Andrew Blenkiron is frustrated by the food price scare stories

How was it for you, have you finished yet, did the earth move or did you just sink in out of sight?


All common questions asked between us farming folk at this time of the year. Whatever the answers to any of these harvest teasers, at least the price is holding up, that is assuming that you have managed to harvest and that you still have grain to sell; if not then it starts to niggle. The most frustrating thing that I find is the press banging on about the price of bread having to go up as a result, thus creating those food scare stories that they so love.


By my reckoning the recent increase in milling wheat equates to an increase of just 4p on a large sliced loaf of bread – hardly a headline, even if you manage to eat half a loaf a day as my uncle used to. This is obviously not the same if you are trying to feed livestock, but as with bread, if the price goes up then the market will have to absorb the cost. Let them pay to eat cake and meat is what I say.


Euston harvest summary: oilseed rape is around the average, but below last year; barley average yield, but much better than last year; wheat better than average and considerably better than last year.


And thanks to the amazing capacity of dedicated, determined if not single-mindedly focused team and modern equipment, we are now almost finished cereal harvest and looking forward to the World Equine Endurance Championships (www.eustonparkendurance.co.uk/WEC) taking place all around us this weekend. With over 40 nations competing to finish 100 miles on one horse in the quickest time, it sounds just like a good stint on the combine to me. Good luck to them, hopefully they won’t hold us up too much.



Andrew Blenkiron manages the 4,400ha Euston Estate, south of Thetford. Principal farm enterprises are combinable and root crops, including sugar beet. In addition the estate supports let land, sheep, outdoor pigs, poultry, suckler cows, horses and stewardship


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