Farmer Focus: Cereal drilling complete as sugar beet harvest...
Farmers Weekly Yet another year is flying by and it’s time for the annual merry-go-round of meetings to recommence. So many exciting events to tempt us away from the farm, all so vital to ensure that...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Lessons learned from Australia trip
Farmers Weekly Well, that was a fascinating excursion to Australia. Nine flights in 12 days probably help to emphasise the phenomenal scale of the country. As with most places around the world, the...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: NFU leadership - it isn't about being popular
Farmers Weekly The depths of a miserable, wet winter just after Christmas always encourage my thoughts to evolve in many ways. How soon will it be to spring, when will prices improve and what sort of...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Leaving the EU would be a leap in the dark
Farmers Weekly A step into the unknown – that’s certainly what a vote to leave the EU would be. Why would a wealthy UK want to support its farmers when we can buy food of a certain nature but...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Juggling spring drilling with recruiting
Farmers Weekly After a false start during February, spring seems to have eventually returned. Planting is now progressing at a fair pace, with an element of catch-up adding certain urgency to the...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: EU exit arguments based on wild theories
Farmers Weekly Fact: Britain is the fifth-largest economy in the world. Second fact: Farmers in the UK will continue to be supported under the CAP. Third fact: We have open access to a market...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Delights of hosting school farm visits
Farmers Weekly This is probably the most difficult Farmer Focus piece I have had to complete – written before the results of the EU referendum are known, but printed after that momentous day in our...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Thankful for average barley yields
Farmers Weekly I had a fantastic day out in Staffordshire judging the Agricultural Societies farms’ competition. Not only did the sun shine, but so did the farms I had the pleasure to visit. It was a...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Drilling cereals in September lifts yields
Farmers Weekly Cereal harvest was completed here at Euston in a very timely fashion by mid-August. I know that’s not really much of a novelty over here in the dry East, but credit must go to the team...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Supply what consumers want to survive Brexit
Farmers Weekly It has been an excellent autumn for sowing cereals here at Euston. A reasonable amount of rain fell in mid-September, serving to moisten the land just enough to allow cultivators and...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Beet delivers poor yields and low sugars
Farmers Weekly I am very much looking forwards to the Institute of Agricultural Management conference in a couple of weeks’ time. The theme this year is “UK world-class farming/world-class food”. That...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Time to make farms ready for Brexit unknowns
Farmers Weekly I can safely say that my local NFU branch has started doing its bit to make sure that our voice is heard about the brave new world we’re entering. Not one, but two MPs were met and...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Protectionism vital outside single market
Farmers Weekly Winter is progressing nicely here at Euston, with a good few sharp frosts that have penetrated the ground and started to work on some of our winter ploughing. This is all quite a change...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Digestate has instant effect on crop growth
Farmers Weekly Following some fascinating presentations and articles lately, I ask myself if we are going to witness a fundamental step change in farming during the 2020s? Not only are the political...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Struggling to recruit skilled arable operators
Farmers Weekly I’m sorry to let those of you who are still struggling with a wet spring know that the irrigators started here before the end of March. A dry winter has prompted calls from certain...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Drought turns light eastern soils to dust
Farmers Weekly Well, it is certainly dry here in the East. Cereals on the lightest land will struggle to make any form of comeback now, even if it rains for the rest of the summer. Still, in my quest...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Countdown to early barley harvest gets started
Farmers Weekly That’s Cereals over for another year – was it my imagination or was it a lot smaller and not as well attended? Now that it is done, it’s time to focus on getting the grain stores ready....
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Early harvest gives good entry for cover crops
Farmers Weekly I hope that by the time this goes to press we will have finished the winter barley and be well into the wheat – all by the end of July. One particular year I can remember being this far...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Maize and root crops look full of potential
Farmers Weekly Despite my dire predictions of a poor August in which to complete cereal harvest, we were actually finished by mid-month, with the wheat yielding considerably better than anticipated...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Shout about farmers' vital role
Farmers Weekly Now is the time to stand up and be counted. Don’t delay, get that letter written to your MP about where you want your farm business to be in five years time. Leaving it to the CLA, TFA,...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Dry October may hit irrigation water reserves
Farmers Weekly While I am aware that those of you in the north and west of the country are going to hate me for commenting on this, the fact is that here in the dry lands of the east, we had less than...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Buying British 4x4s proves a headache
Farmers Weekly What a busy time I have had lately, dashing around the country representing AFS/Red Tractor. It has been really interesting to get out and about and hear views from fellow farmers on how...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Evolution, not revolution, needed for payments
Farmers Weekly Following on from recent announcements, the direction is clear: increase our productivity, improve our environment, provide cheap exceptional quality food and, oh, don’t forget to make a...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Blunt BPS cap would penalise farm tenants
Farmers Weekly I have been incredibly fortunate and privileged within the last month to have attended one of the Windsor Leadership Trust programmes, a thought-provoking and challenging few days...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Will those in power listen to farmers' pleas?
Farmers Weekly Last month I wrote about the shelter offered by barley planted to protect beet seedlings from the dry blowing sand. I did include the caveat with the word ‘if’ in place of ‘when’ the...
View ArticleFarmer Focus: Super-fast broadband makes BPS almost a pleasure
Farmers Weekly What to do with all of that extra time in the office? That is the question that our recent upgrade to superfast broadband has posed. It’s just amazing; no more making a cup of tea while...
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