Come to a webinar on weed seed destruction

Farmers looking for an alternative way to control key grassweeds are invited to join a webinar that will offer some insight into harvest weed seed destruction.

Taking place on Thursday 26 May at 6:00pm, the webinar will give details of a ground-breaking research project involving three UK farmers, co-ordinated by NIAB, to test the efficacy of the Redekop seed control unit (SCU) in UK conditions.

Anyone with an interest in the technology can register to attend and will join the Knowledge Cluster that will track progress and help shape the project.

Trevor Thiessen, co-owner and president at Redekop Manufacturing, will join from Canada to give some background into the harvester-mounted SCU and explain what it does.

Then Will Smith, senior trials manager at NIAB, who carried out the first UK trials of the SCU with a unit that arrived in the country last year, will run through the plan for this harvest.

The three farmers involved in the project will then join BOFIN founder and co-ordinator Tom Allen-Stevens to discuss their priorities and how they hope the project will shape up.

Jake Freestone, farm manager at Overbury Enterprises, Worcestershire, has a new John Deere S790 combine and a bit of a problem with meadow brome.

Adam Driver of Driver Farms, Suffolk, has a Claas Lexion 8800 which puts blackgrass into its chaff lines.

Ted Holmes, Velcourt farm manager in Warwickshire, has a New Holland CR9.90 and for him, ryegrass is enemy no1.

There’ll then follow a discussion, bringing in the webinar attendees, which will not only be an opportunity to gain further insights into the technology. Uniquely, those who take part will help shape the project and decide the activities the Knowledge Cluster will undertake.

The webinar is ideal for farmers, scientists or anyone who’s curious about how this technology can control up to 98% of even highly resistant weeds without the merest sniff of a chemical – not even glyphosate.

It’s free to attend and there’s no obligation. All you need to do is register. If the date’s not good for you, register anyway and you’ll be sent a link to access the recording after the event.