Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Budget taxes small businesses out of viability Over the weekend our farm shop and tearoom closed its doors. Several reasons led to the decision, but a big reason is we need to get a balance back to… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: No-till SFI option is simply impossible“Suboptimal” is the term I’d use to describe the state of most of the local autumn drilling this season. Obviously, we haven’t been immune from the challenges, having received 326mm… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Using the moon to predict weather and timingsWater, water everywhere. Is this the new norm – drought or deluge? I feel it probably is. I have followed the moon phases for many years to predict the weather… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: This year's potato yields hit record lowFirstly, some positive news. As a rule I dislike spring beans, mostly because they’re always late to combine, always need drying, and if it’s a dry summer, the yield can… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Still struggling with linseed harvestBy now I would expect harvest to be finished and be busy drilling wheat, but this is not the case. I still have 30ha of linseed left to cut. The… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Land is too wet for winter wheatSo much for my master plan to stop herbicide damage to my rye by drilling early. Since drilling the rye on the 18 September, we have averaged 8mm a day… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: The cheapest therapy session I’d ever getOctober started with a first for me, presenting to other farmers about my farming system. I was invited to speak to Stoke Ferry Agricultural Society in West Norfolk. They are… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Autumn drilling is thankfully 97% completeWith it being October it can only mean one thing – The Pumpkin Patch is open. What started five years ago opening at weekends now consumes our week days too,… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: More wet weather and a second SFI applicationI’m conscious of sounding like a stuck record because, yet again, the weather is dictating progress. At the time of writing we’ve had around 168mm of rain since mid-September. The… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Challenge of growing food is too great a drawHarvest was testing, as I’m sure it was for many. Finding dry days to work between was hard and made all the more disappointing when the spring barley yielded so… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Missed early October drilling due to pumpkinsNow that October is here, we have our final crop to harvest – 24 varieties of pick-your-own pumpkins, squash and gourds. This year has certainly been a good one for… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: As farmers, we are eternal optimistsI’ve been racking my brain to think of some positive things to talk about this month, so far, the best I can come up with is that at least the… More articles
