NRM has launched N-Check, a new Soil Mineral Nitrogen (SMN) package designed to help farmers save on rising fertiliser costs and optimise crop production.

‘Assessing how much nitrogen is left in the soil after the winter is more important than ever on the back of recent price hikes in fertilisers,’ said Rory Geldard, Business Development Manager at NRM. ‘Our N-Check service helps customers use these values to calculate how much additional nitrogen they need—and therefore how much fertiliser they need to apply—to meet crop nutritional requirements for desired yield.’

As the UK’s leading provider of soil analysis, NRM has offered its long established Min-N service to arable farm businesses for the last 15 years. The new service is available as two options: N-Check and N-Check Plus. N-Check builds upon Min-N by adding a total value for the combined sample depth. N-Check Plus offers a complete solution for growers looking to assess their Soil Nitrogen Supply (SNS), and includes the standard N-Check service, organic matter to estimate mineralisable nitrogen, Spring crop N to determine the SNS, and SNS index based on RB209 guidelines.

‘Our customers have long been asking for SNS determination based on their soil mineral nitrogen analysis results,’ continued Rory. ‘Providing this data helps farmers and their advisors make the right nitrogen decisions that meet productivity, profitability, and environmental objectives. Our new N-Check and N-Check Plus services allow us to meet this growing demand, offering a complete solution to give customers both the amount of soil nitrogen supply in kg/ha and the SNS index.’

N-Check comes with an updated analysis request form, a supporting document on collecting samples and submitting to NRM, and technical details explaining the results.

‘Innovative developments such as N-Check allow us to further support sustainable food production and a safer, healthier planet—a core focus of Cawood,’ said Simon Parrington, Chief Executive Officer of Cawood. ‘In a changing world, we know we must be ready to tackle any challenges that arise. We are pleased to be continuously improving and building on our services to help farmers meet their goals.’

For more details on our N-Check services, contact us.

New for 2021, NRM’s annual soil summary is available as an interactive map. Now farmers can drill down into crop type and nutrient summaries for their region and county, so the data they receive is more relevant than ever before.

The interactive map follows the publication of NRM’s 2020-2021 soil summary with data from thousands of soil samples from farms across the UK collected between June 2020 to May 2021. The interactive map allows farmers and their advisors to select a region and then a county to localise their nutrient summary. Data for phosphorus, potassium and magnesium is split out by arable and grassland and summarised according to the 9^th edition of the RB209.

‘For the last 30 years, we have found that two thirds of most soils are deficient in the three key nutrients. This year was no different,’ said Alli Grundy, Agronomy Manager at NRM. ‘There are some really interesting variations across the UK as well. For example, while arable soils in Cumbria in the North West of England are high in phosphorus but low in potassium, those in Greater London in the south are low in phosphorus and middling in potassium.’

Viewing the consolidated data in this way is more relevant to farms and their conditions than ever before, helping farmers understand the current nutrients status of their soils and benchmark against other farms. Farmers and advisors can then use the data to enhance performance and make insightful decisions about the next year of farming and beyond.

‘A core focus of Cawood is looking for new ways to add value for our customers,’ said Simon Parrington, Chief Executive Officer at Cawood. ‘The interactive soil map, developed by NRM, presents an innovative solution for our customers to easily see how they compare with the rest of the UK and to help them meet their goals. We are really pleased with our digital and data services, which efficiently and effectively help us support a safer, healthier planet.’

View the interactive soil map here.

Cawood has been acquired by the US corporation, Ensign-Bickford Industries (EBI) from Waterland Private Equity.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, EBI is a 185-year-old privately held corporation with diversified businesses in aerospace and defence, molecular diagnostics, and pet food palatability markets. It is one of the world’s oldest privately owned companies and this is its first acquisition since 2018. Commenting on the acquisition, EBI President and CEO, Tom Perlitz, said, “Cawood has more than just exceptional growth potential, it comes to us as a thriving business with a solid market position and great talent – built on a set of strong principles that very closely mirror the core values of EBI. This partnership will support both goals to expand our diagnostic offerings and extend our reach in global markets, and we could not be more pleased to welcome Cawood into the EBI family.”

Cawood was founded in 2006 and now operates nine divisions serving the agriculture, food, environmental and infrastructure sectors. This year it has tripled its Research business unit through the acquisition of i2L Research and IES Ltd, as well as consolidating its position in environmental analysis with the acquisition of Elab. It will now become a member of EBI’s Agriculture and Environmental Diagnostics Group.

“Over the last 18 months, Cawood has doubled in size, following significant investment in acquisitions, equipment, people and technology,” said Cawood CEO Simon Parrington. “Our ambitious growth strategy is fully supported by EBI. We are looking forward to continuing to develop services that support our customers with data and insight to improve decision making, enhance performance and establish compliance. EBI’s global interests in science and technology and their existing business portfolio make this change of ownership a very positive move for Cawood.”

Cawood will operate as a subsidiary of EBI, with the existing management team led by Simon Parrington, who concludes, “Our business is a good fit with EBI, with similar culture and values, and a shared desire to provide added value services that make a difference to the world.”

With Christmas only a few weeks away, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their business during 2021, and to let you all know of our operating arrangements over the holiday period.

Our laboratory and courier arrangements for Christmas and New Year are listed below. Please note that, while many of our divisions close for a short period over the holidays, we also have specific cut off dates for the receipt of some sample types. Please check the details for each division.

For any enquiries, or to book in your samples or studies, please speak to your usual Cawood contact.

NRM
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Sciantec
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Sci-Tech (CA)
Running a limited service between Wednesday 22^nd December and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Sci-Tech (NI)
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Thursday 30^th December. For full details of our laboratory arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Marchwood (N)
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Marchwood (S)
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

Mambo-Tox
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January.

Enitial
All services running as usual.

i2L Research
Cardiff: Closed between Friday 24^th December and Tuesday 4^th January.
Newcastle: Closed on Friday 24^th, Saturday 25^th & Friday 31^st December, and Saturday 1^st January.
Spain: Closed on Friday 24^th & Friday 31^st December as well as Thursday 6^th & Friday 7^th January.
Baltimore: Closed on Friday 24^th & Saturday 25^th December as well as Saturday 1^st January.
Czech Republic: Closed on Thursday 23^rd & Friday 24^th December.

Elab
Closed between Friday 24^th December at 12:30pm and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, click here.

IES
Running a limited service between Friday 24^th December and Tuesday 4^th January. For full details of our laboratory and courier arrangements over the holiday period, speak to your usual IES contact.