Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland open day

You are invited to join us at the second Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland Open Day, hosted by David Aglen

We look forward to welcoming you on-farm to look at the current Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland trials.

Agenda

13:00 Welcome to Strategic Farm Scotland; Adrian James, AHDB

13:05 Update on RL review; Jenna Watts, AHDB

13:15 Introduction to Strategic Farm Scotland; David Aglen, Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland host

• An overview of the farm’s cropping, soil type, constraints and ambitions
• Rationale behind trials at Strategic Cereal Farm Scotland

13:40  Agroecology; Dr Ali Karley, James Hutton Institute

• Diversifying agroecosystems with mixed species cropping, intercropping and cover cropping

14:00  Introduction to harvest 2023 trials; Fiona Burnett, SRUC

• Using cover crops ahead of direct drilled spring barley, comparing different destruction methods. Assessments include soil, biodiversity and spring barley crop development.
• Drill dates for spring barley establishment, measuring conditions such as soil moisture and temperature at different drilling dates.
• Comparing nitrogen application methods to improve nitrogen use efficiency
• Testing a crop throughout the season and adjusting the nutrition accordingly to see if it improves crop health enough to withstand pest/disease in the absence of pesticides.

14:15  Farm walk to look at Harvest 2023 trials, including practical ‘how to’ sessions

• Soil structure and water availability with Ken Loades, James Hutton Institute
  • In-field measures to understand the relationship between soil structure and water flow, including dye tracing, visual evaluation of soil structure (VESS) and hydraulic conductivity
• Biodiversity with Lorna Cole, SRUC
  • Looking at different insect survey techniques – including using pitfall traps, aphid bait cards, pollinator counts
• Crop nutrition and rooting with Fiona Burnet and Steve Hoad, SRUC
  • Investigating how management decisions are affecting crop development

16:15 Q&A session         

16:45 Event close with BBQ

This meeting is free to attend, but please register using the 'Book Now' button so that we can organise catering.

BASIS and NRoSO points will be available for attending.

Please bring suitable footwear and clothing for a field walk.

Find out more about our Farm Excellence programme.

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