawthorne.

Accessible by computer, tablet or phone, the interactive site features videos, pop-ups and links to DSV’s main website with information on wheat, barley, oilseed rape, forages and maize varieties as well as featuring a section on Turnip Yellow Virus, she explains.

Growing oilseed rape only on ground that will give it the best chance to thrive, optimising nutrition and managing drilling dates carefully, is critical to establishing the crop successfully, says Sentry Ltd’s business director John Barrett. Responsible for farms throughout East Anglia and the South East, he believes Clearfield technology can also help significantly in terms of the crop’s early management.