NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest news, articles and updates from Emerald Research & OptiYield®.
Foliar Applications and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Potato Crops
Direct applications are driving increased nutrient use efficiency The TRIP project is exploring how direct foliar applications of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium can improve nutrient use efficiency, reduce reliance on soil-applied inputs and support potato crop...
Leaf Tissue Analysis in Potato Crops | Nutrient Testing
What is leaf tissue analysis and why is it useful in potato crops? What is leaf tissue analysis? Leaf tissue analysis is a vital tool for managing the nutritional health of potato crops. While the OptiYield soil analysis system predicts nutrient availability to...
Managing Heat and Drought Stress in Potato Crops Naturally
Managing Heat and Drought Stress in Potato Crops Naturally Spring 2025: low rainfall and rising crop stress risk Spring 2025 has been a direct contrast to spring 2024, with unseasonably low rainfall throughout February, March and April. According to the BBC...
OptiYield Core Programme for Simple Crop Nutrition Planning
The systematic approach: making it simple Making crop nutrition planning simpler Streamlining work practices and making operations easier to carry out can also bring savings of time, energy and effort. However, changing from what you always do to a new approach can be...
Innovate UK funds wireworm control project
Emerald Research Ltd (ERL) and a leading potato grower in South West England have won an eighteen-month Innovate UK project to tackle the ever-growing problem of wireworm damage in potatoes. The £56,000 project will evaluate several soil improvers, rich in prebiotic...
The miracle work of microbial mixes
The role of microbes in a soil’s ecosystem is well established, along with a clear understanding of their beneficial role in enhancing crop production. Recent years have seen microbial colonies come under repeated stress with prolonged episodes of waterlogging, which...
A new approach to regulating biopesticides
The ‘Emergency Authorisation’ process on pesticides is often misunderstood. Inherited from the EU, it was designed to allow regulators to adopt the precautionary principle but to have the option of allowing controlled and judicious use only when essential. It was...
Being ready to get away at the first opportunity this spring.
January is typically a time of renewed optimism and hope for the coming year but it is becoming increasingly hard to ‘keep the faith’ as Bon Jovi would say, in the light of data that (unsurprisingly) shows that 2024 was the UK’s third worst harvest in the last 40...
Mind the gap … missing nutrients
UK farmers and growers spend around £500m a year on nitrogen-based fertilisers to boost crop production - nothing wrong in trying to boost production, it’s what has been happening since man stopped being hunter gatherers and moved to farming settlements. We keep...
Should we be banking in our soils?
The banking metaphor of using your soil as a long-term nutrient bank, allowing you to store crop nutrients away for future use, should be resigned to the annals of history. In our view, and especially with phosphate, it is only a bank in the respect of locking up...