Adding value and optimising cost, will be one of the main themes at this year’s Cereals event, on June 14 and 15.

A ‘Knowledge Trail’ hopes to give growers a valuable insight into adding value to their crops while at the same time, advising on better utilisation of inputs and labour.

“There is a lot to see at Cereals, which is why we have mapped out the Knowledge Trails to help farmers identify areas of interest, making navigating the show simpler,” explained event director, Jon Day.

Other ‘Trails’ include precision and efficiency, managing black-grass, getting the most from oilseed rape, Brexit-proofing businesses, and weeds, disease and nutrition.

“By following the ‘Adding value and managing costs’ trail, visitors can see everything from new wheat genetics to business advisers, and smart software to tax advice,” said Mr Day.

Growing dynamic wheats with good yield and agronomic attributes to suit market opportunities while coping with the British weather will be the focus on the KWS stand.

In particular, the firm will be showing how farmers can assess yield response to low, standard and high-input fungicide programmes when faced with high disease pressure.

Unpredictable weather means spraying within a certain time window can be difficult, and KWS will be using trials data to quantify the effect of a 10-day delay to T3 applications on varieties with different levels of resistance to septoria tritici.

“The results highlight the risk of low-input programmes when disease pressure intensifies and demonstrate that once yield potential is lost, it cannot be recovered,” pointed out John Miles, KWS’ product development manager.

“Varieties with better disease resistance are less dependent on application timing, but they are not an excuse to cut back on fungicide programmes and still expect excellent performance.”

Intuitive software is also important to many farmers, optimising time spent in the farm office or on the move. Landmark Systems will be showcasing its KEYPrime software, which allows for quick access to key performance indicators and helps to keep on top of individual enterprise performance.

Keith Morris, Landmark’s senior sales manager, said: “Immediate identification of any unexpected figures enables the farmer to react and make informed decisions in fluctuating markets.”

It will also be demonstrating KEYPrime NEWAge, a cloud-based hosting option that allows access anywhere with broadband.

Look out for our extensive preview of Cereals in our issue of June 10.