Is it possible to do an Over the Farm Gate without talking about the weather? It’s easier to avoid talking about Covid or Brexit!

Here in Northants we avoided the torrential rain that was in the papers just a bit to the south of us in Essex. We wouldn’t mind a wee bit now, but actually, it’s all looking pretty good, dare I say.

I drove down from Northumberland at the weekend and saw some superb crops and combines on the go, which was pretty exciting. We reckon we’ll be 1-2 weeks late compared to normal, and our home farm will definitely be later, as we always are, than the majority of your farms that are in the East.

Last time I wrote about our white clover understory. This has been maintained under future crops to help improve soil and plant health and we are still trialling it to better understand the provision of nitrogen provided by the white clover. We know from tests that it has naturally added a helpful amount of nitrogen. The crops growing in it are looking really good, and we feel it’s an exciting way to grow a crop.

I also wrote previously that we’re entering into a new stewardship programme in January. Our submission has been accepted by Natural England and we are turning the 'proverbial oil tanker' towards this now. We’ve located the bloodline of Traditional Hereford cattle that we used to breed here, from my great-great-great-great grandfather down to my grandfather, and are in the market for restarting the herd. They’ll be grazing on pasture-only for the whole year outside and will be joined by other native hardy breed livestock as we progress. We’ll also be creating some lakes and woody pasture, as well as planting plenty of trees.

Over on the farm in Norfolk, that we’ve recently taken over, we’re just in the process of getting it into basic stewardship, with the vision to step that up over the years.

Safe harvest to all

Johnny