Farmer’s a-maize-ing late harvest
A farmer has rescued 15ha (38 acres) of grain maize – harvesting it six months later than planned.
The maize was sown last spring, on contractor Jon Hynards farm, near Rochester, Kent, but it still managed to yield 3.3t/ha, coming in about 15% moisture.
Mr Hynard said it had been an exceptional case with the rest of his 73ha (180 acres) harvested last year.
“The plot of land is reclaimed quarry, so it is horrible land. We had difficulty getting it in last spring with the cold weather and rain, and this was compounded by a wet summer,” he explained.
“It’s still very wet underfoot but it’s travelled relatively well and the Coryphee variety has stood up pretty well. We’ve had to leave around two acres that still had water standing on it and it’s a bit sticky.”
The maize was delivered to Weald Granary, where store manager John Smith said he had never seen anything like it before.
“We don’t often get calls at this time of year to take in the grain maize but its come in very dry and surprisingly good quality considering the circumstances,” he added.
“We’ll run over it with the cleaner and maybe take a bit of moisture out, but I think we’ll be looking at a price anywhere between £150-170/t.”
