As the plane from Frankfurt banked over Essex before landing at Stansted I looked out of the window at a brown countryside almost bereft of moisture. The only exceptions were the bright green areas around the 18 holes of a golf course that had clearly been irrigated. The rest was cultivated land, some probably drilled and most not and stubbles that were too hard to plough. Even the hedges and trees looked drab and dull with leaves senescing prematurely and falling onto the parched ground.
I had been to Germany for a short business trip and been reasonably impressed with the way crops looked over there and with progress with autumn land work. They could probably do with a rain but nothing like as urgently as we do in East Anglia.
I am well aware that this must be very boring to farmers in the west and north whose land is still saturated from recent rain. But the drought is getting serious and some of the rape and grain seed already drilled may be vulnerable to inadequate moisture to keep delicate seedlings alive. Most farmers who had started drilling into dry soils have given up the battle with clods. And British Sugar has, wisely, put back the start of its processing campaign in the hope of rain to allow beet to be lifted without breaking the roots.
Remember last year? We were still suffering from continuous rain on the equivalent date and land was too wet to carry a tractor. What an interesting, surprising and challenging life we farmers lead!