It’s been a long winter and there’s still a few months of it left. We spent most of December moving water around, cleaning out ditches and digging new ones.

It has paid dividends as previous wet areas have not suffered as much.

I took the decision at harvest to cultivate and subsoil more than I planned, and I’m sure this has had a positive effect on crop establishment. Fields in general have handled the wet autumn well.

See also: Farmer Focus: Wettest soil conditions I have ever seen

About the author

Matt Redman

Farmer Focus writer

Matt Redman farms 370ha just north of Cambridge and operates a contracting business specialising in spraying and direct-drilling. He also grows cereals on a small area of tenancy land and was Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year in 2014.

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Email: office@mattredmanag.co.uk

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It could be an issue when we want to try and get travelling in the spring, but at least I’ll be able to concentrate on drilling undrilled ground, rather than re-drilling.

I managed to drill some more winter wheat on the frost in early December, and somewhat surprisingly it has come through the monsoon very well, with only a few small areas that have failed.

The downside is that I haven’t been able to get a pre-emergence or post-emergence herbicide on, so let’s hope the blackgrass that might be there didn’t like the wet weather either.

At least with no field work possible it has been a good time to be busy loading lorries and getting the grain store emptied.

The mental calculations about how much of this year’s inputs each bucket will pay for really focus the mind. One benefit of more spring crops will be a short-term ease on cashflow.

Lamma is just around the corner, which is always a good social event, although I’m sure there will be a lot of belt tightening over the next couple of years which will increase the tyre-kicking to buying ratio of most people.

I am yet to hear if I have been accepted onto my Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship scheme that, in theory, started on 1 January. This is frustrating as it will have a big impact on what I do for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

If the last few years are to be used as a basis for decision making this spring, patience will be key because as ridiculous as it sounds, I think moisture retention will be the most important factor for spring drilling.