Agronomy Winter Roadshows go digital

_{Fife will be among the farming regions featured in the roadshows.}

Farmers will get the lowdown on the latest crop research during a series of free online agronomy workshops being held in Scotland in January and February.

Organised by AHDB and SRUC, and jointly funded by the Farm Advisory Service (FAS), the Agronomy Winter Roadshows will each focus on a different theme. These include integrated pest management (IPM) planning and fungicide updates, crop selection and variety performance, business resilience and markets, soil health, and an update on the results of the trials being carried out at AHDB’s Strategic Potato Farm Scotland.

The programme has been developed to include regionally relevant speakers and discussions with stakeholders from across the arable industry in Scotland.

The themed workshops, which run from 10am to 1.30pm each Wednesday from 13 January to 10 February, will take place online. Each session will commence with a technical webinar followed by a pre-recorded question and answer discussion with a range of speakers; and an interactive session looking at the theory in practice and discussing what is happening at different farms across Scotland – East Lothian, Fife, the Black Isle, Aberdeen, and Angus.

The programme consists of:

13 January - IPM planning and fungicide updates
20 January - Crop selection and variety performance
27 January - Business resilience and Markets
3 February - Soil health
10 February - Strategic Potato Farm Scotland results day

Professor Fiona Burnett from SRUC said: “Sustainability and profitability are the running themes of this series of workshops. In the technical lectures, and supporting group discussion and downloads, we will dive deep into IPM practices, technical inputs, and markets suited to Scotland, and hear from growers about the opportunities to pick these up in practice.

“The sessions will cover the launch of a new planning tool to let growers track their IPM practices, as well as soil health, effective fungicides and resilient varieties that support both key markets and more sustainable practices.”

Chris Leslie, AHDB's Knowledge Exchange Manager Arable for Scotland, said: “We have moved our popular Agronomy Roadshows online this year so we can still let farmers know about the latest crop research. As well as addressing some of the hot topics affecting their businesses, not just in Scotland but local to their region.

“We will provide information and thought-provoking conversations delivered via a range of speakers drawn from research, industry, and farming, to provide expertise from all areas of agriculture. I encourage anyone with an interest in arable farming to attend so they can benefit from the valuable and practical information that we will be sharing.”

To see the full programme of each event and to book a place, visit fas.scot.

Posted by SRUC on 05/01/2021