Harvest Diaries 2024

Harvest 2024 has arrived and after suffering pests, persistent storms and setbacks, three farmers share their experience with Farmers Guardian.

Transcript

0:00

Long days, long nights, and an ever changing landscape at the NFU. We understand what it means to be a farmer. That's why our community of over 45,000 British farmers and growers trust us for expert support and guidance. Every step of the way. Together we are stronger. Visit NFU online.com. You're listening to the Farmers Guardian podcast. Me? Hello. I'm Jane, I'm one of the arable writers at Farmers Guardian. The 20 2324 season, as all farmers will tell you, has been one of the most challenging. Three successive storms last autumn was followed by a warm, wet winter. And if that was not enough, February and March brought further floods to the UK as it recorded its sixth wettest bring on record. Farmers struggle to get crops in the ground, and those that were in the ground were often washed away. So as harvest 24 is now well underway, we caught up with three farmers to find out about their experience. hello. I'm Phil Rowbottom. I'm an honorable farmer from Wakefield in Yorkshire. Growing wheat hole seed rape, traditional traditional crops. We using regenerative techniques. bought a direct drill four years ago now. So I haven't plowed the farm for for four years. I believe this is improving soil structure, soil health, and increasing soil organic matter. we do tests for this. It is growing as every year. Harvest time should be, should be time to reflect on New Year's. It should be the see the fruits of your years work. But I think this year it's going to be hard work. yields on the first weeks that we've cut seem to be down little. We're below three and a half tonne per acre. and also in the milling weeks, the first weeks that we grow, quality is not quite there. We're down at 12.5% protein, where normally we would make 13%, but we haven't had the sunshine to help with the protein. and like I said, this is just the results of these long, wet, cold months that we've had. It's been a struggle all spring to get chemistry on. we've got rather more grasses and we should have, and hopefully this autumn will be able to correct some of, some of our failings over the spring with a family farm. We've been here nearly a hundred years now. I'm third generation, so I've done 50 harvests on the farm since it was legal to drive a tractor. but we've had to diversify as well. So over the last 30 years, we've developed as a family farm. sorry, a golf girls business. So with 27 hole golf girls, the whole family is involved in running the business. we also have ten and 11 employees as well. we still growing for farmers locally. this is going to also going to be. But I think there'll be a lot less grain coming to store this year. We, we've seen a drop over the last ten years of obviously. Right. Storage from 5000 tonnes to less than 500. This year, building will make 500, oilseed rape on this farm. It's certainly going to be this will be the last year. And I think that supply to a lot of my neighbors in the area, we've all struggled with, flea beetle. I took 60% of my rape out this winter. Replace it with the third week, which is unusual. we're looking for an alternative break crop. We're certainly not going to grow as we write this back in, using SFI grow. an overwinter cover crop. use the direct drill, to put in, a low input spring cereal, which seems to be in favor at the moment. We're always hopeful of a good harvest. but I think this year, well, first, the first indications are yields are down. so I think this will be a below average tonnage, year for us, which is going to reflect in, farm profitability. I think this will have a knock on effect in machinery. How many people are going to be buying machines this year? I think machinery dealers might find life a bit difficult as well as us. Hopefully we should finish, first weeks today, Tuesday. That will then give us, a yield indication that I'm sure the yield mapping on the combine will be, a joyful view. with the patches missing. The contractor will then leave us and go off to do his own wheat for a while. we shall get some cash crops drilled into the stables. then I've got some contract oilseed rape to drill for in my neighbor. so I use the direct drill for for all sorts of contracting work as well. so that's been quite a good purchase over the years. What I've Staveley, we, farm in Buckinghamshire and Dorset, both mixed farms, beef and arable. so far this year we've had a lot of rain, early on in the winter, on the heavy land in Buckinghamshire, it had a big effect. We had lots of flooded out areas. Primrose got washed down to seed and hit them pretty hard. so we we lost a fair few, few areas there, especially in the oilseed rape. We just didn't didn't cope with the wet as well. In Dorset, on the lighter ground, we managed to crack on drilling all the way through November, and still get a decent crop across the whole field. harvest wise, we've finished all seed, right? With, yields in Buckinghamshire were down dramatically. just because the flooded out areas in Dorset, we had a good average yield, just just shy of four to the hectare, which I was pretty pleased about. We didn't spend a fortune on the crop either. winter barley, which is all in Buckinghamshire, was hit pretty hard with, flooding, wet soils on the heavy clay. it didn't do particularly well. And we had a lot of soft ground come with, with the crop in the spring as well, which didn't help me out. but the quality was fairly good on it. On the wheat. We've had a good average across both both areas in Dorset and in Buckinghamshire. We're just we finish the wheat in Buckinghamshire. in Dorset we've got I've got another day left, before we're into spring barley and that'll be the, the closed on the wheat for the, yields have been a good average. I'd say. quality is not exceptional, but it's, it's it's all right. I'd say probably a good average as well with the bushel weights. Fairly decent. We had a lot of flooded out areas in the wheat down in Buckinghamshire, which we really drilled with went, spring oats. so headlands and places like that, which we took a lot of that for whole crop, for cattle and actually because of the, the wet in the spring that they, they've done pretty well. So spring barley is the next job on the list after we