Flying the flag for pest management at Cereals 2014

There was wall-to-wall sunshine for the UK’s premier arable farming event, Cereals 2014, held over two days, 11 and 12 June, near Duxford in Cambridgeshire. As the showcase of products and services for farmers, it is always surprising how few professional pest control businesses take space at the event.

The traffic queues on all roads surrounding the event bore testament to the huge number of visitors Cereals regularly attracts. Those who were trying to commute to work must have been cursing but, having made it to the car park and completed the half mile trek to the entrance, what was there to see from a pest control perspective?

This year there were estimated to be almost 25,000 visitors and some 500 companies exhibiting. The event covered a massive 64 ha. Just to give you some idea, a football pitch is generally around 1 hectare so imagine 64 of those side-by-side and you get the picture.

Command
Once again Command Pest Control was the only servicing company present. Whilst many farmers do their own pest control there’s definitely business to be had in this sector. Command offer grain treatment as well as rodent control services and use the event as a way of promoting this and, of course, of meeting existing customers.

Barrettine
Also flying the pest control flag were distributor Barrettine. David Shelton general manager of Barrettine Agriculture and Amenity explained that the company takes a stand to support the pest control brands it sells to agricultural distributors.

Featured on the stand and new to Barrettine, was the insecticide AquaPy, manufactured by Bayer. The company was promoting the use of AquaPy in ULV foggers for grain store fumigation as an alternative to traditional smoke generators, which explained the competition on the stand to win a Vectorfog entry level ULV machine.

Bayer
Bayer Crop Protection has a massive exhibit, which includes a series of crop plots as well as a huge marquee. Tucked in their usual spot were Ken Black and Alan Morris flying the pest control flag. New this year was a stored product pest poster. To obtain a copy just send Bayer an email

Left to right from Command Pest Control are: Jeremy Barraclough, Ivan Ambrose and Simon Wills

David shelton & Ken balck Plenty of items to pick-up and competitions to enter Left, David Shelton from Barrettine and right Bayer’s Ken Black

LODI-UK
Last, but by no means least, Lodi-UK always has a presence at this event. The focus for the stand was the grain store fumigant, K-Obiol, although banners were also promoting the company’s new fly and red mite range, and, of course, the full range of rodenticides.

More importantly, with the World Cup in Brazil in mind, Lodi had rigged up a footie game. Hit the crossbar and win £100. Yours truly had a go but whilst I definitely got points for style, accuracy was far from perfect and a zero score was recorded. No chance of winning the £100 then!k

Pest associate editor, Helen Riby, looks the part but lacks the accuracy!