AHDB Strategic Farm Week to introduce new host farm in Scotland

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is holding a virtual Strategic Farm Week next month to showcase its Farm Excellence programme.  

The event, which runs from 1-5 June, is aimed at arable farmers and will highlight the latest findings on the research, results and on-farm trials taking place on AHDB’s Strategic Cereal Farms across the UK.

David Aglen, Farm Manager at AHDB’s new Strategic Cereals Farm in Scotland, Balbirnie Home Farms, in central Fife, will join other strategic farm hosts, researchers and key experts from across the agricultural industry for the week-long programme.

Strategic Farm Week will offer practical discussions, share technical information and resources and be delivered via video updates, webinars and podcasts.

Topics covered include webinars on crop development and disease, monitoring key pests and beneficials and how to decide when to lower inputs.

There will also be masterclasses on ‘crop establishment considerations’ and ‘soil structure and earthworm assessments’. The latter will be a practical session on soil health with David Aglen, Strategic Farm Scotland host, led by Anne Bhogal, ADAS. It will provide a hands-on guide to what is needed in-field, a forum to ask questions and the resources to implement it.

Participants can join in with the webinars that interest them, download the ‘how to’ resources for use on their farm, watch the video updates to hear about the latest findings on field-scale trials or listen to the podcast special.

All of the webinars together with other resources will be recorded and available to watch after the events via AHDB’s Strategic Farm Week 2020 page. 

AHDB’s Strategic Farm Week will be followed by a series of regional webinars tailored to suit the varying challenges faced by different areas of the UK. There will also be national webinars, covering topics such as mental health and pre-harvest, which form part of AHDB’s regular monthly webinar programme.

AHDB’s Knowledge Exchange Manager (Arable) in Scotland Chris Leslie said: “In these difficult times it is more important than ever for AHDB to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information between our growers.

“Although the current situation provides many challenges, it is also a great opportunity for us to bring together AHDB’s Farm Excellence activity and provide our Scottish and UK growers with an insight into the programme.

“Over the next few weeks, the AHDB Strategic Farm and Monitor Farm hosts will be joined by industry experts to share their experiences and knowledge through a series of videos, online meetings and webinars, which will all provide an online forum for discussion.

“AHDB has been growing its regular audiences for podcasts and webinars since 2016 as part of its digital offering to farmers. Given the current environment it is even more important that we ensure we get crucial information on current technical and current market challenges to our audiences so we have increased the frequency of both our podcasts and webinars.”

To register or for more information on Strategic Farm Week or AHDB’s other digital offerings in the coming weeks, visit  AHDB’s Strategic Farm Week 2020 page or our Events page.

David Aglen, Strategic Farm Host, Balbirnie Home Farms