November seemed to be one of those months where if you blinked, you missed it. After months of dry weather, the rain took a little getting used too, and the to-do list seemed to grow rather than get smaller.

The mild autumn means crops are looking well, although conditions have meant that not all post-emergence herbicides have been applied yet.

See also: Trial sees 9.7t/ha yield from zero-input bean-oat bicrop

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

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

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Luckily, it looks like the pre-ems have worked surprisingly well and blackgrass is not too bad – famous last words?

Although November has been a wet month, we are still very dry. Internal drainage board ditches in previous years have been 4ft deep by mid-December, but are still virtually dry.

If that is anything to go by, we are going to need a fair bit more rain this winter to set things up for next year.

I had my first winter AHDB Monitor Farm meeting last month where we discussed soils and how to do a visual soil assessment and interpret results, along with livestock integration.

There was a great turnout, with lots of useful discussions. Thanks to everyone who came. I hope to see you at the next meeting.

As part of my February Monitor Farm meeting, we will be looking at machinery and some in-depth costings.

I am looking forward to going through everything in detail over the next few weeks with some professional help and seeing if everything is performing as I have previously calculated.

Afterall, positive changes cannot be made if detail is not available or understood.

The year 2022 has certainly been one to remember – will it be my generation’s 1976? Or will we see similar weather in 2023?

I’ve had most extremes in the five years since taking on my tenancy, so something more akin to normal, whatever that is, would be nice.

Hopefully, 2022 will be the last year for a while we have three prime ministers in as many months, and in 2023 we finally get some stability in agricultural policy going forward too.

It is nearly Christmas, so we can wish.