Farmer Focus: Wheat yields hold up well despite no rain in July
© Jason Bye Combining has been a relaxed affair in the drought of ’22. All the wheat was in store before the end of July at 12-13% moisture and temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s.
I much prefer getting temperatures down to getting moistures down though, because I don’t have to do much.
Monty, our student, did the most gruelling part of the process: climbing the face of the wheat to install the fans on top of the pedestals. That’s an all-body workout.
See also: Harvest over in record-breaking finish for Norfolk grower
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As predicted by our agronomists Tom Marsh and Philip Spencer, in the local pub beer garden after our end-of-season trip round the farm, wheat yields have held up well due to plenty of June sunshine – despite recording no rain in July.
Crusoe and Extase will be joined by hard group 4 Insitor next year.
We have grown almost only bread-making varieties here for more than 40 years, but the cost of getting the proteins required now is prompting the move away to barn fillers.
Spring barley is being cut as I type, which tells you that I am not being stretched on the grain cart job.
Hopefully, quality and price are going to make up for the mediocre yield of Explorer for Budweiser.
It is on FBT land which the landlord is considering putting into whole-parcel stewardship.
We are racking our brains for a solution, which means we can keep farming it, but it is hard to compete if they can net over £400/ha after costs by providing habitat for birds and insects instead of growing crops.
Borage will be the last crop to come in. We have 90ha in the swath, but it is a very flat swath. A knee-high crop is hard to make into a row.
I am very grateful that Hew is the combine driver, not me. I will be extra vigilant supplying Hew with food and drink, but probably won’t be occupying the buddy seat for long.
Let’s just say that he’s not known for his patience.
