The past few weeks have already been challenging here on our farm in the Norfolk/Suffolk boarders! Our agreed plan was to have our sugar beet lifted in good time so that the land could be drilled into Winter Wheat by early December. Unfortunately the delayed start to the Sugar beet campaign due to the drought in the summer pushed the lifting window back a week or two, which then hit a very wet, followed by very frozen spell before Christmas. As a result our first lift was four weeks late and our second lift did not happen until the New Year.

With the seed in the shed and having been successful with late drilling in the past we decided we would go ahead and get the fields drilled. Both have been done, however the seed beds are a long way short of the standard I would expect and we have some rutted tramlines where we got the pre-emergence sprays on which are going to be felt every time we drive around the field for the rest of the year. The beet return from the first lift has come back with some disappointing yields – in line with every other grower in our area, as well as low sugars, again a common theme. I recognise that we can have good years and not so good years in almost every crop we grow, however sugar beets place in our rotation is definitely up for review at the moment.

Along a similar theme we are growing Winter Oats on the farm this year for the first time to see if they have a place in the rotation. With the new Navara Oat Mill nearing completion and through Camgrain the opportunity of value add contracts on the horizon I am optimistic about the potential. The two fields we are growing have established well, I hope we can get up the learning curve quickly, learning how best to grow them on our soils and system. Time will tell!

We were delighted to be included in two of the new Camgrain Sustainability group projects which are getting underway in the New Year. In common with so many other farmers we are keen to learn more and become more efficient with our inputs and growing practices to deliver for the environment, our customers and our own financial sustainability. I look forward to getting closer to my own data and gaining new insights in the months ahead.