Farmer Focus

A few weeks ago I was really falling out of love with growing wheat. Like all difficult times you get the chance to re-assess what you do and I believe we need a complete re-think of wheat growing in the UK. Since my last article in the December edition it continued to rain, about 680mm […]

Well first things first! I just re-read my last article and how things have changed in just a few months! In many ways the whole world has changed. Since writing my last article on the 25th February the whole country has entered lockdown, the rain has stopped falling from the sky (although its been wet

If I was ever to write the script for a farming based horror movie I think the title may simply be “2020’’ ! Last time I wrote it was December 2019 and we were only 60% through our autumn drilling campaign. Well behind our usual planned October finish. The new 12m Horsch Avatar had been

Thoughts and lessons learned from the season. Where to start??? Well the earth on the farm went from very wet over winter to very dry. April was the sunniest it’s been since 1929 I believe, with the drought being broken towards the end of the month by some very welcome rain. We have been treated

What a season we have had! Its years like this when we can really learn a lot about our farming system and what we are trying to do. So, it went stupidly wet stupidly quickly. We have had some really easy seasons in the past 5 years where we have been able to drill later

A lot learned from a tough year! Our farm in the South Lincs fens is partially above and partially below sea level. Last winter certainly had its challenges, we had flooding on some fields, flooding in my parent’s house and no winter crops on the farm. It was a long winter to ponder decisions for

In the midst of difficulty lives opportunity! Well, as I write this from my room at The Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester on the 25th February the rain is currently lashing against my window and its 3 degrees outside! Hardly the weather for spring drilling, applying fertiliser to backward crops and even clearing up grubbed

I am currently a final year student at Harper Adams University studying Agriculture with Farm Business Management. Although I am passionate about the Farm Management side of the industry, I am rapidly acquiring a vested interest into the Conservation and Regenerative Agriculture side too. I believe this has stemmed mainly through the placement year Harper

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

The Jet stream has kicked our arse, but we are still smiling…. With little winter crop in the ground and spring still feeling like a long way off our attention has turned to the cattle. I’m glad we baled every last bit of straw in the summer as we are going to need it going