Sometimes you just have to make your own luck! Despite a poor forecast, yesterday offered the possibility of cutting oilseed rape in the Borders. Despite early morning drizzle, by mid afternoon conditions improved considerably and the combines rolled into our final rape site.

It was a busy but productive weekend for the trials team. Making the most of the good weather before the rain arrived saw trials in Fife on oilseed rape, winter oats, triticale and linseed harvested, generating plenty of samples to keep them busy if the weather is as wet as the forecast.

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Third and final WB site combined on Friday. As combines cut the North site, teams have been processing the data and testing the grain of the individual trials. Attention will then turn to oilseed rape 🚜

All revved up with somewhere to be. Some of the plot combines poised to finish the winter barley at Balgonie. Yields so far have been a pleasant surprise 👍

Blue skies and dust flying as we make a sharp start to winter barley harvest in the Borders 🌞 Glorious conditions for the combines to have their first day out before moving to our Central site next week 🌾

Combines on the move to the Scottish Borders in preparation for the first of the winter barley trials coming ready next week🌾🌾

scottishagronomy.co.uk/meetings/9th...

Informative day at Groundswell for Trials Manager and Agronomist, Douglas and Donald. Meeting some new and familiar faces with interesting seminars on different systems and challenges.

What a day! 🌞🌞🌞 Thank you to all of those who came to our Trials Day. It was great to see so many there and have a chance to catch up over the BBQ. Conversations across the day were exactly what we like to see and hope the day gave you plenty to take back to your business.

A win for Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and a day with low enough winds to spray are rare events at the moment, but thankfully today we have both as the trials team make good progress with wheat T3’s and spring barley T2’s at Balgonie

🥔 Great turnout at Swirlburn Farm today. The Angus Potato Group gathered for a morning of knowledge sharing, kindly hosted by the Geddes family. A massive thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the discussions.

Luke's last day working with us and what better way to finish than with a heads count in Winter Barley.🌾 Many thanks for all your hard work Luke and we all wish you well on your travels far and wide. 🛺✈️🚂🚖🏖️⛺️

Why variety trials are so important. This year’s wheat trials are a perfect demonstration of the importance of untreated plots as the rapidly evolving Yellow Rust picture seems to be slightly different from last year’s major shift. 🤔

The Balgonie sites looks glorious, with the current broken weather encouraging disease development and good differences already clearly visible between varieties and treatments. We look to welcome members to the site on the 23rd of June for this year’s Open Day.

The early bird catches the morning weeds. Small team out early this morning to get sprays on the herbicide trials, while conditions are good. ⛅️🌱

The trials team have earned their energy drinks this week. After a massive weeks spraying involving over 400 separate tank applications to plots on 18 sites from the Borders to Easter Ross, there is no rest whatsoever.

Great article by Adam in this weeks Farmers Weekly, discussing the challenges facing spring barley growers in the whisky industry as whole. 🌾 www.fwi.co.uk/arable/barle...

Whisky slowdown hits Scottish malting barley - Farmers Weekly

Spring barley is the cornerstone of Scottish arable farming, accounting for 50% of all cropping across the country. More than half of this production is

fwi.co.uk

Interesting day discussing opportunities for pulses at an event facilitated by SAOS and BOFIN. As an added bonus the group was hosted by members who are making innovative use of home grown peas to produce climate neutral gin at the Arbikie distillery.

Greg gives a view from the North in @FarmersWeekly's latest Crop Watch, as Agronomists across the UK look at the variability of spring crops and disease pressures for this season. www.fwi.co.uk/arable/crop-...

Crop Watch: Variable spring barleys and weed control in potatoes - Farmers Weekly

This week, our agronomists discuss the variability of spring barley crops, with some having patchy emergence and are struggling. And in Scotland, potato

fwi.co.uk

Active yellow rust in a high-risk coastal Angus wheat crop last week, which has had both T0 and T1 fungicides. Although in most cases the yellow rust has been controlled, the nature of the disease allows it to multiply quickly if unchecked.

Early start for Gavin at the weekend as he was on Balgonie site at sunrise to burn out tramlines in the spring drilled trials. Spray days have been in short supply recently. Trials team not far behind as winter barley T2’s were also applied as well as T1’s on the winter oats.😎

Big differences can now be seen in untreated winter wheat plots as Yellow Rust is now clearly evident in susceptible lines. Hopefully you are not seeing this, as control from here is challenging and costly. The T0 & T1 application timings are key and provide good control so far.

Greg recently joined the Bayer Crop Doctor tour as they visited their plots at our Balgonie site in Fife. dropbox.com Bayer_Byresloan nr Glenrothes Fife -YT_NeilExtended_v3.mp4 Shared with Dropbox

Dropbox.com

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With flag leaves emerging in early winter wheat crops, it is important to consider fungicide options for the T2 timing around the end of May. Protecting the upper canopy is key to maintaining yield in the run up to harvest.

As some of you may have heard, BBC Farming Today featured the Soil Association promoting a campaign to ban glyphosate for pre-harvest desiccation in the UK on Wednesdays show. www.scottishagronomy.co.uk/media-release-glyphosate-ban/

MEDIA RELEASE - GLYPHOSATE BAN - Scottish Agronomy

Date: 6 May 2026   Glyphosate ban risks higher food prices, new farmer evidence shows Farmers warn glyphosate ban would increase costs, damage soils and threaten UK food production United Oilseeds is ...

scottishagronomy.co.uk

NORTH OF SCOTLAND FARMER APPOINTED NEW CHAIR OF SCOTTISH AGRONOMY

First of the potato trial sites planted on a lovely day in the East Neuk. Hopefully the start of a good run 🌞🥔

Our Fife oilseed rape trial looks fantastic as it comes into flower. Here’s hoping for a repeat of last year’s prolonged flowering period and record yields 😎

Greg swapped tramlines for train tracks today. A trip to sunny Peterborough to chair the Oilseeds Crop Committee for the AHDB Recommended List Project and contributing to new variety selection for the UK.