Farmer Focus: From flooded fields to drought stress in a blink

Well, I guess it was predictable – we’ve gone from too wet to too dry in what seems like no time at all.

Heavy land is starting to crack at the surface, shearing roots.

With no meaningful rain on the horizon, current weather patterns just don’t seem very compatible with our style of farming, adding more stress to an already stressful situation.

See also: N-fixing bacteria cuts cost and lifts yield for Cambs growers

About the author

Keith Challen

Arable Farmer Focus writer

Keith Challen manages 1,200ha of heavy clay soils in the Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire, for Belvoir Farming Company. Cropping includes wheat, oilseed rape and elderflowers. The farm is also home to the Belvoir Fruit Farms drinks business.

Read more articles by Keith Challen

Our second acquisition of satellite-derived biomass maps in wheat shows that heavily waterlogged areas in January and February are carrying less than optimal tillers.

When you add to this the current global situation influencing fertiliser prices, the decision was made to cut back the second dose of nitrogen on these areas.

The interesting point, is that within the same fields are areas of optimal biomass, so hopefully the variable application should pay off.

Spring oats were direct drilled with our Horsch Avatar 12.25 into overwintered cover crop residue in mid-April in moist conditions.

As each year goes by, I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of no-till farming.

Establishment looks even, although they would benefit from some rain before we apply nitrogen.

My only concern is the 250mm row spacing; in less than perfect years, I wonder if this is a little too wide.

It’s been a tricky week. Millie, super dog, my 14-year-old black lab, had to be put down.

She was a quiet and loyal friend who rarely put a foot wrong.

She tolerated the introduction of a couple of red Labs into the team and, with grace and style, showed them how it was done. Although she was by far the quietest of the three, it seems awfully quiet without her.

Finally, elderflower-picking season is a few weeks away, and we usually have a company come and strim round the plants to keep the weeds down.

However, unfortunately, due to the current economic climate, they’ve gone bust. If anyone knows of a company offering the same service, please get in touch.