Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Still desperate for rain as ground is parchedThe brook at the bottom of our farm often runs low during the summer months. This spring, however, it has completely dried up. It’s no surprise really, considering throughout May… ARABLEFarmer Focus: Blackgrass warning to growers in the NorthThe rain has arrived and just in the nick of time. We had 48mm during the last 10 days of May, which has undoubtedly altered our harvest outlook for the… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Tasty bread made with low protein wheatFarming always has its challenges, and this spring has certainly been one of those. Nitrogen was left lying on the ground for weeks on end and plants are suffering from… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Topping legume fallow to stamp out blackgrassFor the past eight weeks I’ve been doing a rain dance every day, and it’s finally paid off. We got nearly 30mm of rain over the past week. This was… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: This is the driest spring in living memoryThe drought in Norfolk continues. We’ve had 5mm of rain since my last article. It is certainly the driest spring in my memory and our poor crops reflect this. Harvest… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Preparing kit and buildings for harvestWell, haytime has passed and it will soon be harvest again, so our focus currently is mostly on preparing buildings, machinery and people for the task ahead. There’s a phrase… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Getting itchy feet about returning to workArthur is four months old now. May has nearly gone and, I must admit, I am beginning to get itchy feet regarding returning to work. I have taken a form… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Winter wheats are rapidly going backwardsThe winter wheats are starting to go backwards fast with the lack of rain. We have had 14% of our usual spring rain fall. That is 253mm less than usual,… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Frustration as weeds rise heads over cropsWe’ve started the T2 fungicides a full 10 days earlier than last year. If I’m honest, we could have started earlier, but with clean crops I wanted to wait until… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: A few hours of help avoids harvest disasterThat sense of relief when the combine was finally parked into the shed was strong this season. Summer and harvest have been relentless this year. We have had 580mm of… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Will South West become new wheat basket?It is hard to sum up the past month or so. We were very fortunate in south Devon to receive a significant amount of rain over the Easter weekend, which… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Fingers crossed rain arrives next weekThe spring wheat is looking well, especially considering the lack of rainfall. It’s had 90kg/ha of nitrogen plus a dose of micronutrients, fish hydrolysate, molasses and fulvic acid, and I’m… More articles
