With harvest now largely complete across southern England following an unprecedented early harvest, attention is quickly turning to the establishment of next year’s crop. For many growers, oilseed rape (OSR) will be among the first crops drilled this autumn.

As more farmers return to growing oilseed rape after several years away, successful establishment remains one of the biggest challenges. Pressure from cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB), combined with increasingly unpredictable autumn weather, means every decision made at drilling can have a significant impact on crop performance and final yield.

Successful Oilseed Rape Establishment Starts with Soil Conditions

The key to successful oilseed rape establishment, is creating the right conditions for rapid emergence and strong early growth.

Moisture conservation is essential. Many growers are opting for minimal soil disturbance where possible, preserving valuable soil moisture while encouraging quick and even germination.

While there is always pressure to drill oilseed rape early, successful establishment should be driven by soil conditions rather than calendar dates. Waiting for sufficient moisture can often produce a more even, vigorous crop, than drilling into dry seedbeds.

Nutrition Supports Early OSR Growth

Attention to crop nutrition can also play an important role during establishment.

Ensuring adequate phosphate availability and considering early nitrogen applications where appropriate can help maximise rooting and canopy development during establishment.

A well-established oilseed rape crop enters winter in a stronger position, helping maximise spring growth potential and ultimately supporting yield.

Oilseed rape will be a popular crop this autumn.

Why Hybrid Oilseed Rape Varieties Deliver Stronger Establishment

Variety choice is one of the most important decisions growers make before drilling.

Hybrid oilseed rape varieties continue to demonstrate their value, particularly in the challenging conditions often experienced across southern UK.

Their inherent vigour allows seedlings to emerge rapidly, develop larger root systems, and build biomass quickly during the crucial early weeks after drilling.

This early vigour can help crops:

– Grow away from cabbage stem flea beetle grazing
– Produce stronger root systems before winter
– Improve competitiveness against weeds
– Maintain more consistent plant populations where establishment conditions are less than ideal

For many growers, these characteristics make hybrid varieties a key part of a successful oilseed rape strategy.

The Importance of Pod Shatter Resistance

The benefits of hybrid oilseed rape extend beyond establishment.

All Nickerson hybrid oilseed rape varieties include the pod shatter resistance trait, helping reduce losses where weather conditions delay harvest. This provides greater security and flexibility at a critical stage of the season and remains one of the most valuable characteristics growers should consider when selecting an oilseed rape variety.

Building a Resilient Oilseed Rape Crop

Every season presents different challenges, but establishing a vigorous crop remains the best defence against pests, weather and variable autumn conditions.

Choosing a high-performing hybrid oilseed rape variety, combined with careful attention to seedbed quality and drilling conditions, gives growers the greatest opportunity to maximise yield potential from the very start.

At Nickerson, our hybrid oilseed rape portfolio has been selected to deliver the vigour, resilience and performance needed for UK farming.

By giving crops the strongest possible start this autumn, growers can build the foundations for a successful harvest next summer.

Take a look at our Oilseed Rape varieties here.

Welcome to the first EVER Nickerson Seed Book!

Click to download your copy of the new guide!

For the very first time, you’ll find our entire range brought together in one place – Cereals, Pulses, Oilseed Rape, Maize, Circle Leys grass mixtures, plus our specialist Forage and Environmental seeds. A full catalogue designed to give you clarity, choice, and confidence when it comes to your seed decisions.

Nickerson are the Original Seed Specialists. For over 75 years, we’ve supplied seed and advice to British farmers – trusted by generations because we understand the job, the challenges, and what it takes to grow a successful crop. Our history gives us provenance. Our experience gives you peace of mind. When you choose Nickerson, you are not just buying seed – you are investing in a partnership.

That partnership is delivered through our nationwide team of Nickerson Seed Specialists. These are not simply salespeople – they are experts, practical thinkers, and trusted advisors. They know farming, they know seed, and they take the time to understand your business. Their role is simple: to help you make the best choice for every field, every season.

We are proud of our heritage, but we never stand still.

Farming is changing – new pressures, new opportunities, new demands on every hectare. Our job is to make sure you have the right seed, the right advice, and the right support to meet those challenges head-on.

This brochure is designed to help you do exactly that. It brings our portfolio together in one clear guide – from high-yielding cereals and resilient oilseed rape to productive maize, proven grass mixtures, and targeted environmental options. Every product has been selected, tested, and supported by Nickerson, so you can choose with confidence.

Quality seed. Trusted advice. Unmatched service. That has been our promise for over 75 years – and it remains our promise today.

Take a look at our 2026 Seed Book today.

As the 2025 autumn drilling season draws to a close, I have now completed my first full season with Nickerson.

