I’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 rain is warm at the moment.

Grain maize is almost ready for harvest, but given the late drilling of some fields and weather, I’m sure that it will drag on for a few months. The crop looks promising, and I am excited to get the combine into it, and compare the end results to other break crops.

I am a bit nervous about the amount that will need drying. Since owning a dryer I haven’t used it in anger, but that is definitely about to change.

See also: Pioneering arable farm sells carbon credits to top Formula 1 team

About the author

Matt Redman

Farmer Focus writer

Matt Redman farms 370ha just north of Cambridge and operates a contracting business specialising in spraying and direct-drilling. He also grows cereals on a small area of tenancy land and was Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year in 2014.

Contact:

Email: office@mattredmanag.co.uk

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@redmanmatt

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I was lucky last year in that I had managed to get a decent amount of wheat drilled before it started raining in mid-October.

Unfortunately, this year the heavy rain was a month early, so like a lot of people across the country I still have nothing drilled. I’m holding out for a dry November.

It is nice to see that the ditching and other drainage work carried out since I took the farm on has been worth it.

But even with that work, sticky clay takes a lot of drying if you want to avoid soil damage trying to get something drilled.

I am looking forward to my final winter of AHDB Monitor Farm meetings.

What better way to spend a winter morning than in a warm village hall with a cup of coffee discussing, no doubt, the weather, but also some interesting topics that will be affecting our businesses in the next few years.

Carbon, carbon credits and selling them have been a subject I’ve not fully got my head around, so hopefully, November’s meeting will help with that.

While there isn’t a great deal of positivity within the industry at present, we are eternal optimists – otherwise we would have given up a long time ago.

It is only the middle of October, and around here it wasn’t many years ago we all refused to start drilling until now… think of the blackgrass control possibilities.

Remember, a flat tyre is only flat at the bottom, so it isn’t all bad.