Farmer Focus: Dry days test patience – and profit
Andrew Wilson © Angela Waites Photography I know I’ve said previously in this column I prefer a dry time to a wet one – and we won’t be the first people to refer to irrigators as irritators – but boy it’s a tester this time!
It’s fair to say our systems are a bit antiquated and in need of investment, but as we hurtle towards what looks like another breakeven season at best, appetite for improvement is currently driven by a need to make our physical job more bearable, rather than any financial justification.
Root crops have been the backbone of our farming for three generations now, beginning with swedes for retail in the 1960s then potatoes and sugar beet as the decades have passed, but who knows what the future holds?
See also: How high-protein spring barley can unlock bigger premium
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My calculator will see more exercise yet, but things are changing. Adapting our operation is nothing new, but the unknown markets’ requirements are incredibly frustrating.
We’ll find a way forward as we’ve always done, but steering the ship feels like navigating a supermarket trolley with a dodgy wheel.
In more positive news, our cereal harvest has so far been a pleasant experience, with winter barley yields 10% above average at a sniff under 9t/ha. The first fields of wheat yielded either side of 10t/ha.
The giddiness of some traders would have us believe prices have doubled in the past month, but at least they’re heading in the right direction. I’ve sold enough grain to secure most of next season’s fertiliser.
Mother Nature is a powerful beast. Our local area has not been immune from fire recently.
What really stands out in such times is just how the farming community downs tools in an instant and steps up to help when disaster strikes a farming colleague.
We might be rivals in the show ring or at an auction, but when the smoke rises, the tankers, bowsers, cultivators and loaders appear, and nobody sends a bill.
It is a very humbling experience and having been both a recipient and deliverer of such action over the years, it is one that makes me proud to be a farmer.
