Farming Monthly National October 2017 | Page 10

| Arable drone4rent... Aerial footage for various industries. t Drone4Rent, our team have years of experience in flying high quality drones and UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). As a CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) approved company, we hold PfCO (Permission for Commercial Operation) to ensure your footage is shot to the highest standards. Making use of advanced autonomous control software, we can guarantee excellent and precise footage, even for repetitive flights and we can utilise our zoom enabled camera for a variety of uses, such as industrial inspections. A Our experienced crew of drone operators have the skill and experience needed to ensure you receive exactly the footage you need Drone4Rent provide aerial footage for a number of different industries, with a capability for offering both single and dual operators depending on your requirements, as well as a thermal imaging option to help you achieve your goal. Companies for a number of different reasons, rely on our drone footage: • Aerial 4K filming • Data for industrial surveys • Agricultural mapping • Site inspections • 3D modelling • Property marketing • Small events • 360 panoramic footage • Motorsports When it comes to farming drones can provide the following services with more being constantly developed: • Health assessment • Crop spraying • Irrigation • Planting • Crop monitoring • Field and soil analysis 10 | Farming Monthly | October 2017 Lowest wheat bulb fly risk since monitoring began Cereal crops are at the lowest overall risk from wheat bulb fly (WBF) since monitoring began, according to findings from the annual AHDB autumn survey of this pest. onducted by ADAS, the autumn survey involves taking soil samples in September from 30 fields prone to WBF attack (split equally across sites in England, located in the East and the North) and counting the number of WBF eggs. Historically, the threshold of 250 eggs/m2 has been used to provide a measure of overall risk. For the first time since monitoring began in 1984, none of the 30 soil samples was found to exceed this threshold. Despite the low risk, some sites sampled had egg levels above the seed treatment threshold relevant to later-drilled crops, with the risk higher at sites located in the north of England. Good progress was made with the winter wheat harvest in 2017, despite unsettled weather, and 90 per cent of the crop had been harvested by the first week of September, which is ahead of the five-year average. Report author, Dr Steve Ellis, ADAS, said: “It’s possible the good progress with harvest limited the opportunity for the fungi that adult wheat bulb fly like to consume to develop in cereal ears. “When food sources are restricted, we know the females produce fewer eggs and this could have contributed to the low-risk year for this pest.” Treatment thresholds Due to recent withdrawals, C chemical options for control of WBF are limited to seed treatments. The thresholds for treatment are as follows: > Early-sown winter wheat crops (before November) are unlikely to benefit from seed treatment, as they have more time to tiller and are better able to withstand WBF attack > For late-sown winter wheat crops (November to December), seed treatments should be considered where WBF populations exceed 100 eggs/m2 (moderate risk) > For late-winter/spring-sown crops (January to March), seed treatments should be considered irrespective of the WBF population size Good progress was made with the winter wheat harvest in 2017 The threshold of 100 eggs/m2 is, therefore, only relevant to late-sown crops. For the sites located in the North, four were above this level. Only one site, however, was above this level in the East. The WBF survey provides an indication of the overall risk level. As in-field risk depends on numerous factors, growers are advised to read the AHDB Wheat Bulb Fly publication to calculate the need to treat crops. The publication can be found, alongside the full survey results, at cereals.ahdb.org.uk/wbf www.farmingmonthly.co.uk