Insight Focus
- Dry weather enables late autumn plantings.
- Sugar beet harvest starts slowly.
- 2024 sugar beet price not yet agreed with British Sugar.
What’s Happening On The Farm?
The first thing to report is that I’ve been away on holiday with my lovely wife. We went to London for a couple of nights – see what they call tea in that part of the world.
We stomped round the city and, as a reflection of modern life, discovered that free thinking is only allowed on a Sunday.
From a weather perspective we have moved from flood to drought. It has not really rained since I last wrote and temperatures have been 1-2 ⁰C above normal. This has caused us to change our approach to autumn plantings. As mentioned before, the thing I worry about, more than anything, is a wet autumn. It delays plantings and when these are done they are usually done badly and the yield is worse.
Right or wrong, helpfully time will tell, we have done much seedbed preparation and no drilling. The reason for this, particularly in wheat, is we suffer a weed called “black grass”. If we plant too early, and it grows, it’s very hard to kill and as a result yields suffer at harvest and, usefully, this grass sheds its seed early so we build the burden for next year. If we delay we run the risk of autumn rains preventing us from planting. The technique is called “stale seedbed”, works very well if you can plant the crop afterwards.
Lambs are getting fat and should be soon off to market.
The sugar beet harvest has started, although the process is slow. This is because of:
a) Potential yield increase is still huge – British Sugar gave me some numbers recently that support this;
b) Workload on farm, getting other crop land ready;
c) In-take to the factory has been slow, beets from another factory are being diverted.
At What Stage Is Your Crop?
Oilseed rape, the seed has been returned to the merchant (thank you) and so won’t be mentioned again. Across Europe the area is said to be down 5%. Locally I bet the area is significantly lower, the beetle wins.
Winter wheat is still in the bag, but this will change shortly I hope.
Sunny sunflowers in Norfolk are now dropping their heads which I guess means that harvest will be soon. My whippet knows more about this crop than I, so it could be much delayed.
And finally to a happy note, sugar beets continue to grow with enthusiasm. However, harvest data to date suggests that there hasn’t been as much enthusiasm as I’ve led you to believe. Early data suggests the bulk isn’t there, remember the crop has had 20% more rainfall than normal. Reflecting this, the sugar content is low at around 15.5%. We’d hope for 17% at this time of year. It has to be said there is still a long way to go, last deliveries typically are in February and the autumn currently looks kind for the crop.
What Big Concerns Do You Have At The Moment?
Written about last time, the price for harvest ’24 has not been agreed with British Sugar. Not an issue, as world price sugar keeps rising and many argue for this to continue medium term. What is of concern is that BS has written to the grower “offering” a minimum price of £37.50/t. At the time of writing, this was some £20/t BELOW the sugar price for the year.
What Are Some Of Your Ambitions For The Year?
“Jacqueline’s Patch” – We have pumpkins for sale, lots. Even the chickens have been given one which, according to the “Dummies Guide to keeping chickens”, they should peck at as a nutritional bonus. Chickens can’t read.
