Opinions Focus
- We start harvesting sugar beet next week.
- UK & EU fertiliser production has been hit by the energy crisis.
- Financial support for English farmers is under government review.
What’s happening on farm
Less going on farm and more in the Country. A change of Prime Minister, the death of our Queen and a new King. All of this in two days. Our Queen was a remarkable lady, our King has a huge task in front of him and I wish him well, whilst our new Prime Minister seems to be having troubles.
Stubble counts, from harvested crops, have been done and most of our fields have had soil samples drawn to help with fertilizer calculations for next year.
Autumn cultivations are going on at pace, if we can work soil when it is dry it will stay dry for the growing season to come and that is good for yield.
Analysis of harvest results has not been helpful in understanding yields, so there are now meetings set up with knowledgeable people as we wish to grow our profitability.
Crop Stage
Maize harvest has started and will very soon be finished. Sugar beet is back to life and harvest will start in approximately a week.
All rye seed is in the ground and we’ve made a start on wheat. Here there is much scratching of the head, in terms of planting, due to the black grass risk.
Big Concerns
Fertilisers and pesticides stay on the list of things to worry about, this made worse by the reported drop in European fertilizer production and apparently, the complete collapse of UK production. Bubbles in our water is no longer an issue for our minister of agriculture, obviously.
English agricultural financial support from the UK government is under review, with the new government. The worry is that this will delay further the political decisions that only our politicians can make, the department for agriculture does not moves swiftly even after these have been made.
Ambitions for the Year
So continuing the theme further and in increasingly uncertain times, to focus on price.
