Orion Farming Monthly Newsletter October 2025
- Orion Farming Group
- Sep 24, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: Sep 25, 2025
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Orion October Update
Conditions for Planting
Conditions for planting have been favourable, with a lot of wheat and barley already drilled on the lighter land. I have seen much more OSR in the ground this year compared to last year. All this early drilling has put a strain on timely seed delivery. Thank you for your patience if you have been affected by this.
Crop Chemicals
Ordering and delivery have been very intense in the last week or two, with some products being in short supply. Flufenacet products have been in very high demand, and with potentially limited stock, we have had to switch brands and suppliers regularly to fulfil orders. Crystall is now out of stock everywhere.
Seed
Deliveries are trying to keep up with drilling demand. The top varieties are selling out with many of the suppliers, so I am having to hunt around to get what we need. The most popular varieties so far have been Caravelle, Crusoe, Extase, Skyfall, and Beowulf.
Fertiliser
Urea prices have fallen to around £405/t, but indications are that they are at the bottom and may start to slowly increase again. The big influence on urea price is demand (or lack of) from India, exports from China providing more urea on the global market, and low domestic demand has encouraged UK suppliers to lower prices to try and encourage buying. Ammonium nitrate prices have remained stable. Again, the big worry is that everyone will buy in the early new year and need delivery as soon as possible, but there may not be enough haulage to cope.
People
Continuing the theme of the importance of people to any business, looking after yourself and the team around you has to be a priority.
While health and safety measures can sometimes feel cumbersome and over the top, there are hundreds of people in UK farming who wish more safety measures had been in place due to injuries. In fact, this year alone, 17 people have lost their lives on farms in the UK.
CXCS have written a piece on the importance and actions around farm safety. CXCS are suppliers to the group and have a wide range of farm services they can offer you, from Agricultural Compliance to Human Resources.. Please get in touch with them.
Please look after yourself and everyone around you.
Stuart Goodinson, Orion General Manager
Safer Farming: Why Safety Must Come First
Farmers are being urged to put safety at the top of the agenda this autumn after a worrying rise in fatal incidents. In less than six months, 17 people have lost their lives on British farms, including two tragedies on consecutive days in September: a farmworker crushed by a collapsed trailer in Stratford-on-Avon, and another killed by a falling topper in Wiltshire. Agriculture remains one of the most dangerous industries in Great Britain, and every fatality impacts families, businesses, and communities - but many of these incidents are preventable.
A common myth is that health and safety rules only apply to larger farms. In fact, all farms have a legal duty to protect workers, regardless of size. Even farms with fewer than five employees must carry out risk assessments and implement safe systems of work. The Health and Safety at Work Act makes it clear that employers must provide proper training, supervision, and safe equipment.
Simple, practical measures can make a real difference. Helmets and “SAFE STOP” procedures for ATVs, regular machinery checks, safe livestock handling, and correct equipment for work at height all reduce risk. Taking a few extra minutes to plan tasks, check equipment, and ride or drive responsibly can save lives. Risk assessments aren’t just paperwork - they help identify hazards and create action plans, from repairing a gate to arranging training or scheduling machinery servicing.
Building a culture of safety is key. Normalising conversations about risk, challenging unsafe practices, and encouraging everyone on-farm to take responsibility can prevent accidents. Even experienced farmers can be caught off guard, so planning, patience, and situational awareness are essential.
CXCS provides practical, hands-on farm safety support tailored to the challenges farmers face. Their team offers easy-to-implement advice and guidance to help make farms safer, protect workers and families, and ensure businesses meet legal health and safety requirements. For advice, contact CXCS’s Health and Safety team on 01981 590514.
Now is the time to plan your succession
Many farming enterprises postpone detailed succession discussions, focusing instead on the day-to-day demands of running a farm. But proposed changes to Inheritance Tax and agricultural relief rules, including capping relief at just £1 million per person, have made it urgent to re-evaluate long-held assumptions.
Sorting your succession offers peace of mind, ensuring that even in a worst-case scenario, the farm won’t have to be sold to settle tax liabilities. Beyond the numbers, succession planning allows families and businesses to address legacy, control and future responsibility. Done well, it can strengthen relationships and give peace of mind. Done poorly, or not at all, it risks undermining everything which has been worked so hard to build.
