David's Digest

In todays FW I describe how dry it was in the Paris basin just over a week ago and how many cereal crops were being irrigated. Yesterday I had to go to London on the train and was able to look at line-side crops from a similar high vantage as I did from the coach window in France.

I have to tell you that Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and parts of Norfolk are now showing the same symptoms of lack of rain. As in France there were several irrigators spraying water onto wheat. As in France, I suspect it will be too late.

Drought stress is widespread with great patches of wheat and barley fields losing tillers and scorching in the hot sun. Clearly the few drops of rain we've had in the last week have been too little to save them and we can expect premature ripening and low yields and quality across East Anglia. And if we don't get significant rain soon those patches will grow to cover whole fields.

Not a very good introduction to Cereals next week, I'm afraid. And the area south of Cambridge was among the worst that I saw from the train. But perhaps it will sharpen up the traders who'll be at the event as they realise it could be a sellers market from now on. 

It might be a bit moist at Cereals this week. I don't know how much rain they've had in the Royston area but here in Norfolk we've had about 30mm since Sunday. The soil was very dry before that so it may have absorbed most of it. But it fell pretty fast here and I suspect a mess will have been made by those involved in setting up today and they may have made a few ruts. Which worries me a bit because I am lame at present.

You know how it is - there I was training hard for the World Cup and .. bang! my Achilles tendon went. Poor old Fabio Capello - now he's lost me and Rio Ferdinand. He must be distraught and wondering how long the team can last in the competition without us.

Anyway - it meant I didn't have to go to South Africa and could stay at home and attend Cereals instead. But I couldn't face walking round with my sore leg so organised an electric buggy to ride on. How it will get on over those ruts I predicted I don't know. And I doubt if it will be 4WD. My main concern is the ribbing I expect to get from mates who will accuse me of slacking. Perhaps I had better take a doctors certificate to prove I really have got an injury.

However, there's plenty to do without tramping round the plots on the edges of the site so I may confine myself mainly to the stands. I see from the programme that one of the activities is a seminar arranged by the Oxford Conference Committee - which is a first. Those of us in the habit of attending their January get together often say to one another "See you at Oxford". Now we Oxfordians will be able to say "See you at Cereals as well". 

Given my past (and ongoing) affiliations with LEAF their stand was one that I was bound to visit when I attended Cereals yesterday. Their presence was small but as lively as ever and I was really pleased to hear that once again well over 400 UK farms will be inviting the public in to have a look round next Sunday, June 13th - Open Farm Sunday - which it initiated..

I was even more thrilled to learn that all four Defra ministers will be visiting an Open Farm that day. One member of the previous team turned up at a few past Open Sundays. But all four is unprecendented. Furthermore, I gather top civil servants in the department have also been urged by their new political masters to visit the farm nearest to where they live.

OK its just support and its not much needed money. But it must be a sign that the new administration appreciates what LEAF is doing - promoting the production of safe wholesome food at affordable prices while at the same time trying to enhance the environment - and it will surely inspire more farmers to follow that path while vindicating the efforts of the small but dedicated LEAF team. Well done you lot.

After last Monday's rain (we only had 3mm here) the forecast was for a week of fine weather. Right, we said. Let's get some hay cut. It's rather important that we get it in good condition. Our horses (at livery) are pretty picky and their owners even more so if the stuff doesn't smell completely sweet.

Anyway, we got it cut and sent in the turner. Twice a day we've turned it since and by last evening it was nearly ready to bale. But overnight the weather's turned cloudy and there's even the possibility of a light shower according to the experts. We had hoped to bale before the weekend but sadly that is now doubtful.

Saturday and Sunday could be a bit dodgy too with the possibility of a little light rain and cloud. However, we should be back to sunshine again on Monday and if baling has to wait until then, so be it. There seems little prospect of enough moisture to spoil the sample and you can't make good hay without sun on your back.

Once it's tied up and in the barn we will be looking for more rain for the arable crops. Although not as much as those poor people in the south of France have had. All the media concentration has rightly been on the flooding, the damage to property and cars and to the casualties. Nothing's been said about the damage to crops and farms but with 14inches falling in 48 hours it must have been pretty serious. I feel very sorry for them.

Once again, according to some of todays newspapers, the EU is wasting its time and potentially costing consumers more money by sticking its nose into unimportant issues. Apparently the EU Parliament last week voted to ban the sale of food items by numbers and to insist they shall only be sold by weight.

In other words, if this measure becomes law, as it may well do, it will be illegal to sell eggs by the dozen, or oranges or bread rolls or any number of items by the number in a container. Instead they will have to be sold by weight and that information printed on the bag in which the goods are carried. Given that many such items are sold in transparent containers the ruling adds nothing to the information available to the purchaser because they can clearly see what they are getting.

Its yet another piece of idiotic bureaucracy of the straight banana variety which simply adds to problems and costs with no benefits to consumers and it destroys the credibility of a body that I for one am glad is there. Wouldn't you think the European Parliament had enough real problems to deal with - like the value of the Euro, the economies of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and the growing pressure to allow the commercial production of GM crops - that it wouldn't have time to spend on such nonsense. The fact that they have must indicate that the EU is overstaffed with people seeking out useless things to do and that they should be drastically culled ASAP?