Categories

While a full on war hasn’t quite broken out the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to teeter on the brink of something tense but no one seems quite sure what. Various official buildings and offices are being taken over by pro-Russian, pro-separatist groups who rally around a single issue agenda of self-rule and have a general distrust of the interim Government in Kiev. Shots have been fired with several deaths reported, journalists have been... 

Spring has sort of sprung, and as we only have oil seed rape in the spring portfolio it’s a bit of a damp squib … It has long been clear SOSR plantings will be well down on last year, and actually, well down on a ‘normal’ (whatever that is) spring season – there’s still a month to go though so we’ll see. At least the sun is shining and it looks like a good (long) weekend ahead. The threat of a bank holiday usually stirs up a few ‘must... 

Well it feels like it was only last week since I did my first blog and haven’t had any one telling me to shut up so here’s my second one. February started off fairly quiet getting odd jobs done and getting things ready for the busy times, also had a n-sensor refresher course at askham bryan college. It was very interesting and good to be reminded of how the n-sensor operates and also any updates that have been made and also future developments... 

Here we go again, the OSR sowing season is complete (at least I hope so!), and we can start thinking about next year. It is now clear that both the area and seed sales this time have been lower than for a number of years – with many estimates of a total area down to about 625000 ha – but considering the problems faced by farmers in 12/13 it’s not surprising that many have looked at land use and decided to change things round a bit. Of course,... 

A family farm of over 1,300 ha. with a variety of enterprises plus 360 ha. which we contract farm means that there is a lot going on and, as manager for the whole farm on behalf of the family, I aim to keep the farming operations relatively simple. On the arable side we work on a 3 year rotation of Wheat, Barley, Oilseed Rape with approximately 400 ha. of each. This is managed with the help of a Foreman, a tractor driver and a couple of part timers.... 

With a little over 300 Ha. across several locations in Hampshire and Dorset my business is now largely focused on fruit and vegetables for ‘pick your own’ sites and sales through Farmers Markets. I also have farm diversifications such as various forms of accommodation (shepherd’s huts, yurts, wigwams and cabins), events (weddings, circus, shows). Here is my website www.dantanners.co.uk .  However, I still grow around 200 Ha. of cereals  and... 

I farm in a Joint Venture operation with two neighbours in Oxfordshire and we combine over 2,000 ha. crops with two Claas 770 combines. We also have rotational silage maize and grass and farm over an area stretching over 20 miles from one end to the other. Soils are generally fairly light running from gravel through chalk to heavier clay cap plus around 160 ha. of free-draining ‘fen land’. We have been extremely fortunate in having a good year... 

Oram and Sons is a family farming business on the north side of the Pewsey Vale in Wiltshire. Six partners in the business include three generations, though my Grandfather is less involved these days than he used to be. The daily running of the farm is down to my father, Philip, my uncle, Richard, cousins Nick and James and myself. In total we farm almost 1,000 Ha., including around 200 Ha. share-farmed plus bits and pieces of rented land. We have... 

Harvest 2013 is now well and truly underway with many winter barley crops now harvested and progress has been made with some spring barley and winter wheat. Winter OSR has been the most variable with some farms finished, some not started and some have the 2013 and the 2014 crops both in the ground! I have also have seen some crops of borage in Essex which have been swathed and harvested. Hyvido winter barley has provided some outstanding yields this... 

This is always an interesting time of year for us breeders, with official data finally coming, and the decisions about the future of varieties in official trial being made. It is nice to see your own programme coming up trumps with lines doing very well in national list trials years one and two. The national list trials provide a useful test of a variety, checking for DUS and VCU – that the variety is Distinct, Uniform and Stable, and has Value... 

Harvest started in the southwest with blazing sun and a blaze of activity, summer showers have now slowed progress as combines wade their way through mottled crops of oilseed rape , oats and spring barley. Wheat is largely an aspiration for the middle of next week. Quality on winter barleys has been superb with our boldest Cassia sample over 70 kg/hl and a thousand grain weight of 58 grams, yields have been variable but generally good. The Pearce... 

At least in some respects, anyway!   This time last year we were looking at potentially the biggest planting of OSR seed in UK history, now we are looking at many planning a return to rotations involving more winter barley and more spring cropping, and therefore a reduction in OSR plantings. (the grain price doesn’t help either!)Wheat will probably stand still.   I’m sure everyone recalls the terrible establishment conditions of 2012,... 

I farm at Abingdon in Oxfordshire on about 2,500 acres with 1,000 milking goats and we also fatten beef cattle. We have around 2,000 acres of arable plus grass and maize, on a range of soil types. Production is predominantly Winter Wheat (1,200 acres normally) though this year we only managed to get in around 200 acres, on the light land, so have mainly Spring crops this time. In fact we drilled an additional 150 acres of Winter Wheat at the end of... 

The month of July has been at times very busy and at others relatively relaxed for the time of year. With ear wash being applied early in the month, and Nu-fol being applied middle of the month to the milling wheat, with some desiccation of O.S.R. as well. First after the ear wash came the Nu-Fol. Due to the high daytime temperatures it was necessary to apply this late evening and overnight, but with only just over 100 Hectares to cover it was all...