Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Crop performance strong despite rainOnce again, the season begins with a conversation about the weather. To date, we have recorded just under 300mm of rainfall – almost one-third of our annual average. Including November… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Arable-to-dairy conversions at 60 – and risingIt is fair to say that a farmer is never happy with the weather. It's either too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet, too dry, and then there is… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Formalised partnership helps avoid tax burdenWinter for many of us is a time for taking stock of the business and preparing for the spring. As one of the greatest procrastinators of the modern era, this… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Planning approval means new grain outletJanuary brought a rather substantial 120mm of rainfall, and unfortunately, the rain has continued almost without pause since. Ground conditions are far from ideal, with winter ploughing still to be… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Major flood erodes soil and flattens fencesWith blue sky, sunshine and hard, frosty ground providing a pleasant view through the office window, it’s hard to believe we have endured more than two months of absolute weather… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: SFI 2026 set to be a shadow of its former selfThe taps have been turned on since Christmas, with no field work done for some time and water falling from the sky daily. What type of growing season will we… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Questions which may leave me without a jobI am aware that my last article reported back on a recent conference I attended in Oxford. And as it hasn’t stopped raining in Shimpling since then, I have no… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Short tenancy timescales not fit for purposeThe Norfolk weather has been its usual fickle self this month – temperatures hovering around 6C with enough rain to keep the soil tacky, and us off the land. The… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Maybe it’s time to give sap testing a goThe current state of weather means there is very little to be excited about. With 250mm of rain during January, and February trying its hardest to keep up that pace,… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Why Canadians call wheat 'poverty grass'I started the new year with a trip across the Atlantic to speak at Canada’s South West Agricultural Conference about improving wheat yields. This was a difficult gig as Canadians frequently… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Gut feeling is our best decision-making toolOne of the best decision-making methods in my experience, is gut feeling. Sometimes a decision doesn’t even look all that sensible, but it’s rare that following one’s inner being doesn’t… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: AHDB Recommended List not giving me what I needWith luck and a little bit of judgement we have managed to improve the grazing of the cover crops after not getting it right last year. We got the sheep… More articles
