Pigeons won’t stay away from Simon Beddow’s crops
Despite the Thames flooding some of our best established crops, it occurs to me that we have a lot to be thankful for. While we battle against the weather, at least we always manage to produce something to harvest. In other parts of the world this is not always the case and starvation is a real threat.
Likewise, we always expect water to be in the tap when we are thirsty. One of my wife’s work colleagues was in Africa last year undertaking some voluntary work when a young boy asked her: “Is it true you use drinking water for flushing your toilet?” It does put things into perspective.
Apart from completing what should have been pre-emergence spraying on the cereals, little other field work has been carried out in the past month. The area of clay cap still awaits a visit from the cultivator and drill. However, there are still another couple of months in which a viable crop of wheat could be established.
The cold, wet soils have lead to slow growth where crops have been established. I can’t help wondering that if a cold wet summer affects the dormancy of blackgrass seed, does it also cause a problem with the seeds that we intentionally sow? The oilseed rape varies in size from two true leaves to well over the top of my wellington boots, all within the same field. If we can protect it from pigeons during the winter it may produce a reasonable crop. More than 1,000 were shot on the farm last week and still they come, taking scant regard for our efforts to scare them away.
Most winter crops have a remarkable propensity to compensate, given a good growing season. However, a degree of realism means we will be making provisions for a below-average harvest next year.
Simon Beddows manages 1,000ha of arable land at Dunsden Green, south Oxfordshire. Cropping is cereals, oilseed rape, beans and forage maize.
