Video: Is this the smallest wheat crop in the UK?

A south-east London allotment holder could have a claim to be the UK’s smallest arable farmer following the harvest of his wheat crop using a hedgetrimmer.

Jacob Shooter, who is a freelance lighting programmer and designer, was inspired to grow his own wheat so he could make pizza entirely from scratch, only using ingredients from his allotment near Sidcup.

With farmer advice gleaned from YouTube, as well as agronomy support from Frontier Agriculture, Mr Shooter has successfully grown and harvested about 100sq m of Crusoe winter wheat from Limagrain.

See also: Why ‘vertical’ farming is growing in the UK

Watch Mr Shooter harvest his wheat:

Allotment neighbour Bill Jones used his hedgetrimmer to harvest the wheat on Monday 25 July, much to the relief of Mr Shooter, who has been fighting off the pigeons. He then gathered the crop by hand to put through his homemade threshing machine.

“The machine is two pieces of wood with some chicken wire over the top and I am going to put the wheat in between and rub them together – hopefully it will all fall apart,” Mr Shooter said.

He has also grown beans on a separate plot, which he hopes will improve soil fertility and leave residual nitrogen for next year’s wheat crop. Oilseed rape might also be added to the rotation.