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PRGO to hold pea and bean crop protection course

PGRO will hold its next course on Pea & Bean Crop Protection at its will be held at its Research Station at Thornhaugh near Peterborough on 6 February 2018.

The one day course provides agronomists, consultants, growers and crop managers with the latest updates in crop protection for both vining and combining peas, as well as winter and spring field beans. Major pests, diseases, disorders and weed control strategies, will be covered with the aim that participants can correctly identify pests, diseases and disorders following the training. They will also appreciate the regional and national significance, be aware of herbicide options (including the strengths and weaknesses of different herbicides), and be able incorporate control measures into integrated pest management programmes.

The course is recognised by BASIS and costs £205.00 per person (including VAT). The fees cover lunch, refreshments and literature. Applications should be made by 30th January latest. Interested parties should contact Sue Bingham (sue@pgro.org) for booking details as numbers are strictly limited.

Photo Caption: The course covers all major pests and diseases of peas and beans.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

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Agricultural fungicide attracts honey bees

Researchers at America’s University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found that when given the choice, honey bee foragers prefer to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone.

“People assume that fungicides affect only fungi,” said University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum, who led the new research. “But fungi are much more closely related to animals than they are to plants. And toxins that disrupt physiological processes in fungi can also potentially affect them in animals, including insects.”

To test whether foraging honey bees showed a preference for other chemicals they are likely to encounter in the wild, two feeding stations were set up in large enclosure. Foraging honey bees could fly freely from one feeder to the other, choosing to collect either sugar syrup laced with a test chemical or sugar syrup mixed with a solvent as the control.

Over the course of the study honey bees preferred the naturally occurring chemical quercetin, which is found in pollen and nectar, over controls at all concentrations tested. The bees also preferred sugar syrup laced with glyphosate at 10 parts per billion, but not at higher concentrations. While the bees actively avoided syrup containing the fungicide prochloraz, they showed a mild preference for sugar syrup laced with chlorothalonil at 0.5 and 50 parts per billion, but not at 500 ppb.

“The dose determines the poison,” Berenbaum added. “If your ability to metabolize poisons is compromised, then a therapeutic dose can become a toxic dose. And that seems to be what happens when honey bees encounter multiple pesticides.”

Photo Credit: Pexels

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Bristol vertical farm opens

Bristol-based start up company LettUs Grow, which attracted funding via Crowfunder, has completed the installation of its ‘aeroponic hardware’ at Grow Bristol.

According to the company, ‘the baton has now been passed to the “growing team” of biologists and environmental scientists to demonstrate how rapidly this hardware can grow tasty leafy greens, strawberries, and much more, over the new year.’

In trials LettUs grow says that it has produced pea shoots in half the time of comparable aquaponic systems. The company adds that its strong R&D focused partnership with Grow Bristol, has resulted in the broad deployment of both its aeroponic hardware and farm management software; both of which is focused on improving productivity and crop quality, whilst making the indoor farm simpler to operate.

Alongside growing plants, the management team has also been focused on growing the business, including completion of the three-month Bethnal Green Ventures program of advice and investment with a demo-day on 29 November.

Photo Caption: So far the use of the LettUs Grow equipment has focused on the production of microgreens

Photo Credit: LettUs Grow – 20171017 – Venturefest Watershed by @JonCraig_Photos

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Engineers make wearable sensors for plants

Scientists at Iowa State University in the United States are developing graphene-based, sensors-on-tape that can be attached to plants and can provide data to researchers and farmers about water use in crops.

The tool, dubbed a “plant tattoo sensor” by researchers, is a tiny graphene sensor that can be taped to plants. Graphene is a carbon honeycomb which is just an atom thick, and is great at conducting electricity and heat, as well as being strong and stable. The graphene-on-tape technology has also been used to produce wearable strain and pressure sensors, including sensors built into a “smart glove” that measures hand movements.

“This fabrication process is very simple,” says lead developer Liang Dong. “You just use tape to manufacture these sensors. The cost is just cents.” In the case of plant studies, the sensors are made with graphene oxide, a material very sensitive to water vapour. The presence of water vapour changes the conductivity of the material, and that can be quantified to accurately measure transpiration from a leaf.

The plant sensors have been successfully tested in lab and pilot field experiments, and a new three-year, $472,363 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative will support more field testing.

Photo Caption: Iowa State University researchers have developed these “plant tattoo sensors” to take real-time, direct measurements of water use in crops.

Photo Credit: Liang Dong/Iowa State University

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UK less attractive destination for foreign workers

The UK is less attractive as a global destination for workers following the Brexit vote according to new research from accountancy firm BDO.

The data shows that having been in second place globally in the index in 2012, the UK has now dropped out of the top five global destinations for workers with a score of 19 per cent. The top five global destinations for workers were the USA (at 24%), followed by Germany, Switzerland, Australia and Canada (all at 20%). The survey also said that 18 per cent of employees around the world would be likely to take up a new full time job in another country for up to two years if it offered them a pay rise.

Respondents were asked to pick their top three work destinations to work. According to BDO, geography, common language, culture and business practices are among the main factors which influence where employees are most likely to move.

Paul Eagland, managing partner at BDO said, “UK businesses are already struggling with a skills shortage. The impact of the EU referendum and uncertainty around a new trade deal is likely to make this worse. It’s absolutely imperative that the Government makes it clear to the world that the UK is still a great place to do business and that we continue to attract the world’s brightest and best to our country.”

Photo Caption: The UK has slipped out the top five work destinations for overseas workers according to a new report.

