Relief as harvest finally over for Philip Bradshaw
Harvest finally finished for us on 10 September and was a welcome relief. In reality it was not as bad in yield terms as feared. My own wheat looks like averaging around 8.5 t/ha and the small area of spring beans over 4t/ha.
Our variety plots were interesting with yields ranging from 6.78t/ha to 10.05t/ha, with Grafton taking the top slot this year. For next year, I am looking at growing KWS Santiago and KWS Solo with some spring wheat after late sugar beet.
The harvest dragged on and seemed to stall for several wet days at a time. We became adept at seeing silver linings wherever possible. When the combine suffered an annoying breakage just before the summer Bank Holiday weekend, it at least allowed us to visit the superb Peterborough Beer Festival.
The oilseeds are drilled nicely although later than ideal. Varieties are DK Extrovert on the heavier land, and Troy or DK Sensei as semi-dwarfs on the lighter, more fertile land. Seed rates have again been modest to give a sensible population and no doubt the annual battle against pigeons will soon begin.
Most of my soils have come through harvest well, and are cultivating nicely. I will again have a mix of strategies with both plough and non-inversion tillage being used depending on soil condition and blackgrass issues. One or two areas are challenging, but I am being cautious and doing whatever is necessary to alleviate any problems before establishing a new crop.
I hope that harvest is over for everyone now, and that things are not too bad. Hearing of the problems with yield and quality elsewhere in the UK and the disasters faced this year by some growers around the world, I do feel fortunate to be farming here in the Cambridgeshire fens. Ironically not far from here, some potato growers are now having to irrigate for the first time this season to soften the potato rows before harvest.
Philip Bradshaw grows cereals, sugar beet and potatoes on 300ha of fenland and other soil types at Flegcroft Farm, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire.
