The absence of sugar beet to lift has clearly eased the autumn workload on Farmers Weekly's western Barometer farm in Shropshire.
"We've been spending some of the time lifting carrots for an organic neighbour, and we're very nearly up to date with spraying," said Richard Solari.
The only winter cereal areas remaining untreated for weeds at Heath House Farm, Beckbury are 20ha of late sown wheat and 40ha of oats drilled in the last week of October. Both could wait until spring without coming to harm, he said.
"Certainly the yard's a lot tidier than normal."
Machinery maintenance and traying up seed potatoes are the main current tasks.
"Seed potato prices are up quite a bit on last year, and some varieties are said to be getting tight. But I'm not convinced there's necessarily a shortage.
"Ten days ago I was given 48 hours to make my mind up about some Maris Piper, but the offer's still there."
Accord bought in August from Yorkshire cost only £10/t more than last year. But some Super Elite 2 Maris Piper from Scotland, where he acknowledged some seed growers had switched to more profitable ware production, was £280/t. "That's about £50/t more than last year."
The farm's planned area for 2008 will be much as last season, though there will be fewer early chippers, he noted.
"We've got 170 acres that naturally falls for potatoes, and another 30 that could go potatoes or spring barley. I'll probably decide on the flip of a coin."
Rising costs, notably of diesel and fertiliser, especially potash, have left him guarded over potatoes' future. "I'm not very optimistic. We've been warned to expect an average increase of 15% in the cost of growing next year."
In the longer term the price of potash, all of which has to be mined, could only escalate, he added.
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