Farmer Focus: Harvest finished at time we used to start it

We have just finished harvest, right about when we used to start. The oilseed rape and wheat, while not vintage by any means, have yielded enough to make a positive overall margin.

I did fear it would be worse as some of my Bamford wheat had turned black in patches with affected plants having ears standing up and shrivelled grains.

See also: Farmer Focus: A la carte weather is rarely on the menu

About the author

Andrew Barr

Arable Farmer Focus writer

Andy Barr farms 700ha in a family partnership in Kent. Combinable crops amount to about 400ha and include milling wheat and malting barley in an increasingly varied rotation. He also grazes 800 Romney ewes and 40 Sussex cattle and the farm uses conservation agriculture methods.

Read more articles by Andrew Barr

We did think it was barley yellow dwarf virus, and I hear there’s wheat dwarf virus around, but the plants are not stunted. Other theories include orange blossom midge, but we didn’t see any, or extreme heat at pollination.

Interestingly one of my neighbours saw some in a different variety but in the same equivalent location, just south of the main road that runs between us.

It actually weighed well and produced over double the straw of my Vibe. I’ve never been concerned about straw yield before, having always had more than enough for my brother’s livestock.

For the first time I can remember, everyone along my stretch of the aforementioned main road has been baling wheat straw, at least in my case to try and balance reduced yields and increased fertiliser and diesel prices going forward.

The spring barley and beans have fared less well in the furnace and I am booked in for a hypnotherapy session to try and wipe from my mind the memory of the oats we planted on sand.

So, what to do next year? Firstly, I would like to encourage everyone to take a very relaxed approach to applying for a new Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement in September. I’m sure there’ll be more than enough money to go around.

Winter barley yields seemed to have fared better, but the price has made returns tricky and it’s spring barley that over the years has topped my gross margins now and again.

I have always wanted to try planting it in late autumn, and another neighbour of mine has done it successfully this year, so perhaps that’s an option.