Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scottish growers on red alert for black-grass

Black-grass can be devastating
Black-grass can be devastating

Arable farmers have been put on red alert following reports of black-grass infected seed being found in the Lothians.

NFU Scotland and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds has urged all growers to be on the look out for the weed, which is wreaking havoc in some parts of England as it is often resistant to normal herbicides.

Black-grass is naturally present in Scotland on a small-scale, but there are fears the warmer winters and trend towards more autumn cropping and reduced tillage could encourage populations to spread.

Farmers are advised to watch out for new or spreading black-grass populations, and remove them by hand rouging or spraying off.

All machinery coming onto the farm should have been properly cleaned, especially if it has come from England.

Farmers should only source straw and seed from “reputable sources” and if they suspect herbicide resistance with a black-grass patch, get the seed tested to enable correct management decisions to be made.

Perthshire farmer Ian Sands, who chairs NFU Scotland’s combinable crops committee, said: “We ask members to be vigilant and to also report any sightings of the weed to the relevant bodies. By asking merchants to supply seed specifically from Scotland, the risk of black-grass being discovered within the batch can be kept to a minimum.”

AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds manager for Scotland, Gavin Dick, said black-grass was a credible threat to Scots farms and an infestation on a farm could be devastating.