As we move into December things quieten down on arable farms. Sugar beet lifting will be continuing, and the harvesters will still be followed by ploughs and harrow/drill combinations planting late wheat or even now early crops of spring barley. The varieties we are planting these days such as Planet really haven’t seen any hard weather in their growing history so we are unsure how they may fare if they have emerged and then have to withstand a spell of prolonged frost. This can set crops back so the benefit of a longer growing season from planting early is then lost as the vigour of those crops is damaged and is detrimental to yield. Crops of barley planted now will be harvested next August, 2023 then possibly not delivered out of store until September 2024, that’s 21 months from start of the growing cycle to production of malt demonstrating what a long term business food production is.

The autumn crops that are up look well due to the kind spell of weather we had to establish them and the view from the farmers around the Teams “room” at this week’s marketing meeting was universal in that their crops look as good this year as they ever have. We may need weather issues elsewhere in the world such as the drought in Argentina or a low sown area in the Ukraine to create demand for a bumper UK crop 2023 if that’s what we get but we don’t know what the weather Gods may throw at us yet! The last autumn crop to emerge here are the winter beans which are just popping through the soil surface.

The current spell of colder weather and frosty nights will be good for cooling the grain bulks in store but mean our crop sprayers now need tucking up in warm buildings or filling with a little liquid nitrogen which acts as antifreeze.  The next spraying job will be a comprehensive herbicide application (to kill grasses, broadleaved weeds and companion species) called AstroKerb on the OSR which needs to be completed to be a legal application by the end of January. The product is in my store here already as timely supply of some ag-chems can be less reliable than in the past. Another other job will be the early spray desiccation of over wintered cover crops with glyphosate. This is ideally done around 6 weeks before seeding the spring cereal crops although this desiccation can be partly done as an Integrated Weed Control strategy by rolling the vegetation in the early hours of the morning if the temperature gets to <-5 degrees centigrade so usually a 3.00am start.

It’s interesting that food security is headline news again. This time not directly due to the invasion of Ukraine or fertiliser production/cost scares but this time due to the egg shortage.  Some commentators are claiming this is due to Avian Flu but the most informed realise that production cost inflation combined with supermarkets holding down the price they pay producers to maintain profits is the reason for reducing flock numbers and the shortage. With agricultural inflation running at around 30% other UK produced “staples” could be at risk. As someone commented on Twitter this week, it’s rarely good news when the Minister of Agriculture (or SoS for Environment & Rural Affairs) is #trending, and as we’ve heard Thérèse Coffey has ruled out help for farmers or consumers facing higher costs. Perhaps some empty supermarket shelves will become the norm. I can however report today that my local farm shop had a full range of (where possible) locally produced meat, fruit and veg in stock, including eggs. Please remember to support your local independent businesses in the run up to Christmas rather than the large nationals or on-line “A” deliveries by ubiquitous white vans. Interesting report here, https://www.sustainweb.org/publications/beyond-the-farmgate/

Finally, good luck to the IT team and all presenting in next week’s “hybrid” AGM, and well done to all for hitting the crucial information deadlines in preparation for this important annual meeting.

Wishing you and your families a happy, safe 🎄

David White.