Farmer Focus: To plant or not to plant? That is the question

With yet another dry harvest over, can we go another year? We are always the optimists as farmers, but without water what can we grow?

We can look at changing what we grow that is better suited to these dry conditions, but what happens when it goes the other way?

You can be the best farmer, but without moisture plants struggle. With a super El Nino being a strong possibility for next year, food security for the UK has never been more important.

See also: Farmer Focus: New farm sign prompts neighbour comment

About the author

Tim Parton

Tim Parton manages 300ha in South Staffordshire growing winter wheat, OSR, spring barley, beans, oats, lupins and wild flowers as part of a biological farming system. He grows cover crops and grass for haylage across sandy clay loam soils.

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With margins so tight, conditions must be evaluated. A friend in Australia waited two years to plant because he knew that there was not enough moisture in the ground to grow a profitable crop.

The UN world food programme is forecasting that as many as 50 million people worldwide could be pushed into acute hunger by the end of 2027.

Wheat prices are far too low in light of yet another poor harvest suffered across most of the country.  Should the government be stepping in to help farmers stay in business, to ensure food supplies going forward?

Do they actually think other countries will export food if their domestic supply is not adequate for their needs?

I have never seen so many apathetic farmers and yet the resolve is always found to carry on. That’s just what we do.

I wonder at what point we will start to look at weather forecasts for the coming year before we plant? (if only we could trust the forecast).

If you could see the coming year was going to be another drought, would you take the risk of losing money again, or certainly not making a reasonable return, to be able to reinvest into the business?

I personally always find it amusing that farmers take on the responsibility of feeding the whole population, when in my opinion, the primitive objective of individual farmers is to have a healthy business and provide sustenance for the family and community.

The wider accountability of feeding the nation must be government’s obligation, and yet policymakers never seem to learn from history…