I’d like to open this column with a short tribute to a friend and farming neighbour who for me has been one of life’s constants.

George was quiet, humble, helpful and generous – with his time, skills, knowledge and perspective.  

For many of us in these parts he was Ryedale’s unofficial combine consultant. At 75 he’d seen a few harvests, and it was rare that a quick chat couldn’t solve an issue, no matter the obscurity.  

The best chats though, were the random ones, often down nostalgia lane, in the workshop on a quiet winter’s morning. I’ll miss those.

See also: Bedford grower assesses new varieties to replace Extase

About the author

Andrew Wilson

Arable Farmer Focus writer Andrew Wilson is a fourth-generation tenant of Castle Howard Estate in North Yorkshire. The farm supports crops of wheat, barley, oats, beans, sugar beet, potatoes, and grass for hay across 250ha. Other enterprises include bed and breakfast pigs, environmental stewardship, rooftop solar and contracting work.  

Contact:

Email: wilsonbrickyard@gmail.com

X: https://twitter.com/SpudSlingsby

Read more articles by Andrew Wilson

By the time you read this, we will have celebrated his life, exchanged stories, raised a glass, lamented time gone by and contemplated future seasons in what will be a unique and memorable way – to say that he will be missed is something of an understatement. 

I’ll not dwell on the weather, but suffice to say that irrigation is the arable equivalent of wayward sheep this month.  

I thought I’d experienced every wobbler that they could throw at me over the past 30-odd years, but it seems it’s the turn of impellor vanes to test my patience this year. 

If there was a year to identify field drains, this is it. Tech can and does play a part in recording these, but “five yards north of the oak tree then every 20 yards for the next hundred” doesn’t need wi-fi to access it. 

Crops look OK locally, though nearly every farm has a poorer field or two to entertain the neighbours, be it volunteer wheat in barley, burnt-off patches of blackgrass or just a comedy tramline that nobody noticed was a bit wide. Yes, that one is mine! 

We’re tapping on through harvest prep, and between irrigation headaches and Farming Equipment and Technology Fund applications, I’ve been fettling next year’s cropping.

It looks like it will feature less second wheat and more spring barley, and if the world sugar price doesn’t scrape itself off the floor, less beet and more beans.  

Here’s to a fruitful, profitable and safe harvest.