Harvest: Harvest continues for many, while others will not start for a few weeks with spring crops. Oilseed rape has been cut on many farms and will continue to be cut this week.

Winter oats are wrapping up, while wheat is starting for some. So far, weather has been very agreeable.

For anyone cutting oilseed rape, if it was sprayed with Astrokerb you cannot bale the straw from those fields. The herbicide can stay in the plant and kill sensitive plants.

If you’re baling and qualify for the Baling Assistance Payment, then you should take geo-tagged photos by turning on the location permission on the camera on your smart phone.

Stubble cultivation: Remember 20-25% of your tillage land should be left uncultivated for birds which need over-winter stubble as a habitat. All other parcels should be cultivated within 14 days of harvest unless going into a winter crop.

If you are in schemes which require cultivation then this will supersede the cultivation requirements, but ACRES over-winter stubble can now be cultivated or uncultivated.

Cover crops: If you are cultivating, then adding in some cover crop seed could be of benefit or provide fodder for your animals over the winter. If you are planting for fodder make sure you have a customer for the crop. It is too costly to plant grazeable crops and leave buffers without having a customer.

If the field will not be grazed, then the area which would be left as a buffer for grazing can be planted. After all, the headlands are where a cover crop will be of most benefit to help break through compaction and stop nutrients going to water.

There are some nice cover crop mixes out there with eight varieties of crops that will break through compaction, scavenge for nutrients, make the soil crumbly and fix nitrogen.

Oilseed rape: Oilseed rape can be planted from the middle of August and the earlier it is planted, the better.

There is plenty of choice out there when it comes to varieties from pod shatter resistance to Turnip Yellows Virus and sclerotinia resistance, so have a look through the recommended list and discuss available varieties with your merchant.

Clubroot can be a problem where the rotation has been short or brassica cover crops have been planted. Fields with a pH over 6.5 should be chosen to try and reduce the risk of clubroot.

Glyphosate: Glyphosate cannot be applied to malting barley. If it is, then it cannot be accepted for malting grade. Growers have been told that grain will be tested at the intake this season.

Make sure no glyphosate is applied to these crops – if it is found on a sample after intake, it could end up being costly if other grain is contaminated.

This means headlands of these crops should not be sprayed; a small amount of grain in a trailer from another field should not be mixed with malting barley because it could be enough to contaminate a sample.

The new registration of glyphosate means it can now only be used pre-harvest on crops which have a weed problem and not destined for human consumption.