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 and I urge you all to never take life for granted.
Thanks must go out to everybody that was kind enough to contribute to my Go Fund Me page. I still feel very humbled by people’s generosity, and I cannot thank you enough. Special thanks must go to Micheal Kavanagh for organising the whole thing. I must also thank Nick Woodyatt and Micheal for looking after the farm for me in my absence. Farming from pictures and telephone calls is a whole new experience when lying in a hospital bed; currently, at the time of writing, I am still in rehab, which seems endless! My time is also taken up keeping my website updated, www.timpartonfarming.com and writing my book. The devil makes work for idle hands!
It has been a difficult farming year on many levels with the amount of rainfall being high on the list of things to contend with and why it’s so important to keep soils covered. Heavy rain will cause a lot of surface compaction, which is something I see time and time again when out consulting and can be rectified so easily with a low disturbance lifter! Nothing can grow without air and I often see people having poor yields and blaming the system, when in truth it is they that are letting the system down by not being the farmer and rectifying the problem. The worst thing that happens to a farmer’s brain when they start direct drilling is that any soil movement is bad and that they are direct drilling now, so they condemn all soil movement. Quite often their soil is not ready for direct drilling and soon goes even more anaerobic, causing reduced yield and loss of income, when in truth yields should be the same or better when things are done correctly! I often hear the term roots are better than steel, which is true as long as you have got a healthy soil, but if your soil is not quite there, then a little light lifting is perfect to get the cover crop going. Where the real benefits can be achieved and where everything moves forward is when the farmer becomes the observer.
OSR (canola) came in well for the year at 3.5T/ha. The crop had looked well all year and as usual no fungicides have been used, just nutrition and biology as nature intended. Disease and pests only ever attack a plant that is in poor health and unfunctional from a photosynthesis point of view, basically the whole production system is broken!
Wood vinegar has proven to be a very useful product and one that we have used as part of the programme this last season, with good control against sclerotinia, Rhizoctonia, phytophthora, septoria and yellow rust, but I cannot stress enough that it has to be used as part of a nutrition/ biological programme. Everything is always building on each other to increase immunity and strength of the plant in order to achieve a functioning immune system, but as with all applications the right amount is critical especially at drilling which improves rooting and germination.
It is the first harvest that I have not been involved in since being a small boy, where I spent many an hour sat on the foot plate of the combine with my swimming goggles on to keep the dust out of my eyes, under my father’s watchful eye, sat at the helm. Farming was all I ever wanted to do from the time of walking, with many pictures to prove it. I have found it most frustrating to be lying in hospital on bed rest at the time of cutting my wheat, receiving pictures of the action and wishing that I was there. I miss the smell of harvest and the adrenalin rush! It has always given me a buzz seeing the year’s work come home.
As Green Farm Collective we have been busy as ever with a fantastic conference back in May, hosted by Micheal Kavanagh, with numbers of attendees rising year on year, but also a sad day for me not being able to attend! We had a full programme of speakers, and I am told that there was a real positive vibe throughout the day. We have sold our first loads of regenerative wheat at 11.5 percent protein and on the day of movement we achieved a £88/ton premium over feed wheat, which is still pence on the end product. This is in recognition of the value of a regenerative wheat produced to our audited standards from FIA (food integrity assurance). This gives our customers the confidence to go on and sell our flour with the assurance that they are selling a genuine product for the health of the consumer. This has always been a vision of mine, to provide healthy food to the masses, otherwise it becomes a niche product for the upper middle classes, which in my mind will never have the desired effect on the planet or its inhabitants! Everyone needs to change the way they farm and consumers need educating on what they are eating and change their purchasing habits, something which we aim to facilitate within GFC. Together we begin to have a voice; as solos we go unheard! Join us and become part of the revolution within the history of the planet. Together we can make a difference!
