CAPITALISING ON 2026 CROP POTENTIAL – A KEY THEME FROM PROCAM AT LAMMA SHOW

Using tailored agronomy and precision farming tools to capitalise on the yield potential of this year’s arable crops and improve return on investment – that will be a key message from leading agronomy firm ProCam at the upcoming LAMMA show.

“With many combinable crops having established well thanks to the kind autumn, there’s a lot of crop potential to play for this season to make up for the last two difficult years,” says ProCam head of technical development, Rob Adamson.

“Yield is still the key driver for arable crop profitability, but yield has to be produced cost-effectively. So with several possible agronomic challenges on the horizon for 2026 – as a result of early drilling plus variety disease resistance concerns – agronomy will need tailoring to individual fields. Which is why this is our key theme for the event.”

Pointing to crop nutrition as an example, Mr Adamson says feeding, but not over-feeding, varying-sized crop canopies will need a field-by-field approach.

“There will be a good case for considering precision farming technology that uses satellite measurements of crop biomass to apply variable rate nitrogen (N) this season,” he says. “By working with your agronomist to apply variable rate N, the aim is to produce the optimum green area index across each field, while using N cost-effectively.

“Similarly, growth regulator use on large crop canopies created by early drilling and the mild autumn will need careful planning. And getting fungicide timings right will be critical – not least due to early drilling increasing Septoria risks and with the breakdown of the YR15 yellow rust resistance gene among winter wheat varieties.

“With early application of autumn soil-acting herbicides due to timely drilling this season, spring weed control will also need strategic consideration – to account for the likelihood that residual activity of these treatments will decline sooner,” he adds.

Mr Adamson says growers can discuss these issues and how to maximise crop potential with agronomists on the ProCam stand, where there will also be a demonstration of the company’s FieldSense precision farming service, now in its second season of commercial use.

ProCam will be at LAMMA on the 14–15 January 2026, NEC, Birmingham, stand number 10.620.