Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Wet weather pics on social media are hearteningOne of the many good things about social media is that although there are some in the farming community who only post portrayals of agronomic excellence, there are enough farmers… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: A few false starts to spring drillingUnfortunately, the weather is still the main point of conversation, and it is little consolation to know that further south, the situation is probably worse. There have been a few… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Taps are off and field work can finally startThe taps are finally off. It's only taken what feels like nine months to stop, as it seems to have been raining since mid-July, with the odd nice but short-lived… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Why we imported a sprayer from the UKWe were new to the arable industry when we shifted to Canterbury in 1994 and due to our inexperience, we took on the skills of a contractor to do our… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Planting potatoes by hand in bad conditionsIt has continued to rain in inches rather than millimetres, putting massive strain on farmer's mental health. The to-do list did not get far since my last column as dry… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Trip up North reveals extent of crop damageWeather issues continue to dominate but some motorway-based agronomy on a recent drive up through the country gave the impression that we in the South East haven’t had it quite… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: 2024 is testing farmers but we’ll find a wayLet’s start with the positives. March and April contracted potatoes are all delivered to the factory and seed destined for chitting is dressed against the inevitable rhizoctonia (given the cold,… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Diverse summer cover crop is plan B this yearThe long-term weather forecast is a huge concern. Jobs are mounting up, crops remain in a perpetual state of stress and commodity prices show no sign of budging. Sentiment among… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Lack of data sharing is a barrier for farmersDespite the weather, I feel lucky compared to some areas of the country. We have been able to get most of the work done, with only some rutted tramlines to… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Maize area rises as spring plans abandonedI am getting bored of starting these articles with weather woes, but here we go again. The six months of autumn and winter have now given us 772mm against a… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Enough dry weather to drill barley and beansWe experienced a hectic end to March, with 10 days of intermittent dry weather providing us enough of a window to get all of our spring barley and spring beans… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Demoralising ruts in the majority of fieldsI’m beginning to sound like a stuck record, but continuous rainfall through March has made progress on field work almost impossible. At time of writing we have completed 50% of… More articles
