This is an article tinged with sadness and disappointment. 

The sadness is because this will be my 91st and last contribution.

The disappointment is because while Frankel got to retire to stud, my immediate retirement of spring barley drilling and digging out drain ends doesn’t really bear comparison.

I have always tried to keep my articles light-hearted, as farmers have a rare ability to talk the industry down well enough without my help, and never too tightly related to what I am doing at home as the life of an arable farmer can be a little mundane.

See also: Read more from our Arable Farmer Focus writers

We go from sitting on a tractor to sitting on a sprayer, to sitting on a combine, interspersed with some crop walking and looking at colourful maps, racking our brains as to why the most productive fields are next to the historic sites of cattle yards.

Through my pieces I have met a great many people; an awkward introduction to an enthusiastic Welshman in the urinals at Lamma is etched in my memory for life.

Business opportunities have arisen from it, as well as my very own machinery-mad stalker who despite repeatedly phoning from 7am to 10pm day after day during harvest, could not understand why I didn’t want to meet him.

I like to think anyone who saw the farm back in 2009 and visited again now would not recognise it. 

More than 40km of ditches have been cleaned out, 55% of the farm has been redrained, we have a new grain store with a continuous-flow dryer, a machinery store is being erected and we have built a farmhouse.

Future projects over the next few years include more land drainage while continuing to look at expanding the farmed area.

As my favourite Brummie recently said: “There is no point setting realistic goals, you want to set f**k off massive ones, and only then will your goals become achievable.”

With the uncertainty clouding the industry, be sure to embrace each challenge as an opportunity and always remember that being a farmer is neither a career nor a job, but a privilege.

Will Howe farms 384ha of medium to heavy land at Ewerby Thorpe Farm, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire. He mainly grows spring crops and also manages a further 200ha on contract.