A practical succession checklist
While every situation is unique, the following steps form a robust foundation for effective succession planning:
1. Understand your inheritance tax exposure
2. Decide what you want to happen
3. Determine what you need to retain
4. Maximise tax reliefs
5. Review (or write) your wills
6. Gifting and timing
7. Consider trusts
For every farming enterprise looking to secure its future, the message is clear: understand, plan, and act. Update your wills. Review your assets. Consider gifting. Explore trusts. Ensure life insurance is in place.
If you don’t know what your exposure is and you haven’t taken the steps to reduce it, we offer a no-obligation free consultation for new enquiries, give us a call and find out how we can help you today. Click HERE to find out more.
Residual herbicides – Focus on the details
Getting the details right in a herbicide programme adds up to better overall weed control in cereal crops therefore focus on how to maximise efficacy this autumn. For winter wheat and barley, we are lucky in that fundamentally the residual chemistry works well. But details matter to get the best result. The important thing is to focus on what you can control and be prepared for the things you can’t. We know that pre-em. performance varies year-to-year because of weather and seedbed conditions but there are things you can do to increase the probability of a good result.
Don’t overlook Roundup application and stale seedbeds
Stale seedbeds are an important cultural control ahead of cereals. A Bayer demonstration at the NIAB black grass management site in Lincolnshire shows the importance of effective Roundup use in the pre-drilling programme. From a starting point of five plants/m2, black grass numbers rapidly escalated over two seasons with poor use of Roundup. Key points for Round up use
Use an appropriate dose. This would be 2L/ha for pre tillering grass weeds or 3L/ha for tillered grass weeds (for 360g/L glyphosate product)
A true brand Roundup product will work better in tough conditions such as dry weather
Apply Roundup and drill within 7 days of application for best results
100L/ha water volume is fine but keep boom height 50cm above the target and forward speed to below 12 kph for even coverage of weeds
Start with the seedbed
A successful residual programme starts with the seedbed. Ideally, a fine, firm seedbed with moisture. Surface acting herbicides like Prolcus® and DFF create a film across the soil surface and control weeds shoots as they emerge through the ground. It’s harder to achieve consistent coverage on uneven and cloddy seedbeds. Rolling before spraying to break up clods can definitely help. Root acting chemistry like flufenacet, used Liberator, needs to move through the soil to where weed roots and is taken up this way. Soil moisture is essential for this movement.
Timing and conditions
Make sure the first application goes on at a true pre-em. Timing ideally within 48 hours of drilling. Weeds are most vulnerable as they emerge so herbicides need to be applied by this stage. Wherever possible a roll and spray strategy within a few days of drilling will pay dividends Conditions particularly soil moisture are also very important for maximising efficacy in the programme. Soil surface actives are quite tolerant of dry conditions but the root acting component needs moisture. For people intent on drilling early this season it might be a challenge for herbicides because of dry soils. Using Proclus at pre-em is a good insurance policy as it is photostable and retains efficacy in drier conditions, it also has good longevity so will provide protection if you can’t get on with a follow up. For crop safety in all situations, ensure drilling depth of at least 32mm (or 40mm if Avadex is used in the program). Avoid applications around heavy rainfall and be particularly careful on lighter soils.
Application details
Bayer advise a water volume of 200l/ha in most situations. Trying to increase work rates with lower volumes makes it harder to get consistent coverage of the soil and should be for exceptional circumstances not the norm. Boom height of 50cm above the soil and a speed up to 12km/hour all give herbicides the best chance to perform.
Cefetra Market Summary
Late September 2025
After well received rains at the beginning of Autumn, focus turns towards Harvest ‘26 as a dry drilling window appears towards the end of September. Many growers seem reluctant to hold back for another flush of blackgrass, given how things changed so quickly over the past 2 drilling seasons. Ground conditions are said to be excellent across most of the country, with some wheat drilled locally back in the middle of September. Those that do not feel they have had enough of a flush/chit yet are holding off for the time being, with ground conditions still very dry in some areas.
