NIAB is back at Cereals 2022 with 125 different crop and variety plots along with the ever popular 20 metre long soil hole Soil Hole exhibit – a one-stop shop for the latest technical advice and research in variety choice, independent agronomy, soil and rotation management and crop genetics.

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“This year we will be demonstrating soil monitoring in the Soil Hole – what, how, when and why,” explains NIAB’s Head of Farming Systems Dr Elizabeth Stockdale. “This includes a demonstration of an automated soil sampling robot from the Small Robot Company, who is working with a consortium led by PES Technologies including NIAB, alongside a working soil sequencing display.

“We have a superb diversity of crops lining the pit, including spring linseed, lupins, clover, beans and spring barley, have compacted some tramlines and will cut down the wheat plots a couple of weeks before the show to give us a stubble field, so we can demonstrate the recommended sampling point for general rotational soil health sampling,” she concluded.

It is your chance to get down and dirty with the perfect view of the roots of various crops, providing a unique opportunity to explore the foundations of various farming system options and discover the impact of different cropping options on soil structure.

This year’s surrounding plots show alternative break crops, herbal ley mixtures and a hybrid versus conventional comparison of above and below ground crop growth in winter oilseed rape, wheat and barley.