Last time I wrote, I mentioned that I was not a big fan of drilling in February. However, after 241mm of rain since then, I am glad we got things drilled, as otherwise we would not have a single grain planted.

Spring wheat looks 95% respectable with 5% of patches. We attempted to spread digestate, but the weather made this a thankless task. Once it looks dry enough to start, it rains again.

See also: Advice for winter bean crops hit with chocolate spot disease

About the author

Robin Aird

Arable Farmer Focus writer Robin Aird manages 1500ha on the north Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border, with a further 160ha on a contract farming agreement. Soils vary from gravel to clay with the majority silty clay loams. The diverse estate has Residential, commercial and events enterprises. He is Basis qualified and advises on other farming businesses.

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One weather advantage is that the Avadex (tri-allate) did a superb job on the dirtiest block of land.

The Easter weekend was a non-event as we were busy spreading fertiliser and getting the T0s onto rye and winter wheat.

This is the first year I have had to change my planned winter wheat T1s due to the weather.

I was planning a cheap-and-cheerful spray programme, but this changed to Ascra (bixafen + fluopyram + prothioconazole) for more punch.

In 2012, we hosted a BASF fungicide trial, and when you see a trial plot go from green to yellow with septoria, it tends to focus one’s mind.

We are trialling various decision aids this year. First, I have an Agros meter which measures available nitrogen in the digestate.

Second is a Yara N tester, which we use to monitor what we have put on and what the crop needs.

On the rye it is telling us that the crop has enough N to get it through to harvest, so that’s a saving (potentially).

We also applied for the woodland tree health grant, which was a simple task. I was very impressed how quickly they made the grant live.

This is a substantial amount to help with replanting all areas where we felled ash dieback trees.

Furthermore, we were successful with a water scheme capital grant for installing a farm track to prevent diffuse pollution. This will be installed later in the year when the ground dries up.

I also applied for some equipment in the latest productivity and slurry scheme round. This is more of a competitive grant, and I don’t think we will be successful.

The weather is still not playing ball and next week looks cold and wet again. I am hoping that it will dry up soon as we have a lot of maize land to spread, cultivate and plant in the next few weeks.