Around the globe, there were no major weather concerns to note for Harvest ‘25, therefore, drilling conditions in most areas are looking good so far for Harvest ‘26. Areas to monitor are the US and the Black Sea regions, as Eastern Ukraine/Western Russia look very dry with minimal rains forecast for the next couple of weeks. There’s plenty of time for that to be rectified, but the market will start looking at new crop projections in the near future. We would however need a big weather issue to take away from the large wheat and corn supply from this year…
In terms of pricing, most commodity markets have been trading rangebound (sideways) over the past few weeks. Funds remain incredibly short of MATIF Wheat and Corn, holding about 40 & 50% of the open interest in the respective markets. Therefore, there is still potential for spikes if they begin to buy back their positions over a short period – but with fundamentals looking very bearish on the back of large wheat stocks in the EU and large corn stocks globally, we could well see values continuing sideways to lower for a while longer. Normally, we see MATIF wheat contract lows in September, then values firming up from here, but is this a “normal” year?
Milling wheat premiums have come under real pressure so far this season with Group 1s and 2s at exceptionally high pass rates versus a normal season. On top of that, feed wheat premiums are very firm relative to futures due to end users and merchants needing to bring material forward from farm, which is also making milling premiums look smaller.
China has booked record volumes of Canola from Australia on the back of an ongoing anti-dumping investigation against Canada, their usual key Canola origin. Australian Canola usually comes to Europe, due to a large percentage of the crop being non-GMO. If the global pool of non-GMO Canola/OSR becomes tighter, we could see some support for MATIF OSR values. On the other hand, Canadian Canola will be looking for other outlets, which may end up heading towards Europe to make up for the Australian shortfall. More of Canada’s crop is GMO though, so we may see issues there. With the above considered, along with the vegoil complex generally firm and crush margins looking healthy, you would hope OSR values should remain supported.
My summary this month is similar to the past 3… the market needs some fresh impetus, whether that be a trade deal between China and the US, a big weather problem in a key origin for H26 plantings or a geopolitical issue, to cause funds that are currently record short in Wheat and Corn, to buy back some of their position quickly. Even then, we may see a £10/£15 spike before the weight of fundamentals prevails and markets being to lose ground.
Josef Grinczer, Senior Farm Grain Buyer & Committed Grains Assistant Manager
M: 07712 325197, E: grinczer@cefetra.co.uk
Molasses in IBCs
For those members looking to improve palatability by including molasses in their feed ration this winter, but do not have the facility to store molasses in a bulk tank, certain blends of molasses are available in IBCs. If this is something worth considering, please contact the office for more details and prices.
Feed buckets & blocks
Wynnstay are currently running an offer on feed buckets and blocks, with savings to be made on one pallet and additional savings on multiple pallet quantities. With forage being at something of a premium this winter as a result of the dry summer and reduced volumes of feed, this may be another option worth consideration. If you’d like more details, products and prices are held at the office.
Envirolac or Megalac
For those members who currently feed Megalac as part of their TMR, Envirolac is an alternative worth considering. Envirolac is fats derived from veg & marine oils, instead of palm; also it is rumen protected using cellulose, which means it’s heavy and sinks to the bottom of the rumen to pass through. It is 50% cellulose and 50% fat. Megalac is derived from palm oil. It is rumen protected using limestone flour, to form a calcium soap. It has, as a result a higher fat content of 84%. In theory a higher amount of Envirolac would need to be fed to get the same level of energy as Megalac. However Envirolac does not contain palm oil which has a positive environmental impact.
Savings
From time to time, invoices arrive at the office from a supplier for members who’ve ordered commodities directly which have cost more than had they been ordered through the office. When this happens, members are made aware of the savings they could have made, so it’s always worth contacting the office with your requirements, to take full advantage of any savings available to the Group. To highlight this issue, recently an invoice passed through the office from another supplier for one tonne of water softening tablets where the price charged was a staggering £182/T more expensive than the price held at the office.
And finally, totally irrelevant but quite interesting facts of the month………
Liverpudlians buy three times as many false eyelashes as the national average and the first ever webcam was in the computer lab at Cambridge University, it was trained on the coffee pot in the corridor to save scientists making pointless trips when it had run out.
For more details on any matter raised in the Feed & Livestock section, please contact Joe in the office: Joe Cobb, Feed & Livestock Manager, 01865 393 139
