With the end of March upon us, you would think there would be a hive of activity on the land, but as I write this, nothing proper has been done.

First, the big tractor decided it had to “limp home” at the weekend. The thing inside it that cleans up its emissions stopped working and it won’t be repaired until tomorrow. Second, the wind is blowing, so no fertiliser can be applied, unless you drive up and down the neighbouring field and hope it lands on the one you want it to.

See also: Read more from our arable Farmer Focus writers

But we had better be careful, because when we actually do get around to doing something, we may find what we have just done doesn’t quite fit the new rules and regulations we are all trying to get our heads around. There seems to be lots and lots of small print to digest.

On a happier note I was very privileged to be asked to a dinner recently to celebrate our local JCB dealer’s retirement and transfer of his business to part of the Scot JCB group.

Bob Reid is a bit of a legend around the Borders who, as a young engineer at Rutherfords of Coldstream, adapted an old International tractor with a few bits of rolled steel joist to make what was probably one of the first hydrostatic-driven rough-terrain forklifts ever.

Later he was even working on ideas for a four-wheel-steer telescopic machine, only to discover on a trip to the Royal Show that the famous Sanderson brand had succeeded before him. It says a lot of the man, though, who had a vision of what was to become so commonplace on our farms today.

He became a dealer in his own right in 1988 and since then has managed to sell more than 800 JCB farm machines in this area. Quite a feat, you would think, selling that number to us miserable lot. But then it was made easy – it was a British-made JCB.

Neil Thomson

Neil Thomson farms 607ha in partnership with his father and brother from Caverton Mill, Kelso, on the Scottish Borders, growing combinable crops and brassicas. Some of the mainly medium loam is let for potatoes, and the farm also has cattle and sheep.