As another season comes to an end, Giz Gaskin Yara's fruit specialist discusses the role of biostimulants on fruit crops and reviews the results of this season's trials on several fruit farms across the country. Particularly how biostimulants can help the plants increase their vigour and better resist various stresses.  Giz also discusses the results of trials testing a new way to manage iron deficiency in fruit crops.

As growers face challenges caused by the current hiatus in the fertiliser markets,  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist discusses how livestock farmers can adapt their nutrient management plans to grow  forage as efficiently as possibly by making the best use of fertilisers and organic manures.

The fertiliser market is dramatic, to say the least at present. Many growers have questions about what's going on and wondering what they should do.  So in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Mark Tucker, Yara UK Head of Marketing and Agronomy and Natalie Wood Yara's chief arable agronomist, to discuss the reasons behind market volatility and to ask how growers should adapt their fertiliser programmes to manage costs while still maximising the economic returns.

At this time of year, brassica crops are in the ground and approaching maturity, so this is a good time to think about nutrition options to improve quality at harvest.  In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Tom Decamp, Yara's Field Vegetable Specialist to discuss top dressing options for brassica growers for targetting quality premiums with tips on fertiliser selection and timing of application.

Recent podcasts have concentrated on the major nutrients N, P and K but this time the focus moves to micronutrients such as Mg, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo and B. In this episode, Yara agronomist Natalie Wood talks to Ken Rundle about the role of micronutrients crop establishment and reminds us that they are no less important than other nutrients despite being needed in relatively lower levels. 

Potassium is often overlooked as a nutrient but is just as important and should not be forgotten.  Potassium is fundamental for plant water uptake and regulation, which affects the ability of plants to resist diseases and tolerate drought stress as well as influencing the uptake of other nutrients and nutrient use efficiency.  So in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to agronomist Ian Matts from the Potash Development Association to find out why potassium is so important to plants and to discuss best practices for growers to manage potash applications.

Because of recent volatile nutrient prices, some growers may be questioning phosphate and potash applications.  So in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Mark Tucker, Yara UK Head of Agronomy, to ask the reasons behind this volatility and find out how growers should adapt their fertiliser programmes to manage costs but avoid damaging soil fertility or losing yield.

As legislators turn their attention to soil health, Jon Telfer Yara's Analytical Services manager talks about why healthy soil biology soil is more important than ever and discusses the benefits of conducting a full soil heath analysis rather than just the basic soil test. Then more important than conducting the test is to act on the results to ensure the soil is left in better health for the future.

In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Professor Roger Sylvester-Bradley from The Yield Enhancement Network (YEN). Discussing how data, collected, shared and analysed by farmers, agronomists and researchers is increasing our knowledge of how to drive up yields in a sustainable way.

In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Natalie Wood, Yara's arable agronomist to ask what growers can do to improve the establishment of oilseed rape crops, and what role nutrition plays in crop establishment.

As top fruit growers get to grips with a difficult season thanks to the weather, many are wondering how to manage nutrition not only for this season but helping the tree recovering for next season too. So, in this episode, Giz Gaskin, Yara's Fruit Specialist discusses the nutrition options for orchard fruit and soft fruit particularly thinking about mitigating the effect of the recent variable weather and looks ahead to options for early season nutrition.

As grass growth finally picks up this season,  in this episode,  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist discusses proactive nitrogen management on grass swards and considers nitrogen use efficiency on grassland and nutrient management planning.

Now that this season's potato crop is in the ground and hopefully starting to emerge it is a good time to check on its nutritional requirements.  In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Mark Tucker, Yara's Head of Agronomy to discuss how nutrition can influence not just the yield but also the quality and return from the crop.

At this time of year, there are a lot of questions about managing horse and pony paddocks, so in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist to learn what horse owners should be doing to meet grass nutrient requirements and to safely fertilise paddocks.

Although we are still very much in the middle of this season, some growers may already be thinking of buying fertiliser for next season.  So, in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Natalie Wood, Yara's Arable Agronomist, to ask what growers should consider before buying next season's fertiliser and find out why taking time now could save money and avoid problems later.

As the new fruit season gets underway with some stop-start weather, fruit growers are facing tricky decisions. So, in this episode, Giz Gaskin, Yara's Fruit Specialist discusses the nutrition options for orchard fruit and soft fruit particularly thinking about mitigating the effect of the recent variable weather and looks ahead to options for early season nutrition.

In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist to discusses the role of selenium in grazing animal health and the benefits to livestock of incorporating selenium into the diet of grazing animals using bio-fortified fertiliser either grazed as fresh grass or conserved as silage or hay.

As growers start thinking about second nitrogen applications, in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Natalie Wood, Yara's UK Arable Agronomist to discuss how tools such as the N-Tester, Atfarm and N-Sensor can be used to optimise the efficiency of nitrogen applications.  Natalie also discusses how tissue testing can be used to identify micronutrient deficiencies which can also influence nitrogen use efficiency.

 With more and more farmers showing a renewed interest in switching to a liquid fertiliser system, in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Darren Glegg, Yara's liquid fertiliser business manager to learn why farmers should consider Yara liquid fertilisers. 

As crops begin spring growth it is important to remember the micronutrients that complement the macronutrients. In this episode, John Keyte, Yara's Speciality Product Manager, talks about micronutrients and discusses the various options for managing crops and incorporating micronutrients into crop nutrition programmes.

As it will soon be time to think about planning nutrition of silage crops, in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist and begins by asking "What is the silage for?" for advice on what livestock farmers can be doing to make the right quality of silage for its intended use to manage the trade-off between yield and quality.

With farmers looking more and more for technology to help with their nutrient management, in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to James Craske, the head of Yara's digital solutions team in Europe to learn about the new digital technologies being developed by Yara to help farmers tackle their nutrient management decisions.

As days start to lengthen again it could soon be time to think about fertiliser applications to autumn-sown cereals, so in this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Natalie Wood, Yara's UK Arable Agronomist to learn what growers should do this season in terms of timing and rates for the first nitrogen applications.

As livestock farmers start to think about restarting grass growth, in this episode Ken Rundle talks to  Philip Cosgrave Yara's Grassland Specialist for advice on what livestock farmers can be doing to proactively manage soil fertility with spring fertiliser applications, particularly nitrogen, to maximise early grass growth with a view to getting livestock back into the fields as soon as the weather improves.

Now that this season's potato crop has mostly been lifted and is in store it's time to start planning for next season's crop.  In this episode, Ken Rundle talks to Tom Decamp, Yara's Potato Specialist to discuss options for next season. Particularly thinking about some of the environmental pressures facing growers and discussing how the crop nutrition strategy can be adapted, together with new technology to reduce the environmental impact of the crop.