Intrepid Farmers Weekly reporter Adam Clarke took to the skies in the Crop Doctor helicopter last week. He joined the expert team monitoring wheat disease levels in UK trial sites around England.

See photos from the tour, organised by Bayer CropScience, taken both from the sky and on the ground.

A simple blueprint for establishing oilseed rape is impossible. The crucial thing to remember is that the most important day in the crop’s life is the day of drilling, so be prepared to make decisions based on the conditions.

A new online tool aims to help farmers calculate the cost of lodging in oilseed rape, which can cause significant crop losses, even with low angle leaning.

The crop losses are the result of lodging reducing the amount of light getting into the canopy, thereby restricting essential assimilate supply and so reducing seed fill.