SoilEssentials recognised

PRECISION farming specialist business, Brechin-based SoilEssentials, has won a prestigious accolade at the Scottish Rural Awards.

SoilEssentials received recognition with a highly commended award in the first time it had entered. Its managing director, Jim Wilson, said he was delighted the business had been rewarded, especially at an event which showcased the abundance of talent and business innovation in Scotland.

The business started 15 years ago and its expertise lies where technology and good farming practice merge, providing practical solutions, with agricultural efficiency in mind.

Gowan's new UK development manager

NEW development manager for Gowan Crop Protection in the UK and Ireland is Kuldip (Kully) Mudhar.

“This new position illustrates Gowan’s continuing commitment to the UK and Ireland,” said Dominic Lamb, who heads up Gowan here. “Basing our new International Head Office at Rothamsted Centre for Research and Enterprise reinforces this commitment.”

Mr Mudhar started his career as a trials officer for Ciba Agriculture, where he worked for five years as the business transformed to become Novartis and then Syngenta. He then moved into the specialist trials area of potatoes working for Solanum.

This was followed by a five year stint with TAG (The Arable Group) in Hampshire, where his team were tasked with developing strategies for farmers on all aspects of agronomy. He then spent a long time at Monsanto, in a variety of roles before moving into a technical role managing oilseed rape varieties in Monsanto’s north-west European region. His most recent position was with Adama, where he was a technical specialist for sugar beet and oilseed rape.

Gowan's flagship product is the herbicide, Avadex Granules,and it also has an effective portfolio of potato blight fungicides, Presidium, Electis/Roxam 75WG and Shinkon.

Weather input for Muddy Boots

USERS of the Greenlight Grower Management programs from Muddy Boots can now benefit from built-in weather forecasting, thanks to a new integration with global weather forecasting leader, Iteris Inc.

Used by thousands of farmers and agronomists worldwide from phones and tablets, the inclusion of highly accurate, advanced weather data is seen as a vital new addition.

Iteris is a global leader in applied informatics for transportation and agriculture, and Muddy Boots' integration of the ClearAg global weather information into the cloud-based Greenlight Grower Management System, should enable users to optimise weather-influenced decisions.