January has been much colder than for a few years, with Hungary getting down to -18C. Thankfully, our new packing shed stayed at a half-sensible working temperature even though we haven’t got the Biogas heating system in place yet.

Currency movements have dominated the past month, the Hungarian forint weakening by a further 10% against the euro. This is having a big effect on costs, as many inputs are euro-based and produce prices are slow to catch up.

The potato price is up a bit, now averaging £200/t washed, packed and delivered to our supermarket customer. But orders are still too small and we need to move considerably more to clear all stores by the end of June.

We’re still struggling to make much progress with Agco. Representatives have visited the farm in the Ukraine to list the combine faults that need correcting for next season, but it appears to be struggling to provide the agreed new headers.

I find this difficult to understand and hope customers who are buying new combines from the company are aware that there is apparently a minimum of six months’ lead time. Even then there is no certainty that it will be able to provide a header.

We still haven’t made much of a move in fertiliser buying other than some MAP and MOP for the potato ground. Nitrogen prices are all over the place, but seem to be heading down a bit.

The Hungarian government is still dragging its feet on paying overdue subsidies. We’ve had three visits now to photograph the new machines that have bought over the past two years in one scheme, but have yet to see the money.

By the time we receive it, if the currency keeps falling, it will be worth considerably less than we anticipated.