finished the last field of wheat. And it looks all right, actually. it's the straw's pretty short on it, but there's, there's a lot of, is there? So it'll be interesting to see what the quality is in that and what, what yield we get of it. And then we'll be into probably the oats, which again look, look, look very well. They were drilled it drilled late in the spring. But because of the rain that we've had so far, they've grown. well and the, kernels seem to have filled out nicely. So we'll see what happens there. And they, spring beans as well. Look, look pretty, pretty good again, we haven't spent much money on them. So the yield looks like it should should be there. So we'll see what happens with that next job on the list. We've just started drilling oilseed rape. We've put the, low disturbance up soya through first. just because the ground had gone a bit down a bit tighter from over the winter and then, direct drilling, with either a cross slot drill or horizon drill. So it'll be interesting to see, how they compare. Yeah. Just watching for slugs of such a wet year. I think that's going to be a big issue this, this autumn. But I'll keep an eye on them and see if we need the pellets on. That's all for me. But I will get the combo out and start rolling again to avoid. Moaning again. it's lovely sunny morning here in East Scotland and we'll hopefully get some harvest moving later on today. So I've got some of late spring to get onwards. my name on Stephen. we farm on the east coast of Scotland, five miles out of Saint Andrew's Way on the sea to the to his estuary in the North Sea. mainly grew cereals, mountain for barley for the whiskey industry. field votes for Quaker and got fields of wheat for the seed production for the merchant. then moved went and veg to grow the brussel sprouts from Christmas market onwards. And we'll also grow parsnips again for supermarkets this year Kenny and Mark for Christmas and onwards. Last year was late in the season because of the wet years and difficult harvesting conditions. And when then we also grew seed potatoes and we're potatoes because job at this time of year is obviously late spring and jump in between spare and combined. Last year, obviously establishing nut when cereals was very challenging. Should you see, when the barley went in very late the try to do going to still seedbed cultivated rather than playing for winter barley and last year's overseas tricky thing was obviously getting dry enough to travel to spray spray with glyphosate to take out volunteers. And then soon we did get as soon. A very good job. Unfortunately, going pushing and says we need to get ahead and get, pushed emergence grass wheat spray on which we did. But of course obviously with the wet weather after it had been sprayed and for the so one six weeks afterwards, really affected. So it's pretty much washed into its own in a fairly slow to of barley up, you know the while. And so December's in January. So not when a bottle is going to be a resource, but we're left alone and got enough. So manganese trace elements or bio stimulants on it to stimulate the roots come springtime. And with the the crop of harvested so far this year and it's just a way off the farm and it looks like it's just about done sort of seventh on a hectare. and made the Malton grade as a nice sample of barley and then, but obviously just not the tonnes you the late and not all over the when the bottle has been very much hit and miss crop next crop over forward is going to be a row. So I'd hope me try some later on today, but if not, maybe Freydis Arctic. to we'll get to them and we'll be trying to harvest with as well. Drying is possible, but we do have to dry them because, the contractor contract the need to run should mobile and it helps clean the screens out the oats to make the premium market grade. and to quicker and then hopefully will then once have done not oats will then roll into, mold spring barley varieties or Firefox or shear have been growing this variety now for about three full years. literally a so number one and then last two years have been late spring. But spring is when it's come. It's been a good spring. So the crops of can are raised forward. We've have struggled wee bit for moisture earlier today to July in the spring barley. But we've added probably enough showers hopefully to finish them off. and they will obviously jump up between fitting enough cups of coffee over several would be jumping between spring modeling seed. We also like to get in the wheat and steel and wheat. but also there's a fair version variation that's going to be game sown soon in very challenging conditions. One field on sharper grounds come very well and soon okay, but other field would really like it to get in. But so good cultivate after potatoes and then got 80 mil of rain on it. didn't know what we were going to do, but after a good few dry days, which the cultivation and let the water drain a wee wee, then actually went and then plowed over into the ground because we felt it needed to be aired for just going in and so on. Cultivating. I think it would have probably would have failed again, because the main rain that came after it, because we plowed over left, can a rough ready when maturing, it can cope with the volume of rain that the then came after it. It's not 100% cockpits proper, but an 80% crop, and mainly because obviously the fields are going to chuck a chocolate bits in the field that's needed. Invest in some drainage in the field. but he that's for another day. potatoes. What? It's stage for in a stretch that ignition and irrigate crops. At the moment we've been getting rain. We've never had an inch rain in the past. We had such drying winds and heat wins. We've probably lost more moisture. So the crops have actually fairly, dried out, have vegetable and potato crops are still growing. But of course, it's been so windy that we've hardly been able to actually irrigate as well, because obviously you just don't want to be wasting water in seeing in the water. London's such a small bit where rain gun and so it's pretty flow busy at the moment. you just got take time when you can some mornings you get a line when yesterday obviously rains it was in the office and do some leaf. Odin work. So hopefully this is enough for you. Just by. A big thank you to Philip, Steve and Alan and to you for listening. We'll see you next week.