Ian Crawford
Ian Crawford
Ian Crawford grows packing
potatoes, milling wheat and
beans on 324ha (800 acres)
of rented land from Swiss
Cottage Farm, Carrington,
Cheshire and owns and
runs 2000ha (5000 acres)
of mainly arable land in
Western Australia
HAYMAKING is in full swing here in Cheshire and, true to form, we have had no sunshine or drying winds. Many crops have been round-baled and wrapped, either that or ruined.
Combinable crops and potatoes have slowed their growth due to unseasonably low temperatures. I cant remember a colder June and early July. Such weather benefits no one and we desperately need sunshine to accelerate growth and bring on harvest.
Trying to dispose of the last few tonnes of cereals out of the store is a demoralising operation due to little demand and prices that have not been seen for 20 years. As for potatoes, many loads are going now out at £20/t, the lowest figure I can ever remember.
A trip round any supermarket is a huge eye opener. Punnets of so-called new potatoes retail at the equivalent of over £1000/t and frozen chips at £3000/t! What is more, shoppers do not mind paying that price.
I know of one large potato grower who is giving his potatoes away free to anyone who brings transport to his cold stores. What a sad state of affairs.
Yet, farmers in this area are still falling over themselves to take on extra land.
The success stories in this area are the "diversifiers" – those using on-farm facilities to accommodate semi-industrial processes, storage, composting, or recycling etc. The good news is that land agents are finally coming to terms with the fact they cant have any extra rent if these activities take place.
Categorising and getting ready for our farm sale is proving to be a huge job, but keeping everyone busy. In the 50 years our family have been farming in this area even I was surprised as to what we have accumulated.
Meanwhile, 2.5cm (1in) of rain in Western Australia has put crops in good stead. Hay demand there has increased unexpectedly with over 200t of orders/week. Hope-fully that will empty the storage sheds before this years new crop. *