Farmer Focus: Delay in drilling gives perfect blackgrass chit
© Tim Scrivener November has finally delivered some reasonable drilling conditions, and with hindsight waiting another week would have been even better.
This year, I have tried to simplify my system further and take out risk by only growing Group 4 hard varieties.
I have achieved milling spec over the past few years, but harvest logistics, storage and the added costs have steered me towards the simplification.
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The delay in drilling has provided the perfect conditions for a good blackgrass chit, and the cooler, damper conditions post-drilling will hopefully ensure good pre-emergence herbicide efficacy.
Grain maize harvest has added something different into the autumn mix. It has been great to keep the combine moving rather than it sitting in the shed doing nothing.
The final results of the crop are looking like it can provide a promising alternative break crop to beans, oilseed rape and linseed.
Ergot has been a problem in near enough all of the wheat harvested this year, adding cleaning costs to an already very tight margin.
Not to mention making it harder to find a home for the grain without lots of delays in moving it off farm.
Long-term storage is less of a problem this year, but the impact on cashflow from delayed movements is less than ideal.
Ergot is a challenging issue, and one that really needs the supply chain to work with farmers to resolve.
More cleaning facilities on site with end users, to reduce haulage and re-handling, would be a good start.
I can’t get away without mentioning the Budget. The words that I, along with many people in the farming industry, would like to use to describe it aren’t suitable for print.
Inheritance tax has claimed the limelight, and probably rightly so, but the larger-than-expected reduction in basic payments will squeeze businesses already suffering from a challenging 18 months, high input prices and low commodity prices.
Add the rise in labour costs from the minimum wage, and in some cases the rise in national insurance contributions, and it is looking bleak – especially when the supply industry is also going to be hit equally as hard, raising on-farm costs further.
