Farmer Focus Arable: Last year’s potatoes are selling slowly for Martin Lawrenson
April has been one of the driest and coldest months I can remember and has enabled us to get all of our land work done in excellent conditions and in good time.
Even in May we were getting ground frosts at night and as a result winter cereals are looking a bit slow and grass growth is poor. What we need is some warmth and, dare I say it, a shower or two of rain to boost growth and wash in fertiliser applied three weeks ago.
Potatoes are all planted and went in to lovely seed-beds, although soil temperatures were quite low, and as a result, seed has only just started to grow.
I think our earlies will be ready at least two weeks later than last year and speaking to other growers they are saying the same. What effect this could have on early prices only time will tell.
Although dry, spring crops have emerged very well and look promising with our Westminster spring barley looking particularly good, although some patches of manganese deficiency will need treatment.
Another job done is our Single Farm Payment application. A job that I never look forward to but, to be fair, all the pre-filled in information was correct and corresponded to our new maps. It was just a case of going through the form and checking for mistakes, which all seemed fairly straightforward. Now I have said that there is bound to be some almighty cock-up about to happen.
The last of last year’s potatoes are going steadily with signs of a better trade for good chipping samples. Usually we would have cleared the stores by now, but after one of the hardest years for selling potatoes that I can remember, we still have a couple of hundred tonnes left. While having grown on contract in the past and not really liking it, we may have to look at it again if this year is like the last.
