CropCast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Angus Farmer & Managing Director of Soil Essentials, Jim Wilson to discuss soil health and the types of tests arable farmers should be considering.  

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Cameron Waugh, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

Related Resources

SoilEssentials | Precision Farming Solutions By Farmers for Farmers

Soil sampling - SoilEssentials

Great news for GREATsoils: AHDB issues Soil Health Scorecard guidance | AHDB

Technical Note (TN721): Soil Biodiversity and Soil Health | Information helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Dr Ruth Wade and Professor Pippa Chapman from the University of Leeds, along with Dr Joseph Martlew from NIAB, to discuss Regenerative Agriculture and the trials which have been taking place in Yorkshire. 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Cameron Waugh, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

Related Resources

University of Leeds Farm - Fix Our Food

How to assess soil structure | AHDB

The Six Principles of Regenerative Farming: Why are they important? - AgriCaptureCO2

Regenerative-in-a-Nutshell.pdf (LEAF)

Farm-Scale Regenerative Agriculture | H3

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Cameron Waugh, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Neil White, from Greenknowe Farm to discuss his journey, switching from a plough-based system to strip tillage, almost 10 years ago. Neil was recently awarded Farmers weekly, arable farmer of the year 2023. 

Linked FAS Resources

Profiting From Reducing Tillage and Lowering Emissions - Neil White, Greenknowe Farm (youtube.com)

Profiting From Reducing Tillage and Lowering Emissions - John Muir, Freelands Farm - YouTube

Profiting from Reducing Tillage and Lowering Emissions - Hew Hunter, Broachrigg Farm - YouTube

Profiting from Reducing Tillage and Lowering Emissions - John Davidson, Penicuik Estate (youtube.com)

Profiting from Reducing Tillage and Lowering Emissions - John McCluskey, Lea Farm (youtube.com)

Technical Note (TH553): Minimum Tillage

Welcome to Cropcast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by SAC Agricultural Consultant’s Donald Dunbar, Mark Bowsher–Gibbs and Iain Riddell to discuss the potential for alternative crops such as Rye, Hemp and Sugar beet in the Scottish arable rotation.  

Linked FAS Resources 

Rye 

Growing winter Rye in Scotland

Growing Winter Rye in Scotland | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service (fas.scot)   

Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) | AHDB

South of Scotland Enterprise Report - Alternative Crops Case Study

Hemp & Sugar beet 

South of Scotland Enterprise Report - Alternative Crops Case Study 

Hemp -30 

Welcome to Cropcast, your go-to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode, Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Professor Fiona Burnett from SRUC to discuss the results of this year’s fungicide performance trials.  

Professor Fiona Burnett is Head of Knowledge Exchange and Impact at SRUC and an applied plant pathologist with a focus on plant health and sustainable and integrated crop production. 

Linked FAS Resources 

AHDB - Trial Results for 2024 https://ahdb.org.uk/recommended-lists-for-cereals-and-oilseeds-rl-harvest-results-commentary 

AHDB Agronomy Roadshow 9TH Jan – 16th Jan https://www.fas.scot/events/ 

FAS Crops & Soils bulletin https://www.fas.scot/crops-soils/crops-and-soils-bulletin/   

Welcome to Cropcast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by John Skea, an organic farmer based at East Mains Farm, Auchterhouse to find out, what makes his organic system work. During his conversation with Tiffany, John covers a range of important discussion points including crop rotation, building soil fertility, weed control, and organic markets.  

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding more about what makes a successful organic system work. 

Linked FAS Resources 

Organic video series looking at three different organic businesses https://www.fas.scot/organics-in-scotland-series/ 

Getting started with organic farming https://www.fas.scot/article/getting-started-with-organic-farming-is-organic-for-me/ 

Organic farming Technical notes https://www.sruc.ac.uk/business-services/sac-consulting/agricultural-production/technical-notes/#organic 

Subscribe to the Crops & Soils Bulletin here.

Welcome to Cropcast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Iain Wilson from Stracathro estates who is a strong advocate for the using sheep to graze cereals. 

 Tiffany is also joined by Dr Robin Walker, a senior researcher focusing on low input cropping systems to discuss trials he has been involved in and the potential benefits of winter grazing cereals for both the arable farmer and the livestock farmer. 

Related Resources

Mixed Project – (4th year of the project) – Winter grazing cereals with sheep Home (au.dk) 

Farmers Guardian article Grazing sheep on cereals does not reduce yields, Scottish trials find | Farm News | Farmers Guardian 

Whitriggs – Winter grazing of crops Whitriggs - Winter Grazing of Crops | Information helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service (fas.scot) 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Donald Dunbar, a senior agricultural consultant at SAC consulting, along with Dr Steve Hoad, a team leader in agronomy, physiology & genetics at SRUC, to discuss the latest Scottish variety trial results, which will help growers to choose the best winter and spring barley varieties for harvest 2024. 

Linked Resources

For the most recent Scottish Recommended list 23/24 https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/scottish-recommended-lists-for-cereals-202324 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Donald Dunbar, a senior agricultural consultant at SAC consulting, along with Dr Steve Hoad, a team leader in agronomy, physiology & genetics at SRUC, to discuss the latest Scottish variety trial results, which will help growers to choose the best winter wheat varieties for harvest 2024. 

Linked FAS Resources 

For the most recent Scottish Recommended list 23/24 https://pure.sruc.ac.uk/en/publications/scottish-recommended-lists-for-cereals-202324 

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Stephenson will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. 

Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. 

In this episode Tiffany Stephenson is joined by Julie Clark, senior knowledge exchange manager at AHDB, to discuss the importance of benchmarking and how it can ultimately allow you to make better decisions. 

Tiffany is also joined by Olivia Bonser, a Market intelligence analyst at AHDB, to discuss current and longer-term market forces and how these are likely to impact cost of production going forward. 

Linked FAS Resources

Farmbench - a farm business comparison tool | AHDB

Farmbench results: past, present and future | AHDB 

Tools | AHDB 

Cereals and Oilseeds markets | AHDB 

GB fertiliser prices | AHDB