Blimey! How things can change in just five weeks. It stopped raining and the ground has dried enough to get granular lime and polysulphate on the wheat.

Positive thoughts about the Autumn rugby internationals have vanished faster than Cheslin Kolbe with a tailwind.

And the chancellor has managed to completely alter the future of family farms.

I’m not going to dwell on the latter two. I feel there’s more to come out in the wash politically, and farmers must seek professional advice. And there’s a vague hope we can at least beat Japan.

See also: What the Budget means for new Arable Insights farmer panel

About the author

Anthony Becvar

Anthony Becvar is a third-generation farmer of an 80ha mixed farm in East Sussex on heavy Weald Clay. Crops include spring beans, winter wheat and spring barley, alongside diversification projects which include two breweries and an agricultural mechanic.

Read more articles by Anthony Becvar

I’m still glad I drilled early as there are plenty of wet (and very wet) areas that wouldn’t have taken any kind of cultivation or direct drilling even with this dry spell. So technically I’m beating the house at the moment.

The cover crops I drilled through the AHDB and South East Water project are looking good. The field walks well.

Earthworm numbers are six times what they were when it was sown at the end of August and the soil is aggregating.

The comparison strip which was cultivated and left is a marked contrast; I can hardly get the spade into it.

Seeing these differences for yourself is a great lesson, and for me opens up options for future cropping.

The trial looks at year-long cover crop mixes, as I believe that is where my soil will get the most benefit.

I know that I’m forgoing a spring crop, but I’m viewing cover-cropping as an investment in my soil that will one day provide returns.

These longer wetter winters are a real driver to experiment with cover and possible catch crop scenarios.

So during our most recent “out of the box” agronomy meeting, my agronomist and I have hatched some top secret plans.

One of them I’m sure will be award winning (Nobel perhaps) based around cover/companion/cash cropping that embraces min-till and zero-till principles to create what I will be copyrighting as “chilled till”.

All will be revealed soon; possibly at the same time as our new blackgrass brioche comes to artisan bakeries across the UK. It’s all still very hush-hush at the moment though.