Contractor comment CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Big yields follow great start to harvestGood weather has been the perfect present for JO Straughan’s 70th anniversary year, with well-timed rain and plenty of sunshine contributing to some stellar winter cereal yields in Northumberland. Records… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Foraging work ditched for an easier lifeMuch can happen in four months. And so it’s proved for Isle of Wight contractor Rob Chapman. When we last visited Rob’s base at Westover Farm, Calbourne, all the talk… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Staffing headaches as busy season sets inThe final member of this year’s Contractor Comment cohort is Stuart Wilson of Ross-shire outfit Allan WJ Wilson. Farmers Weekly finds out the highs, lows, tos and fros of running… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Tough decisions help grow Cornish farmOn our Contractor Comment roster this week are Cornwall-based Josh and Helen Collins, whose extensive machinery fleet is almost exclusively built by Claas. Farmers Weekly catches up with them. See… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Diversification key for JO Straughan and CoJO Straughan & Co has been offering a comprehensive range of agricultural, plant hire and haulage services to customers in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders since 1955. Owner Roger Dickinson… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Challenge of contracting on small islandContracting on the Isle of Wight brings both opportunities and challenges, as Farmers Weekly finds out from Westover Farm Contractors boss, Rob Chapman. Westover Farm Contractors business offers a suite… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Hedge work maintains winter cashflowBig square baling might be the cornerstone of Derek and Linda Keeble’s business, but a carefully selected tranche of other services is key for maintaining cashflow throughout the year. Each… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Cyber attack causes grain dryer havocOf all the potential catastrophes that might befall a busy farm in the heat of harvest, perhaps the most unlikely – and, in some ways, the most eerily alarming –… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Average yields and high costs biteElliot Stevens, who runs Okehampton-based contracting firm Cropmech, had an uninspiring harvest, with wet weather hampering workflow. Elliot, who works along with his father, Mark, says: “Overall, the cereal harvest… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Arson attack ends baling campaignBorders contractor Daniel Freeland-Cook faced a battle with the elements this summer, with both fire and water conspiring to scupper his straw baling campaign. Relentless rain meant crop moisture remained… CONTRACTOR COMMENT'Laughable' tractor prices force expensive switch to hiringEye-watering tractor price inflation threw Derek and Linda Keeble’s purchasing regime into disarray this season, forcing them to re-examine costs and bolster their fleet with costly hire machines. For years,… CONTRACTOR COMMENTContractor Comment: Is Covid to blame for kit breakdowns?Long Covid seemingly isn’t an ailment exclusive to the human race, with mounting evidence that pandemic shutdowns are to blame for a ruck of mechanical maladies among the nation’s farm… More articles
