It wouldn’t be a Camgrain Farmer Director’s piece without mentioning it so here goes – ‘The Weather’. Moving right along, autumn sowing here is nearly complete with just a 1ha wheat trial plot to do and then some winter beans. All autumn cereals have been sown to include companion seeds of vetch, peas and beans which qualifies me to claim a Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) payment. I also promise not to deliver any pulse or legume seeds into store with my cereals next harvest as they will be controlled with a herbicide next April or May when they have achieved their aims.

The purpose of the companions is to meet one of the following: act as a trap crop for pests, help supress weeds, provide a habit for birds, invertebrates and pollinators, help manage nutrient efficiency and protect and improve soil. This alongside other payments for not using insecticides, to have cover crops on overwintered land, to establish some flower margins and in-fill and manage the maintenance of hedges on a rotational basis are the main obligations I’ve signed up to …. and why wouldn’t one want to do this anyway?

All this means that my government environment support payments will largely replace what I used to receive as my Single Farm Payment. There will be some costs involved in carrying out the ‘work’ to meet the requirements I’ve signed up to but much of it I would have been doing as a Regenerative Farmer anyway, Yay!

I recently hosted an event for our customer CP Nestle who were entertaining buyers from one of the large supermarkets. They were promoting the breakfast cereals we supply clean wheat for plus some other new product lines. Consumption of cereal type breakfast products has fallen in the UK and in the USA of late but the good news is the consumption of oats is still rising, again, Yay! It was a full sales day for all but did include, as you would expect, a field walk to demonstrate the good practices that we use now to produce our crops and manage our environment. They were introduced to the worm and insect population in a flowering cover crop and the stark contrast of the brown worm free full tillage field over the hedge.

Off farm: Last week I had the privilege to give a presentation to an AIM-Progress member meeting - Just Transition (bringing people into business’s environmental strategies), a 3-day event. Their membership includes most of the major global food companies and AIM-Progress very much focuses on human rights of those involved in the (very diverse) food supply industry around the world. We had presentations from tea produces, chocolate manufacturing, dairy supply companies and others, discussing things such a women’s rights and child labour as well a nett zero carbon ambitions.  As the event was hosted at Peterborough by AB Sugar, delegates had a visit to a beet field being harvested. People always enjoy having to put some wellies on and getting outside.

My given title was “The intersection between people into business’s climate, nature and regenerative agriculture agendas”. This meant that as well as espousing about Regenerative Agriculture, I had the opportunity to talk about the important people aspect of our industry, including illustrating the pressure on farmers and where it can come from. Some of this will be from the procurement, processing and supply chain industry (in the room) as well as the retail sector, all of which comes on top of the weather, legislation, inflation, and a host of other things. Additionally, I talked about the longevity in farming and the personal responsibility of sustaining what had been built by the previous generations to be handed onto the latest (in my case) 5^th generation, my grandchildren. I doubt the delegates in the room stayed in the same position for more than 5 years! These pressures are, of course, exhibited by the dreadful suicide numbers for farmers, mental health issues (88% of farmers under 40 rank poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem facing the industry) and the appalling fatality and accident record of our industry, very often caused by all people on the farm working under undue pressures of all kinds. People need to be aware of it to manage it, we must do better.

And finally, on a lighter note I’m looking forward to going on a BaseUK farm study tour to France. Our French hosts are always happy sharing their latest farming thinking, proud to show us their farms and crops, and insist that lunch in an always fabulous rural restaurant should take at least an hour and a half …. I can’t wait!

The future ….