And we’re off – I do love spring and, although it’s not yet in full flow, the skylarks are twittering away above the fields.

Thanks to a short spell of the drying east wind, we have made a start at field work. This was in the shape of urea on oilseed rape and most of the wheat.

I like that urea gets into the plant gradually. I don’t like what inhibitors do to soil microbes, so I will use it untreated up to the end of March.

See also: Analysis: Signs of cautious optimism for oilseed rape?

About the author

Andy Barr

Andy Barr farms 320ha in mid-Kent, aiming to farm as regeneratively as possible. He stopped ploughing 25 years ago and over this time restructured the business with less land farmed and increased the use of contractors, environmental areas and diversification projects.

Read more articles by Andy Barr

The wheat on our heaviest land still has wet patches that you wouldn’t want to go anywhere near, but is in fact very well on compared with the rest.

I hope this is due to extra fertility after a two-year legume fallow, but fear it may also be to do with not being able to get as much herbicide on it as the rest.

As far as the oilseed rape is concerned, it’s typical farming with one pest, in the shape of cabbage stem flea beetle, being replaced by another, in the shape of pigeons.

I haven’t seen as many of the latter for a long time, but I do feel like I have more chance of control than at peak flea beetle levels.

I can’t find any larvae in my stems, but I am sending some off to Niab as part of a joint initiative with United Oilseeds, Hutchinsons and Agrii.

It’s great to see the industry coming together to try and crack the problem, and it will be extremely useful for drilling plans this autumn and a major uplift if the project finds as little as I have.

Another job for me at this time of year is preparing for my farm assurance inspection. Now, I realise most people I speak to are not fans of the scheme and for some, that is putting it mildly.

However, even if it doesn’t always seem to make sense, I do find it fairly painless and perhaps, having experienced Leaf Marque certification and spoken to local fruit growers, I can be slightly controversial and suggest that we might be careful what we wish for?