Photo Credit: pxhere

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Panasonic unveils tomato picking robot

Last month at Tokyo’s International Robot Exhibition, electronics giant Panasonic showcased an agricultural robot which the company claim can perform complex repetitive tasks, such as harvesting tomatoes.

The new harvesting robot, which the company stresses is still very much under development, was one of a number of robotic devices Panasonic showcased at the event. The machine runs on a rail and identifies the ripe fruit before picking them gently using a ‘special end effector’ which cuts can catches the fruit to prevent damage.

‘With newly developed sensors and image processing technology, Panasonic is developing harvest robots that can accurately assess colour, shape, and location,” the company said in a statement. ‘This robot can even pick fruits such as tomatoes that were thought difficult to harvest with machinery without leaving a single scratch. And by connecting to the network, it can automatically move around the ridges and transport the tomatoes to baskets or even change baskets, so it can autonomously undertake every step of the harvesting process.’

The machine has a claimed work rate of 10 fruits per minute, but unlike human pickers, it can operate without breaks for up to 24 hours a day.

Photo Caption: Panasonic has been working on its tomato picking robot for several years.

Photo Credit: YouTube

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Farmers warned of fake maps on Apps

The NFU has warned farmers and growers to check online apps for ‘fake footpaths’ after a network of unofficial paths was discovered covering farmland near Peterborough.

Zoe Mee of Lyveden Farm in Northamptonshire was shocked when a farm worker showed her a map on a social media app that depicted new routes for walkers alongside the farm’s existing rights of way. After contacting mapping app producers, she believes walkers may have added their own routes for people to use, without distinguishing them from the legally-established footpaths.

“I can’t believe that people can just add routes across your land like this,” she said. “We have people who shoot pigeons and rabbits on the farm to protect crops and they are given maps of all the official footpaths and bridleways to ensure they keep clear of the public. If online maps are directing people away from the official routes it is putting them at risk.”

NFU Access Adviser Martin Rogers said the NFU was talking to a number of organisations that produce maps on mobile apps, to raise awareness of the importance of accurately portraying the right of way network.

“Checking online apps, and getting in contact with their owners, are important steps when you believe there are errors on their system,” he said. “If you do discover that routes have erroneously been added to mobile apps, it is important to make it clear that you do not intend to dedicate these routes as legal rights of way.”

Photo Credit: NFU

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Sainsbury’s wants new product ideas from produce suppliers

Sainsbury’s has asked its suppliers to bring forward ideas for new products and innovations as it tries to differentiate itself in the marketplace.

Speaking at the retailer’s annual Farming Conference, Produce technologist Lily Peck said her remit is to “look for something different.”

She added, “Any great ideas you have, talk to your technical manager about it and help us differentiate our range.” She cited the launch of bunched radishes (supplied by G’s grower Scott Watson) and sweet-stemmed cauliflower as particular successes.

However, the retailer also confirmed that a major overhaul of suppliers is continuing as the company aims to have ‘fewer and longer-term relationships,’ shifting towards direct grower sourcing.

Sainsbury’s director of brand Judith Batchelar said, “While our competitors will have been buying their own packaging facilities and performing that part in the value chain themselves, the way we’ve looked at it is much more direct relationships with growers.”

Product Manager Sarah Blandford described a three-year project with potato supplier Greenvale to improve production efficiencies: “We had four times as many potato growers as we needed for our 52-week supply requirements. We had some fantastic growers and we had some good growers.” She added that Sainsbury’s looks for suppliers who are proactively monitoring things like yield potential.

Photo Caption: Sainsbury’s Product Manager Sarah Blandford

Photo Credit: Richard Crowhurst

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Californian lettuce growers embracing robotic harvesting

One of America’s largest salad producers, California-based Taylor Farms, is increasingly using robotics to tackle the twin challenges of labour availability and increasing costs.

The company, which employs a total of 10,000 people, is using robotic harvesting rigs on some crops of Romaine and baby leaf lettuce and it says that the use of robotics is growing in the entire Californian lettuce industry. Around 95 per cent of the company’s Romaine volume is currently harvested with automated harvesters, and trials are being conducted on a number of other crops.

“Harvesting, one of the more difficult in-field jobs to perform, was a natural area of focus for us,” explains Ted Taylor, Head of New Ventures & Business Development. “Over the last eight years we have designed and built advanced machinery to optimize harvest efficiency and drive improved ergonomics for employees. This has truly been a win-win. We have been able to offer better jobs to our field employees, all while driving bottom line performance. We will continue to aggressively pursue automated harvesting functions for all our core products.”

Photo Credit: Taylor Farms

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NFU responds to EU labour claims

The National Farmers’ Union has written to The Times to dispute the impression given by campaign group Migration Watch UK in an article that there is no labour crisis on UK farms.

Under the front page headline: ‘Record number of EU workers in Britain despite Brexit vote’ on 16 November, the newspaper referred to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) report showing that the number of EU citizens working in the UK is now at a record high of 2.37 million, despite last year’s referendum result.

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the figures “show that predictions of a ‘Brexodus’ are nonsense,” adding that they threw into doubt claims that food is being left to rot in the fields due to lack of EU migrant labour.

In her letter, NFU Deputy President Minette Batters wrote: ‘The ONS data on EU citizens that your article refers to on the front page… doesn’t account for seasonal workers that come to the UK for less than 12 months – these make up the majority of the workforce. This is where fruit, veg and flowers growers in particular are already experiencing real difficulty. Our latest survey of recruiters in this area shows a worker shortage of 29% in September, raising the average shortfall for the year to 11%.

‘The British farming sector needs commitments from Government that, where needed, there will be sufficient numbers of permanent and seasonal workers from outside the UK in the run up to the UK leaving the EU and beyond.’

Photo Caption: Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK