We deliver transformational projects to drive productivity and boost farming and supply chain businesses. We want the industry to thrive in a rapidly changing world and continue to produce high quality food, maintain our beautiful landscape and leave a legacy for generations to come. 

To cover the whole supply chain; we work with farmers, growers, packers, processers, agronomists, vets and abattoirs. This helps us unify the industry, bridge gaps in knowledge and encourage collaboration to build a stronger future for everyone.

Our four priorities are:

  • Competitiveness: Inspiring British farming and growing to be more competitive and resilient
  • Productivity: Accelerating innovation and productivity growth through coordinated Research & Development, and Knowledge Exchange
  • Consumers: Helping the industry understand and deliver what consumers will trust and buy
  • Thought Leadership: Delivering thought leadership and horizon scanning to keep the industry ahead of the game.

Get to know some of the things AHDB delivers to help farmers and growers do a great job

The AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds Recommended Lists - make better variety choices:

Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) | AHDB

Cereals and oilseeds fungicide performance - get the best out of your fungicide programme:

Fungicide performance in cereals and oilseed rape | AHDB

The Crop Nutrient Management Guide  - use organic manures and fertilisers cost-effectively:

Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) | AHDB

GREAT soils - understand your soils and learn about soil health:

GREATsoils | AHDB

Information of the cereals and oilseeds markets - understand what is going on in the markets:

Cereals and Oilseeds markets | AHDB

Dairy breeding & genetics - improve your herd performance and profitability:

Dairy breeding and genetics | AHDB

Signet Breeding Services (for beef & sheep) - better quality genetics into your flock/herd:

Signet Breeding Services (signetdata.com)

Daily livestock auction prices updates - be informed about what prices are doing in your area:

Daily finished auction markets by region | AHDB

Consumer & retail insight for farmers - understand how consumer behaviour is changing in food choices:

Retail and consumer insight | AHDB

Export market development - how AHDB is working to open new markets for UK-produced meat:

Exports | AHDB

.....and for more technical content visit our knowledge library:

Knowledge library | AHDB

Now that the AHDB horticulture and potatoes levies have ended, a separate site has been created to archive all our horticulture and potatoes content, still a great resource:

Horticulture | AHDB

 

Related Organisations

Connected Content

Farm-PEP aims to bring together all the sources of useful knowledge for Agriculture, whether from academic science, applied research projects, industry trials, farmers own trials or simple on-farm experience. Listed below are useful websites, organisations and websites that we know of.  Add any we've missed in the comments box or by adding as new content, or better still, as a new Group.  

YEN

Yield Enhancement Networks (YENs) were launched in 2012 to support and energise on-farm learning-by-sharing and thus to enhance farming progress.

YEN Zero is a recently established network in the ADAS YEN Family, with the overarching aim of creating a net-zero community. It aims to bring key players from across the agricultural industry together to meet the industry’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2040.

Share your views on how we can improve Farmpep.net

Soil health has been broken down into measurable parts to help farmers optimise crop and grassland productivity. As part of the Soil Biology and Soil Health Partnership, a project in the AHDB & BBRO GREAT Soils programme, guidance and protocols have been issued to help practitioners benchmark their soils

There are around 4.76 million pigs kept on agricultural holdings in the UK. With the UK pork market valued at £1.44 billion in 2020 (Statista). 

The major commodity crops in the UK are wheat, barley, oilseed rape, field beans, sugar beet and potatoes, but around half of agricultural land grows grass.   

The Farmer-Led Innovation Network (FLIN) are UK based organisations driving farmer-led innovation - working together to power up and increase the impact of farmer led innovation initiatives.

The ideas behind Farm-PEP came together in ~2018, drawing from the developments of Agronomics, the YENs, AHDB's Monitor Farm programme and the idea of a 'What Works' Centre for Agriculture. 

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Review conducted by ADAS and funded by AHDB into how farmers should respond to the high fertiliser (& grain) prices experienced in 2022.

The Cereal YEN was established in 2012, and is the longest-running Yield Enhancement Network.

What are the prospects for yield in 2022?  Share your views here

  The flour milling industry plays a vital role in feeding and nourishing the nation – flour is an ingredient in 30% of supermarket foods. UK Flour Millers is proud of the part it plays in ensuring the industry continues to operate efficiently and reliably so that everyone can enjoy their daily bread. 

A new Field Lab from Innovative Farmers investigating how farmers can better harness the power of flowers to fight pests.

The AHDB Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) publications and resources provide information on yield and quality performance, agronomic features and market options to assist with variety selection. The RL is updated annually with the latest update for 2023/24 being published on 28th November 2022. The latest lists can be accessed online here.

Roger Sylvester-Bradley      Tuesday 31st January 2023   It’s news across the world – the biggest wheat crop ever grown, yielding 18 tonnes of grain per hectare! This is fantastic, and laudable in all respects, but it’s no accident.    

Guidance from AHDB GREATSoils giving four easy-to-follow steps for assessing soil structure. 

Innovative Farmers has now been running for a decade, facilitating farmer-led research to some of

Scientific paper looking at the relationships between scientists and farmers:

A collaborative project conducted from 2010 to 2015 involved 17 partners from government, industr

Agricultural research is conducted by a range of organisations, from individual farmers, through advisors, distributors, manufacturers, charities, societies, supply chain companies, levy bodies, universities and research institutes.  This page aims to connect across these often disparate sources.

Crop profitability depends on maximising margins, rather than yield alone. Deciding on the optimum crop protection strategy in the spring requires judgement of the variety, its situation, and how yield affecting diseases can be controlled. ADAS with the support of the AHDB and the wider industry set up the first Fungicide Margin challenge in 2019. Since then a total of 10 trials have been carried out over 3 years, allowing entrants to pit innovative strategies against others, against an ADAS experts' programme and against an untreated crop in replicated plot trials. The aim being to achieve the highest margin over fungicide cost.   

Knowledge Exchange in Agriculture in the UK is diverse, with many organisations involved. That is part of the reason for creating Farm-PEP, to help provide connections to what many percieve as a fragmented landscape.

The IPM Decisions project will create an online platform that is easy to use for the monitoring and management of pests. Access the platform now at https://platform.ipmdecisions.net/  

Helping you protect your soil and improve its productivity.  AHDB's GREATSoils inititiative brings together practical information on soil management as well as links to soils research and knowledge exchange. Whether you need an introduction to soil biology or a detailed guide to improving field drainage, AHDB has information and guidance to support you. 

GrassCheckGB is a grass monitoring project involving 50 dairy, beef and sheep farms.   Growth and quality data is published weekly throughout the growing season

This Innovative Farmers Field Lab investigated defoliation as a control for cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) larval populations in oilseed rape. It worked with eight farmers to look at the potential for controlling cabbage stem flea beetle by mowing and grazing OSR crops

H3

‘Healthy soil, Healthy food and Healthy people’

This field lab was initiated as part of the ADAS project ‘Investigating the distribution and presence, and potential for herbicide resistance of UK brome species in arable farming’, funded by AHDB.  

Series of articles in CPM reporting results from research projects by AHDB & others

Guide published by BASF and AHDB, written with ADAS & Rothamsted, providing a complete reference book for cereal diseases. 

The Wheat Growth Guide was first published in 1999, following extensive measurement of a range of reference crops in HGCA funded projects. The AHDB Wheat growth guide allows crop progress, structure and final performance to be measured and compared against a series of UK benchmarks. To manage crops effectively, it is important to set targets, assess progress, adjust inputs and monitor success. Our wheat growth guidance outlines the main crop growth stages and components of yield, as well as the opportunities for management.

The Agriculture and Land Use Alliance brings together all interested organisations/individuals across the UK pre-farm gate sector to drive change to a net zero economy through results-driven collaboration.

An event to discuss how will we secure the plant varieties needed for more sustainable UK agriculture How will we secure the plant varieties needed for a more sustainable and resilient UK agriculture? Can the plant breeding community rise to the challenge, and what is needed to achieve this?

Online guide to identifying arable weeds from ADAS, AHDB and BASF

Guidance from AHDB to help adapt arable cultivations on a rotational basis Download the Guide, watch videos and use the tools.

Now in its 10th year, the CropTec show combines industry-leading exhibitors, the latest machinery and technology, networking and discussion opportunities as well as valuable updates on developments across the arable sector.    Tickets are free and available now by registering at www.croptecshow.com.

AHDB Guide from 2021 incorporating WRAG guidelines. Weed control is vital for high yields of good-quality crops and to prevent the spread of pests and diseases, e.g. ergot. Yet with fewer active ingredients, a need to protect water and manage herbicide resistance, the weed challenge must be managed across the rotation.

Calling all agronomists! Sign up for the last few places at Soil Benchmark's event at NIAB on 7th December - hear from Dr Elizabeth Stockdale and join some of the UK's leading agronomists in the discussion on Farm Data and the Future of Agronomy

Glossary of terms around Net Zero brought together with plain English definitions in a Farmers Weekly article supported by AHDB and Trinity AgTech  

A review of the function, efficacy and value of biostimulant products available for UK cereals an

Mark Topliff, AHDB Lead Analyst – Farm Economics, uses Farmbench data to illustrate how crops

Tailoring nitrogen rates to optimise yield from modern spring barley varieties and hit the qualit

The AHDB Recommended Lists for cereals and oilseeds (RL) publications and resources provide infor

The AHDB Recommended List is part of the fabric of arable farming and is the engine drivi

A joint report from Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) and AHDB, that aimed to determine a baselin

Leaf disease may have been the least of oilseed rape growers’ problems recently but remain a pote

Useful practical resource about soils and erosion.

Article exploring nitrogen fertiliser costs using Farmbench results.  

Defra Sustainable Arable LINK project from 2010 to 2015 that aimed to produce an automated system using precision farming technologies for N management of cereals, but ended up changing the whole way we think about nitrogen, yields, experimentation, research, variation & knowledge.

Funded by AHDB and BBRO, this five-year Soil Biology and Soil Health Partnership is a cross-sector programme of research and knowledge exchange. The programme is designed to help farmers and growers maintain and improve the productivity of UK agricultural and horticultural systems, through better understanding of soil biology and soil health. See https://ahdb.org.uk/soil-biology-and-soil-health-partnership

In February 2018, ADAS, AHDB and Defra launched the Grass and herbal leys farm network. The network is a partnership between farmers, researchers and industry and provides a platform to investigate the long term impacts of leys in rotations, such as: Quantifying changes in soil organic matter and soil health from introducing temporary grass/herbal leys across a range of soil types and rainfall areas. Quantifying subsequent changes to soil organic matter and soil health following the destruction of the temporary grass/herbal leys and return to arable production. Investigating the effectiveness of grass/herbal leys in controlling blackgrass in ‘problem’ fields.

AHDB project from 2014-2018 working with farmers to monitor and optimise their nitrogen fertiliser rates on-farm.  

The Weed Resistance Action Group (WRAG) produces guidance on pesticide resistance issues. Hosted by AHDB, this information can be used to help protect crops and the long-term efficacy of herbicides.

We aim to provide sugar beet growers and wider industry with the resources required to grow a healthy and profitable sugar beet crop in the UK.

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The Oilseed YEN network is striving to help the whole industry to successfully grow Oilseed rape (OSR) and Linseed from start to finish – providing a better outlook for both crops into the future. 

AHDB has developed a spreadsheet tool to help you calculate the impact of changing fertiliser and grain prices.

This field lab's objective is to investigate the potential of living mulches, creating a permanent clover understory to suppress weeds, cycle nutrients, protect and enhance soil health, as a means to achieving organic and low-input no-till systems - that can be more sustainable than those systems they seek to replace.

Oats nitrogen and sulphur recommendations

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Farmbench is a website based benchmarking programme.

A TOOLKIT FOR BREEDING RESISTANCE TO ADULT AND LARVAL HERBIVORY BY THE CABBAGE STEM FLEA BEETLE. BBSRC Industrial Partnership project led by Rachel Wells at JIC looking to breed oilseed rape with resistance to CSFB.

