FARMER FOCUS: Much to learn from organic farmers
If you blinked, you probably missed September. With minimal disruptions oilseed rape drilling merged seamlessly into cultivations, and then into wheat drilling.
The annual blackgrass battle has started. I’ve been busy spraying glyphosate to create stale seed-beds ahead of drills, then turning round and chasing them out of the field with both the Avadex (tri-allate) spreader and sprayer.
I’ve concluded that if the opportunity to farm an organic farm comes up, I’d jump at the chance. There must be loads of methods organic growers use that could be implemented into a conventional system, and what better way to learn them? I’m not saying organic is the answer, more of an “ideas donor” to run alongside conventional approaches and help ease the burden on agrochemicals and even, in future, lessen their use.
These views may sound strange coming from someone with a business mainly based on applying agrochemicals, but if they all become useless or banned through overuse, I’m not going to get very far, am I.
It’s the time of year for lots of “working weekends” – in two contrasting respects, one being the season of vintage farm machinery working, the other is having to work so I can’t go and watch them. It’s nice to see the farming machines of the past out working a little, but I struggle to understand when people say those were the good old days.
The reason we’ve got to the technology and comfort levels of modern machinery is because the drivers of the day asked for the improvements. If they hadn’t, my John Deere 6420s would be 2wd with no cab, powershift gearbox or pickup hitch and the “comfort pack” would be a bag of straw on the steel seat and a better coat.
While it is a few weeks since the BBC Harvest series of programmes threw a new light on to the industry, the farmers, technology, and professionalism shown really gave farming some positive publicity. Farmers love to see farmers on the TV, but aside from watching it because it was “farming,” I bet most learned something, too. Well done to all those involved.
Matt Redman operates an agricultural contracting business and helps out on the family farm at lower Gravehurst, Bedfordshire. The 210ha farm grows mainly wheat, oilseed rape and beans