James Frazer

There will be some more wheat to be drilled after potatoes but on the whole, most farms have completed their drilling campaign for crop 2026. The ’25 growing season has been challenging due to the extreme weather conditions that growers have faced. The dry spring allowed spring crops to be established early in good conditions, but the crops were soon needing moisture and yields have suffered as a result.

The winter crops, by contrast, were established in good conditions in autumn ’24 and although there has been some loss of yield potential due to moisture stress, the yields have been very good for winter wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

The oilseed rape especially, has been the standout crop on most farms that include it in their rotation, with many yields reported around or above 5t/ha! 

The role with Nickerson has helped me increase my knowledge of varieties of all crops, which has allowed me to better advise my customers.

LG Typhoon

For winter barley growers, both LG Caravelle and LG Capitol are equally good options. Oilseed rape growers have a plentiful number of varieties to choose from, with LG Adapt giving another step up in yield, alongside the established LG Armada and LG Ambassador. LG Anarion is still a robust variety for farms with shorter brassica rotations.

LG Rebellion

Wheat growers have a choice of variety for each sowing position. LG Typhoon is suitable for the early sowing slot from the start of September, and LG Beowulf is a good option for the mid and late drilling slot. For late drilling, which is predominantly after potatoes or vegetables, LG Redwald offers a very high yield potential.

Although LG Skyscraper has been on the market for several years, it has shown its resilience, and it is still a good option for the mid to late slot. This year, many farmers have commented that it has yielded around 12.5 t/ha in many different parts of the country.

Another variety that gives growers a different option is LG Rebellion. It has an early maturity of -1, without losing a lot of yield. In fact, it was one of our top yielding varieties in the LG Perth trial site.

With this season over, I’m already looking forward to the next one, and I’m eager to see how new LG varieties are performing on farm.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact your local Nickerson Seed Specialist.

The Nickerson team once again attended the Bath & West Dairy Show, based near Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

This year, we were based in the Showering Pavilion, opposite the cattle arena. It is always great to see the hard work and commitment so many put into their stock, really pay off. I have been attending this event since I was young and although the site and stands remain similar, what attendees show and sell has definitely changed!

That goes for seed too; varieties, regardless of species, have moved on so much in the past decade. With the sheer number of different varieties and mixtures on the market, coupled with the Single Farm Incentive (SFI) and other environmental schemes, it can be difficult to know what to do.

This is where we, as Seed Specialists, can help you to make it all a bit clearer!

There is often a theme when talking to customers on a show stand. The recurring theme on stand at this year’s show was variability. Whether that be levels of forage in stock for the winter, or progress through maize harvest, it all comes down to who caught the rain and who sadly did not. I can say from my own experience, that west of Cardiff and South Wales has been lucky, as has Devon and Cornwall. Whereas, central and Southern areas have had to contend with a serious forage shortfall. 

There is little that can be done about that now of course, although there is still time to put in catch crop mixtures to maximise home grown forage for the winter and into the spring.

Options at this point in the season could include short and long-term leys, wholecrop options or forage rye, which is often overlooked, but can be grazed in situ or zero grazed.

Another takeaway from this season, particularly in drought hit areas, is that the smallest differences can have the biggest effects. Soil type for example, has affected how well crops have done this year more than most, even soil type differences within the same field have been quite easy to spot.

As our weather is getting more and more extreme, rotation planning, cultivation methods, drilling dates and many more factors, are all things which can have a significant difference on the outcome and success of your crops.

Contact your Nickerson Seed Specialist for the best advice for your specific farm needs.

I’m Simon Custance. I come from a family farm in north west Cambridgeshire where we grow winter and spring cereals, winter beans and sugar beet.

I’ve always enjoyed farming from helping my dad walk fields as a child, to grading potatoes and learning to drive a tractor in my teens.

I studied Agriculture with Crop Science at Hartpury where I learned much more about maize, grass and added to my existing knowledge of combinables and roots.

The course was wide-ranging including working on the university farm doing many roles. Milking cows, lambing and young stock management were all enjoyable parts that I learnt and was happy to gain experience in.

After finishing university in May 2020, I started with Agrii as a Agronomist. I really enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of identifying pests, weeds and diseases and coming up with both cultural and chemical solutions.

After almost 2 years with Agrii, I decided to leave in spring 2022, the world was opening post-Covid and I travelled to Canada to work on an arable farm and experience different farming methods. South Saskatchewan is on the same latitude as the midlands; however, the farming practices are incredibly different! Rainfall is about 30% of central England. The challenges for the farm there revolved around the large temperature fluctuation of -40 to +40 degrees Celsius, low rainfall and poorer soils.