AHDB Guide published in 2018.

AHDB webpage highlighting the national network of aphid suction traps and yellow water traps run by Rothamsted Insect Survey, supported by BBSRC. Delivering regional information on aphid species and numbers, this monitoring resource can help guide insecticide treatment decisions.

HGCA report from 2006 setting out the principles and potential of using wheat for bioethanol production

Review by ADAS (Kate Storer) for AHDB in 2016 into the value of biostimulants.

A 1998 study commissioned by the Pesticides Safety Directorate to assess the non-target impacts of pesticides on non-target terrestrial plants (NTTP's).  'To conserve and enhance biological diversity within the UK' was a stated aim of of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (1994). Over 25 years later this is still a vital issue and the UK has stated its commitment to secure a post-2020 Biodiversity Framework as well as developing a 10 point plan for financing biodiversity (UK Government, 2022). However, a threat to plant biodiversity is non-target effects of pesticides - this is when pesticide materials reach areas beyond the target application area and affect the species there. Effects of pesticides on non-target plants can range from lethal (death of the plant) all the way to enhanced growth of these plants. Such varied effects depend on a range of things including the type of pesticide used, the concentration of its active ingredient and the sensitivity and spatial range of affected plants. Importantly, plants are part of complex food and pollination webs and so pesticide effects on plants can have cascading effects on the fauna that rely on them, and vice versa.

Sarah Clarke      Friday 3rd January 2023   Excellent grain quality as well as high yields were celebrated at the YEN 10th Anniversary Conference, with the Milling Quality Awards sponsored by UK Flour Millers. All UK Group 1 milling wheat entries were eligible for this competition, a total of 20 for 2022.

YEN      Friday 3rd January 2023   Russ McKenzie awarded YEN's Innovator of the Year in 2022 at the 10th Anniversary YEN Conference.

Wild-oats are a highly competitive grass-weed in the UK of which there are two important species: common wild-oats (Avena fatua) and winter wild-oats (Avena sterilis ssp. ludoviciana). Failure to control wild oats in arable fields can lead to high penalties to yield, seed crop contamination, income loss for farmers and reduced competitiveness of UK agriculture. Whilst herbicide resistance selection has been slower in wild-oats compared to other grass weeds such as Black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides), it is still a growing problem and since this report was published in 2001, resistance has been reported across hundreds of farms across many UK counties.  Continuing development of herbicide resistance in wild-oats will limit pesticide choice and possibly lead to a higher dependence on environmentally 'risky' herbicides that are more likely to reach water. The objective of this project was to conduct and collate research on the characterisation of herbicide resistance in wild-oats with the aim of informing strategies for the prevention, containment and control of herbicide resistant populations. Links to the full project are provided at the bottom of the page.

The Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) helps you make the most of organic materials and balance the benefits of fertiliser use against the costs – both economic and environmental.

This guide aims to support understanding and enhancement of barley production through explaining crop progress, structure and final performance and setting benchmarks for each stage and process in a barley crop's life.

A new variety selection tool has just been released by AHDB and provides a dynamic way of lookin

This AHDB webinar from November 2021 looked at how to make the most of muck. James Holmes (AHDB)

AHDB Publication 2018.

Grazing on pasture closed and set aside for winter grazing can significantly reduce feeding costs

Report and guidance from the AHDB's Maxi-Cover Crop project 2016-2020 -  M

Report for AHDB Abstract The AHDB is developing a What Works Centre for agriculture and

Field drainage guide - Principles, installations and maintenance

AHDB BBRO Review 2019 Research Review No. CP 182 / 1807258 - Review of weed control options

Multi-site fungicides appear to be making a valuable contribution in this year

AHDB Report 636 from research project into Brome, reported September 2021 by Sarah Cook,

AHDB Research Review No 94. 2020.  By Elizabeth Stockdale and Vera Eory This high-

AHDB Report (2015) from Targetted P LINK Project by Tony Edwards, Paul Withers, Roger Sylvester-B