Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Winter oats are best-looking crop on farmWe have finished planting the potatoes, and the main fertiliser applications are now complete. Our focus shifts to preparing for the harvest season. It is a busy time with spraying,… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: We need to adapt to changing rainfall patternsIt rained today. Twice. I feel very fortunate as I hadn’t long finished rolling in the SFI plots and everything needs a drink. Three weeks ago the oats had the… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Cattle return and major cropping changesTimes are a-changing here, and we have cattle back at Valetta for the first time since the mid-1990s. When we first moved to this farm, we ran some cattle alongside… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Iran war shapes next year's cropping plansWe finally had some meaningful rain over the bank holiday weekend. The winter wheat crops were starting to show signs of stress on the shallow soils with substantial amounts of… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Reminiscing now I'm back in the sprayer cabFor the past couple of weeks, I have found myself on the seat of the sprayer while our regular operator takes a well-earned holiday before he gets very busy. With… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: It’s going to be ‘death by houmous’With spring drilling now complete, our attention has been diverted to inter-row hoeing our organic winter crops and mowing fertility leys for the first time to knock a few overzealous… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: A working soil is key to reducing nitrogen useFertiliser and fuel seem to be a big topic of conversation at the moment. With the price of wheat, and unfavourable weather conditions (soil here is very dry), arable farming… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: My view of land use is changingSpring is a wonderful time to be on a farm. Hedges burst into life, oilseed rape is in flower and we have enjoyed welcoming new lambs into the world. This… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Getting to grips with new employment rulesI was recently scheduled to attend a local employment law event, but it was cancelled after only five businesses registered. Instead, the speaker visited the farm and delivered a one-to-one… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: N-fixing bacteria provides good gut feelWe’ve had a great spell of weather in south Devon. We caught an accumulation of 20mm of rain, which washed in the second dose of nitrogen plus sulphur fertiliser. The… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Wheat varieties are a hare v tortoise raceMy Bamford wheat has hared away this spring and, in its haste, caught a dose of septoria. The problem is, I was bitten a couple of years ago with my… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Why I'm feeling cautiously optimisticCautiously optimistic – that’s how I’m feeling. Optimism is an essential trait if one is not to become consumed by the wacky world around us. Seeing crops flourish this spring… More articles