On my return to England, I worked for a local New Holland dealer in Cambridgeshire demonstrating, selling and supporting products from combines to potato planters. I was given an established area and helped, through a difficult time for agriculture, to build a customer base and expand the business.

I have always thought seed is the most important part of growing. Varietal choice for the unique conditions each farm and field present is critical. That’s when I applied for the job with Nickerson, I am very much looking forward to learning and expanding the business.

Nickerson is a well-established and highly thought of company, I am very privileged to work for them as a Seed Specialist, learning and working in an industry which is always full of ideas and forward thinking.

After 45 years working for Nickerson I have decided to move on to the next stage of my life, which is  retirement.

I thought it was ironic that on my last day on farm I’ve taken a picture of one of the best crops of winter wheat I have seen in my area which happened to be Claire, a winter wheat which must be over 25 years old.  It has been a pleasure helping Nickerson to introduce new varieties to the market and hear the success stories of those that we have introduced, too many varieties to mention.

A massive thank you to all my customers, if it was not for your support and loyalty I would definitely not have lasted the 45 years working for the company and I wish you all every success in your future cropping. I know I am very comfortable leaving the business in a very safe pair of hands – those of Douglas Bonn. We have enjoyed meeting most of you over the last three months and he will continue to look after your requirements in the future.

Again thank you for your support I wish you well

Nick Wallace.

Farms across the country have had a tough time over the last few years growing OSR. Many growers have cut back, and several have removed OSR from their rotation altogether. However, figures from Defra are showing that the area of OSR grown has increased in the Southeast of England. So, do the farms of the south know something the rest of the country does not?

The Southern part of the UK was decimated in 2019 with the OSR crop having the weather and the dreaded Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB) against it. Many growers took the hit and swore they would never grow OSR again. However, many have kept going and have learnt to live with this pest.

Growing the correct variety; OSR is a high input crop so choosing a high yielding variety that can offer maximum return is key. LG Armada is the highest yielding OSR variety on the AHDB recommended list. Along with high yield, LG Armada also has pod shatter resistance, Turnip yellows virus resistance along with good resistance to light leaf spot and stem canker. Vigour varies between varieties, some have better Autumn vigour and some better Spring vigour, speak to your local seed specialist to find out which variety will suit you best.

Drilling timing and soil moisture; this is key to a fast establishment farmers that drill into moist seedbeds with rain in the forecast have more of a chance to beat adult CSFB damage, there is no doubt that we go into danger zone when the OSR emerges and then runs out of moisture. We need to be looking at the forecast rather than the calendar.

Companion and trap crops; There has been some anecdotal evidence of success with companion crops, especially when these companion crops are established before the OSR is drilled, the payments that can be claimed through the new Single Farm Incentive makes this even more attracting. OSR volunteers can also act as a trap crop and divert CSFB away from adjacent cash crops. When trap crops are destroyed, CSFB eggs or larvae die. In trials, the approach reduced adult CSFB infestation (by up to 88%) and damage (by up to 76%) in the oilseed rape cash crop. However, benefits were variable and not always observed.

OSR prices rising? Well, there are two things you can never really predict in farming, one being the weather and the second being markets. Prices have come back a long way since the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but are starting to climb again at the time of writing in late May. There are also other reasons for optimism, the EU is set to ban unsustainable palm oil imports this year and this could lead to producers switching to rape seed oil instead, a cut in Canada’s canola production estimate for 2024/25 due to spring acreage shifts to wheat on the back of poor growing conditions has also been supporting prices more recently.

So, there is much reason to be optimistic for a crop that we know works well in cropping rotations, spreads the harvest workload, and has, and can still return a healthy gross margin.

I am pleased to announce the introduction of the new Nickerson combinables brochure for Autumn 2024, which brings together for the first time Cereals and OSR, in to one easy to navigate book. This brochure should be the go-to document for anyone wishing to gather relevant information to help build their cropping plan for the next sowing season.

Whilst there may be viable alternatives/options within the current version of the SFI for marginal land. Choosing crops and varieties which offer the most economical route to the highest output, is still the biggest driver to whole farm profitability.

This booklet alongside the experience of your regional seed specialist, should help signpost you to the right choice for your situation.  Please click HERE to download a digital copy or the ‘find your local Seed Specialist’ button at the top of this page to connect you with someone who will be able to offer solutions to fit your farm, area, market or cropping plan. Seed supply may well be affected this autumn due to the difficult autumn and spring so I would suggest building the plan sooner rather than later, especially for Cereals and key varieties of OSR.   

I am excited to have started my career at Nickerson, and look forward to getting stuck into my new role as Seed Specialist in glorious Yorkshire.

