Farming always has its challenges, and this spring has certainly been one of those.

Nitrogen was left lying on the ground for weeks on end and plants are suffering from lack of water.

Fortunately, I was able to keep plants healthy and not use fungicides.

See also: How cultivation can control resistant Italian ryegrass

About the author

Tim Parton

Tim Parton manages 300ha in South Staffordshire growing winter wheat, OSR, spring barley, beans, oats, lupins and wild flowers as part of a biological farming system. He grows cover crops and grass for haylage across sandy clay loam soils.

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This was achieved through sap testing, aiming to keep everything balanced.

Plants never want to get ill, like ourselves, but simply need the correct diet to be able to flourish (just like people), which all stems from a working soil.

When the weather pattern moves into drought, we must move into action to keep the plant healthy.

This is where foliar feeding comes into its own. Profit must be the number one aim.

As a co-founder of the Green Farm Collective (GFC), we had a fantastic conference on 21 May, which was a sell-out event.

Featuring a full range of speakers on topics such as “Creating a Healthy Soil” with Dr David Purdy, to “The Difference of Healthy Nutrient Rich Food” with Matthew Adams from GRFFN (Growing Real Food for Nutrition).

The latter included a tasting session of four different breads with similar ingredients, to let the body decide what’s best for it.

Matt has done a lot of work comparing high-brix, regeneratively grown food and the improvement it makes to taste.

We have one of the most sophisticated computers on our shoulders which can help determine exactly what the body needs for correct nutrient balance.

Unfortunately, processed food has taken this ability away from us.

The winning bread, by far, was a loaf made by my own fair hands using GFC certified regenerative flour.

Now I may be biased, but I have never tasted bread so good, and I have been making bread for years.

We have teamed up with Eurostar Commodities to help market our flour as they supply many large pizza chains and artisan bakers, and feedback reveals the same as our little taste test – that it tastes so good. 

The best bit is our requirement for protein is only 11.5%, which makes it more carbon and environmentally friendly, something which must be a priority moving forward for consumers and growers.