Seedbed management will be the topical focus of the second practical improvement day being organised for growers and agronomists this year by the developing Soil and Water Management Centre based at Harper Adams University College.

Scheduled for Monday November 26 at the Lincolnshire showground near Lincoln, the Seedbed Management Day will follow the same format as the Centre’s highly successful inaugural event earlier in the year. Technical presentations in the morning will lead on to practical group discussion sessions after a hearty lunch. Seven CPD points will be available
for BASIS members.

Specialist speakers and group leaders will examine and head-up discussions on the cost of compaction and practical ways of removing it; cultivation techniques to manage weeds and opportunities for mechanical hoeing; rotation management to improve soil structures; the benefits of organic matter and its management for better seedbeds; and cover cropping.

“A key cornerstone of our national soil and water management improvement initiative is to provide growers and agronomists with the best possible information and guidance from the most up-to-date research and experience,” stresses Centre chairman, Andrew Richards of Agrii.

“After the dryness of 2011, the extraordinary wetness of this summer and autumn has highlighted the urgent need to do everything we can to improve the resilience of our cropping systems in the face of the very much more uncertain climate we are so clearly facing.  With the battering many soils have taken in recent months, nowhere is this need currently more apparent than in seedbed management.

“We look forward to another highly informative and thought-provoking day addressing important aspects of this vital subject in a thoroughly practical way.

To enable the greatest participation numbers are strictly limited, with full details and tickets – at £40/person – available at www.seedbedmanagement.eventbrite.co.uk.