I will be covering the Yorkshire region from the Humber to the moors of North Yorkshire, heading west across the Pennines and on to the Lancashire border. In my previous role I was involved in the seed potato industry, so with Nickerson I will be swapping seed potatoes for just about every other type of seed!

I grew up in the Scottish Borders surrounded by farms but with no direct links to agriculture until I opted to study it at SRUC in Edinburgh. I embarked on a career in the potato industry, having carried out a placement year with McDonald’s focussing on where their fries come from. I then switched from ware potatoes to seed potatoes. The seed industry has always been of interest to me for two key reasons; Firstly, regardless of the crop type everything in farming starts with a seed; Secondly, my grandfather had a seed business based in the Borders many years ago dealing mainly with grass. Although no longer in existence, I like to think I am carrying on the family tradition!

My area includes a mix of low ground arable farms to upland sheep farms, and I am looking forward to getting to know customers both old and new, and offering seed based solutions to meet the unique challenges thrown up by each farming system.

If I can be of any assistance to farmers in the Yorkshire region, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07734 737008 or grant.connor@nickerson.co.uk

We are all too aware of the damage Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB) can cause, it is fair to say that growers who have had no experience with this pest are few and far between and this year was no exception.

We started August with wet weather, which led to some growers drilling early to try and get the crop off and away from Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle. This has largely worked, consequently though there are some big canopies out there, which need to be carefully managed and growth regulators used where necessary.

Early August drilled Ambassador near Newbury looking very well and was well enough established to grow through the main adult grazing period of cabbage stem flea beetle

If there is a suspected high larvae count, work by AHDB does show that defoliation either through grazing or flailing can lead to a significant reduction in larvae – although caution needs applied, as this should not be considered after stem extension.

Then we had some hot weather towards the end of August. This undoubtedly drives flea beetle migration and activity, which yet again coincided around the bank holiday weekend. Crops drilled this year, 10 days before and days after the bank holiday weekend have struggled most, from what I have seen.

We then had wetter weather after the middle and end of September. This did lead to conducive growing conditions and these crops on the whole look okay, where not underwater. If crops are looking on the thin side, do not be disheartened just yet, OSR has an amazing ability to compensate for lost plants and fill-in gaps.

Slugs seem to have been more of a problem than Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle for some growers this year, thanks to weather conditions driving their activity. They really cannot be underestimated and require extreme vigilance early on.

In many cases, the crops were initially thinned by slugs and then the Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle attacked. The areas most devasted by slug damage are generally on the clay soils. However, the greatest risk and the most damage occurred where crops had been direct drilled with no tillage. In my opinion, any crop direct drilled – be it OSR, cereals or grass seed – increases the risk of slug damage significantly, compared to conventional establishment techniques.

We have all been aware of the cover crops and the use of slurry and digestate to deter the beetles, but I thought by far the most interesting piece of research this year was showing how beetle numbers can be reduced by cultivating the ground straight after harvest and during peak adult migration.

This would also have the added bonus of reducing slug numbers, which are always a significant nuisance to the following wheat crop.

I am delighted to have started my new role as a Seed Specialist at Nickerson.

I will be covering the North West, North Wales and North Shropshire areas. Since graduating with a BSc Agricultural degree, I had been working on the family farm, which is a 300-acre arable and livestock enterprise where we run 100 Hereford cows and 300 sheep.

We crop approximately 100 acres of the farm annually, this year we will be growing LG Typhoon winter wheat and LG Caravelle winter barley, which will be used on the farm for livestock feed, with excess sold into the feed market.

The livestock enterprise is run with an emphasis placed on maximising daily live weight gain from forage. We improve grazing leys through over seeding on rotation, in addition to including high yielding grass mixtures, as part of the arable rotation for ensiling.

I am excited to meet my customer base throughout the area and assist you with fulfilling your farms’ potential.

If there is anything I can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07860 590 412 or george.hall@nickerson.co.uk

What a difference a year can make! July 2022 saw a record-breaking temperature of over 40⁰C. This year, in stark contrast we have just endured one of the wettest Julys ever recorded, adding pressure and complication to both harvest and sowing. Whilst moisture is a key driver to establishing OSR it’s also a huge challenge when trying to harvest nearly twelve months of hard work and investment. Fortunately, LG genetics can help de-risk some of the challenges with such traits as pod shatter resistance and high vigour in our OSR, or standing power, sprouting resistance, harvest date and disease resistance in autumn cereals. Whilst we have no influence on the weather, we can make a big difference with the choices we make when selecting varieties for the next season. Which is where dealing with a Nickerson Seed Specialist can have a positive effect on helping growers select the correct varieties to maximise the benefit from strong LG genetics.