Another year, another set of problems? I can only feel at the time of writing that we are getting kicked yet again with what I can only describe as the worst budget I have ever seen in my life! Aside from what they are doing to farming; what on earth are they doing to the …
September 2024 How one’s life can change between articles! You never think anything is ever going to happen to you! I can honestly say that it has been the worst year of my life so far! As somebody that has always taken health and safety seriously, you just never know what is around the corner …
February 2024 Water, water everywhere! I bet it turns off just when we need it! What an Autumn/Winter! The rain keeps coming, which makes you wonder if it will turn off just when we rely on it. On a positive, it is wonderful to see how well my soil copes with these extremes, with fantastic …
Written September 2023 Another challenging year and one I hope I don’t see a repeat of for a few years! February being such a perfect month one would expect to pay the penance in March and sure enough it was a cold wet month with little work being achieved on the land, which for somebody …
Wow, yet another dry Spring/Summer. Anybody who doesn’t believe in climate change can hardly deny that temperature and weather conditions are changing! This however especially just shows the importance of Carbon (as if it ever wasn’t important!) the extra water holding capacity was vital to keep crops going for those extra days in conditions such …
Yet another challenging Spring! Don’t you just love farming! It’s what I love most even though I moan (according to my wife) but if it was easy, everybody would want to do it! Every year is a new challenge, bringing new decisions, sometimes things go wrong sometimes they work spectacularly well. Canola was drilled the …
Well, what a roller coaster of a spring, coming out of yet another wet winter. Land here coped superbly, yet again giving me a real feeling of contentment seeing drains flowing with clear water, leaving my nutrients and soil where they should be. Drilling was a dream this year with crops going in in ideal …
Tim Parton looks to the future in farming and sees microbes taking a leading part in crop and animal production To quote Rudyard Kipling, “If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs….” – seems quite appropriate at the moment. Something, as farmers, we are good at living with, is uncertainty: …
Well, what a winter it has been, with the wettest February on record I can safely say it is the wettest season I have ever seen. My heart goes out to all the people who have been affected by the floods and those farmers who have had land under water for weeks on end. On …
Managing 300ha in South Staffordshire on sandy/clay loam soils, I first became aware of how important soil was in the mid-90s. Presently, nothing in my mind is more important than our soil. It provides the population with food, air and clean water through plants and trees, that keep us nourished and sustained in life. Additionally, …
