Well, these past six weeks have been abysmal.

After writing in the last article “I hoped I would not regret drilling all the crops by 9 October as the weather looked to be improving”, I find it rather ironic that it then rained constantly.

We have had more than 250mm in five weeks, and it has caused considerable damage. The rye looked well as it came up in row, and is now looking waterlogged and going backwards fast.

The winter wheat is a tale of two halves. The lighter land has a good crop of wheat, however it is getting chemical scorch and damage from waterlogging.

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About the author

Robin Aird

Arable Farmer Focus writer Robin Aird manages 1500ha on the north Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border, with a further 160ha on a contract farming agreement. Soils vary from gravel to clay with the majority silty clay loams. The diverse estate has Residential, commercial and events enterprises. He is Basis qualified and advises on other farming businesses.

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The heavy land has rotted in the field and will need redrilling, and whether this is a winter crop or a spring crop will depend on the weather over the next two months.

One positive is that we do not have any slug damage.

The cover crops are also starting to struggle. I am not sure what else you can do when the fields are running at full bore and underwater at the same time.

These should, however, be the first to dry out, and hopefully spring will be kind.

The fodder crops are just starting to be grazed, but the livestock will do more harm than good if we are not careful.

I applied for the latest round of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. It was very straightforward, and we quickly got accepted.

This new income stream will help when we have seasons like this one.

The next few weeks will be spent filling in and applying for capital grants, where we are looking to undertake infrastructure work.

There are a few good sources, either through government schemes or the private sector. Once we have jumped through the hoops, I hope we will be successful.

We have also got our farm assurance inspection at the beginning of December, which is normally a straightforward task.

However, we have had the old inspector for too many years now, so we have a new one this time.

This will be the sixth inspector that I have had since being here.

I do hope the powers that be have sorted out the software so you do not have to re-enter all the basic information again.