THE UK'S extended dry spell until recently, may have done little for wheat yields but it stopped aggressive yellow rust in its tracks – but only temporarily, warns Bill Clark, director of Broom’s Barn research facility.

“Farmers will no doubt be lulled into a false sense of calm about growing varieties like Oakley next year,” he says.
“Many will have not seen any yellow rust at all this year; others will have seen the tell-tale flashes of yellow rust in the corners of fields, missed strips and around pylons, clear evidence that yellow rust is around and just waiting for the right conditions.”
Many have cited the cold winter to explain the lack of rust but this was only part of the story, he says. “In artificially inoculated plots at Broom’s Barn, yellow rust was quite happy in the frost and under the snow during the winter – only if the wheat is killed by frost will the yellow rust fungus die.”