View from the farm this week? Well its clearly not yet spring!

Earlier this morning we had sleety rain and I’ve tipped another 7mm out of the rain gauge. Whilst some have started planting spring cereals the soil is still cold and my workload allows me to wait until we have soil temperatures at around 8 degrees. Traditionally the test for knowing if the soil was warm enough to sow sugar beet was that it should be warm enough to support a bare bottom in comfort, I’m pleased to admit that I don’t know what that temperature is! It should be remembered that in 2018 the Beast From The East started around Feb 22nd and continued very cold through until early March.

So, the seed is in the shed ready but, other than spraying off cover crops in preparation for drilling and a nitrogen application to the OSR and winter barley, little has been done yet. So, what do you do with your time, I hear you all ask in unison, it’s not shooting or skiing ... honest. Camgrain takes up quite a bit of my time and with it being an exciting time in the development of the business there are always committees and meetings to attend. It’s good to be able to attend meetings in person again and whilst still respecting the need for common sense in how we behave around others you can’t beat a face‐to‐face conversation when you are discussing business and developing ideas.

I sit on the committee of Base‐UK, a Conservation Agriculture group, which was set up to promote and facilitate farmer to farmer knowledge exchange. We recently had our annual two‐day conference and AGM and dinner at a large hotel in Nottingham. This was a great success with around 130 delegates taking part over the two days. After a two year break it was great to be back together as a group. The organisation of this, which takes the best part of a year, was not without difficulty or risk as speakers were not sure about committing to attend, but we pulled it off. Our scientific speakers were very interesting and informative but it’s the farmer member speakers telling of their own farm experiences that are the most popular. I’m always impressed and proud of how eloquent people in our profession are, hicks from the sticks we certainly are not! Next year is our tenth anniversary and we are hoping again to host some top speakers from Europe and the USA and make an even bigger party of the event.

Other notable events happening here. I’m having another building refurbished and extended. The team I’m using have worked for me before and are a pleasure to have on the farm. Just like some of the older Camgrain infrastructure, buildings that were put up here many decades ago can become ‘tired’ and out of date, and a Cap‐Ex budget needs to be found to keep things ship shape. The first task this morning was to strip off the old roof, so another reason to hope for an improvement in the weather!!

Roll on spring.

David White.

Vice Chairman.