The weather has been delightful for the past three weeks. Is this a false start to spring, or will we be lucky and have an early one?

I have been busy walking the winter crops in the dry weather and in general they are looking forward.

The winter wheat looks stunning, with very good blackgrass control from Luximo (cinmethylin). I hope this will continue.

The rye is still the bane of my life. It was drilled two weeks earlier than the wheat, and consequently blackgrass levels are too high for my liking and older chemistry is showing its weaknesses.

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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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One advantage is that it will “munched” by the forager before it has chance to head.

We started spreading digestate on the grassland courtesy of Paul Joseph who has a great spreading team. We are hopefully going to give some of the hybrid rye a light dressing to get it going this spring.

The new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) announcement is a breath of fresh air. I always look at these with an open mind and work out what I have to tweak on the farm to access potential new money.

I think it is really progressive and am looking forward to the new direction the RPA is moving towards.

I am watching a Country Land and Business Association webinar with Janet Hughes as I write this, and I think she is brilliant at explaining what is happening and what is going to happen in the future.

I follow her on Twitter and would recommend everyone to subscribe to her blogs. It is great to hear that all the future SFIs will be up and running by the end of next year.

The new grant funding available shortly and the number of rounds are sounding positive. This gives the business time to plan longer-term and not just as a reaction, which can hit cashflow.

The future of the local environment is looking much better with these schemes.

Hopefully, we will be able to join multiple farms together to link wildlife corridors across the landscape, instead of small isolated pockets, to create a mosaic of environmental benefits.