A rumination on scale in three songs I’ve got a brand new combine harvester, ‘an I’ll give you the key. Come on now let’s get together In perfect harmony. I’ve got twenty acres, an’ you’ve got forty-three. I’ve got a brand new combine harvester, an’ I’ll give you the key. I am sure that this …
June 2025 I get asked a lot of questions about farming stuff, most of which I have no idea what the answer is. So I usually make something up that sounds right. However, I do suspect that there will always be an element of truth in whatever I say in those situations because after 40 …
September 2024 Alice and my pre harvest holiday was with Wild With Consent whose website promises ‘This is wild camping, but not as you know it’. I have always asked for Alice’s consent before going wild otherwise she would have me arrested. What the website actually meant that we could camp in a remote place …
Dec 2023 To Certify or Not to Certify, that is the Question I was fascinated by Helen Browning’s reply to the leading question in a session at this year’s Groundswell entitled, “Is it time to certify regenerative farming?” Given Helen’s position as Chief Executive of the Soil Association and her role as a board member …
I can’t be certain when you will be reading this contribution to the UK’s formative regenerative publication, but what I do know is that most of you will be about to, or will just have, sat around the Christmas table with your family. It can be tricky territory. Especially if you are all working together …
Since my last submission to Direct Driller Farmer Focus was September, I owe you a report on what we have stuck in the ground for harvest 2022 and how it’s looking at the time of writing. Buoyed up by my harvest 2021 organic oilseed rape crop, I planted a further crop in August but was …
I am currently bathing in post-harvest bliss. I haven’t actually been through our results in detail yet but I am aware of the general highs and lows. With twelve months of observation of what has looked good and what could have looked better, I am hatching a plan for harvest 2022. September is my favourite …
I was kindly featured in the January 2020 issue of Direct Driller magazine under the Agricology umbrella which was really an overview of the farm, where we had come from and where we were now as regards to our predominately, although diversified, farming business. Being asked again for a contribution is a great opportunity to …
Farmer – Shimpling Park Farm The Farm Our crops are all grown for specific markets. We grow organic wheat, barley and beans for British Quality Pigs’s organic herd, which are sold in Waitrose under the Duchy Original brand. Organic oats are produced for White Oats, organic spelt for Sharpham Park and organic quinoa for the …
