What a busy month it has been. The wheat is now all safely in the ground and beginning to emerge and the beans have been drilled 10cm deep so as not to be seen for a month or so, I hope.

This will allow me to attend my grandfather’s 100th birthday celebrations, before the pre-emergent spray is applied, and then the following weekend act as master of ceremony at my sister’s wedding.

The changes in farming in the past 100 years are so vast they are impossible to list. But if you had told my grandfather early in his career that land prices would reach £16,000/ha, a single, self-propelled harvester would cut enough wheat in a day to make a million loaves of bread, and that tractors would be self steering under the guidance of a tin can in the outer atmosphere, he would have patted you on the back and suggested you spend less time in the sun.

Thankfully, we have had a good spell of dry weather, which made up for the torrential rain at the beginning of October. I’m sure I was not alone in trying to “force” the drilling, which meant a few frustrating days when the drill just would not run properly. I tried everything to improve progress – changing the cultivating tine depth, adjusting the seeding depth and stripping the Challenger of all excess weight. All that was required was a little patience and a drying wind.

With the bulk of the autumn workload completed, my attention has turned to other pressing matters. How can I leave my office desk unattended for only a few months, and come back to find an Everest-sized mountain of paperwork on it? Having sorted out the junk from the valid mail, it is then a case of prioritising each letter and then dealing with it. At times like this, employing a farm secretary does have a certain appeal.