Whether it’s a trade show, conference or country show, we’ve highlighted some of the biggest farming events in the calendar which will help you develop rural diversity…

The government has today announced £22million in farm technology funding to support farmers in reducing waste and boosting crops in an ecological way, leading to calls from industry experts for more training on how to achieve such goals.

Science Minister Chris Skidmore said in a statement today that the new technologies adopted will help UK farmers cut down on pollution, minimise waste and produce more food.

People are more engaged, passionate and informed about farming practices and environmental issues than ever, according to farmers who hosted LEAF Open Farm Sunday 2019 (LOFS) events.

National organisers Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) have reported that over 230,000 people visited a working farm in England, Wales or Scotland on Sunday 9^th June as part of farming’s annual open day. The feedback from both farmers and visitors indicates a growing interest in British agriculture, food production, and in particular sustainable farming practices for land management, soil and water health as well as the role of technology.

Darlington-based law firm Latimer Hinks has highlighted to the agricultural community just how important it is to undertake proper planning at an early stage following a landmark proprietary estoppel judgment relating to a family farming business.

The recent case centred on the estate of farming business owner Frank Habberfield, and a dispute between his 82-year old widow and youngest daughter about ownership. When Frank passed away in 2014, he left his entire estate to his wife. However, his daughter Lucy brought a claim against her mother alleging that her parents had promised her ownership of the farm upon their retirement. Mrs Habberfield denied this claim.

The England and Wales High Court found in favour of Lucy, and her mother will now be forced to sell the home she has occupied for 40 years in order to fulfil the £1.17 million cash settlement awarded to her daughter.

Farmers must treat the latest changes to farming subsidies cautiously and prepare fully, warns a leading firm of land agents and rural chartered surveyors.

Laura Carrick, rural chartered surveyor at Vickers & Barrass in County Durham, says farmers need to start to prepare for post-Brexit changes and the move away from the EU-wide payment system, in the light of the National Audit Office's early review of the farming programme*.

Under the programme, farmers who are compensated for the amount of land they farm, will instead be rewarded for delivering environmental benefits.

Current land-based payments to farmers will be phased out over a seven-year period starting from 2021. They will be succeeded by public funding for public goods at the core of which, will be the Environmental Land Management System (ELMS).

New farmer-led field lab to control brome grass and prevent herbicide resistance

Arable farmers are invited to investigate methods for controlling the different species of brome grass in a new field lab with Innovative Farmers and ADAS.

The new farmer-led trial will look to identify methods that help slow or prevent herbicide resistance amongst increasingly widespread weeds – with surveys showing sterile brome to be the second most problematic grass weed in the UK, after black-grass.

The not-for-profit network Innovative Farmers, which enables farmer-led research, will connect farmers and agronomists with researchers from ADAS to identify when the weed typically emerges in the field, and what cultivation types, depths and timings are most effective in controlling it.

After the successful innovation tour to New Zealand in 2018, global chemical producer BASF is offering growers using Adexar and Librax the chance to win one of 40 places on an innovation tour to Germany in November.

The tour will focus on farm efficiencies, profitability and sustainability to better understand how on-farm decisions can influence yield, crop health, and future innovations that could impact their choices.

BASF’s Tim Short commented: “We are delighted to be offering the fully-funded innovation tour again this year. The success from 2018 highlighted the value farmers place on seeing new innovation first-hand and forming a network to compare and contrast their farming businesses.”

“We will be including a day at Agritechnica to see what new technologies will be driving change, with more than 2,800 exhibitors and 52 countries present.

Fifteen Scottish Enterprise Rural Leaders and five Rural Youth Project delegates were the first to experience Rotterdam’s floating dairy in action on a recent urban/rural learning journey to the Netherlands.

As the first visitors to the farm, delegates tasted the success of innovation sampling one of the first batches of bottled milk with CEO Peter Van Wingerden.

The floating farm wasn’t the only tour to leave delegates swimming with ideas. An action packed schedule included visits to a carbon neutral chicken farm and PigMe, a business where pigs are farmed and lazed in fields, forests and meadows over 10 locations close to the consumer with dedicated caretakers.

Scottish dairy farmer, graduate of the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme and Chair of the NFU Scotland Next Generation Colin Ferguson came away from the trip inspired with a new appreciation for Dutch innovation and collaboration in bridging the urban/rural divide.

This year's edition of Europe’s Leading Outdoor Technical Arable Event returns to Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire on June 12th & 13^th and we are proud to be partnered with Cereals 2019!

The show promises to be the biggest yet, with a number of unmissable additions such as more exhibitors, speakers, live demos and new product launches than ever before! Best of all, the Early Bird ticket offer is still on, but only for the next 24 hours so now is the time to book your ticket!

Early Bird discount will come to an end at 9am tomorrow (Wednesday 15th May), meaning two-day tickets will be increasing from £20 to £25.

Still debating whether to get your tickets? Here’s SEVEN reasons why you simply can’t miss Cereals 2019.