John Barrett was recovering from a week-end break in Paris this morning after a wet spell slowed his wheat drilling in Suffolk last week.
"I've got a bit of a thick head but it was worth it. What struck me though was how wet it was also in France. We had about 45mm here last week. But from Calais to Paris I saw fields of potatoes and sugar beet lying under water."
Beet lifting at Hill House Farm, Bungay started at the end of last week with all loads originally destined for the Cantley factory being diverted to Bury St Edmunds.
"Apparently Bury is struggling to get enough to keep going," said Mr Barrett.
"We decided to lift some of the poorer heavier land crop first as it probably wasn't going to make much more. And, as expected, it's only done about 18t/acre. We aim to average 24. But the sugar's pretty good at around 17%.
"We're drilling again today, and with any luck we should have all 1800 acres of our first wheats, bar 50 after late lifted beet, in by the end of this week. We sow spring barley after a lot of our beet."
This season's wheat choices are Alchemy, Humber and Oakley. "We've dropped Robigus as it had a poor year here."
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