French lessons for Andrew Barr

The week of the Cereals event was even more interesting than usual this year.

On Monday morning I had just scraped together half a dozen coffee mugs in preparation for a visit from a group of French farmers, only to step out of the office and find 50 of them looking at me expectantly. They then asked in all seriousness if I was going to address them in French.

I wish I was able to as I could probably learn a lot from this group, who are all involved in “conservation tillage”. A show of hands indicated half of them were sowing their oilseed rape with pulse companion crops. I will be experimenting with this a little this autumn. They also provided me with some wine and a year’s worth of their publication “Techniques Culturales Simplifiées”. I’ve translated the title already.

The Tuesday was spent judging oilseed rape, which I always find extremely interesting, if not a little random. This year, however, the crops were soaked by several days of rain that continued overhead and, with the rules stating we had to get in off the headlands, I have to admit by the 15th field my enthusiasm was a little dampened, not to mention other parts.

Thankfully, I had dried out by Cereals, and having thought in previous years that one day was not enough, I stayed for two, only to wonder whether I couldn’t do with three really. Highlights included finding companies who will make me a liquid fertiliser placement system to fit on my no-till drill and securing a trial area of the wheat variety Weaver in my never-ending quest for the UK’s perfect variety. I was also informed the site was moving next year. “Further south?” I enquired hopefully. “No, 80m to the east” came the reply.

Andy Barr farms 630ha on a mixed family farm in mid-Kent, including 430ha mainly of winter wheat, oilseed rape and spring barley. The rest is taken up by an OELS scheme and grazing for 500 Romney ewes and 40 Sussex cattle.


Read more articles by Andy Barr

Read more from our arable farmer focus writers

Need a contractor?

Find one now
See more