From LEAF Farmer Duncan Farrington
August Newsletter
As I sit here in the third week of August,
we are again waiting for rain to stop. Much of our harvest however is completed and in the barn, so when the sun does shine again we will finish off.
The rapeseed harvest yields were disappointing, at around 25% down on expected yields. This was more due to the exceptionally dry weather in April, rather than the excessive rain that followed. The resulting lower yields mean I don’t have any spare crop to sell off the farm, as we will need all we’ve got for Mellow Yellow. The wheat yields have been better, just below average. We still have some to harvest, before we start on the beans, which do look promising.
Due to the low crop yields in general around the world for the last two years, and the delay in harvest due to the recent wet weather in Western Europe, world supplies of food continue to be on a knife edge, with historically low stocks. The continued rain ensures the price of these crops is rising daily for unsold crop, currently being double what Martin is loading into lorries, waiting in the yard as I write. No consolation for farmers in Yorkshire or the West Country who have lost all their crops in the floods. However, the medium term for agriculture in the UK is certainly looking far better than we could have imagined 12 months ago.
As the supposed summer comes to an end, thoughts turn to next year’s crops. We quickly follow behind the combine, cultivating the land in readiness for creating a seedbed to plant the crops. The rapeseed will be planted first following on from last year’s wheat crop. This will be planted towards the end of August. Then the wheat crop will be planted from the middle of September.
The wet weather is allowing me to spend more time than I expected during harvest on Farrington Oils. Sales continue to rise, as the number of shops selling Mellow Yellow has topped 800. I am sourcing new machinery to keep up with production, and working on design drawings to expand the plant facilities. Also, in case we were not busy enough, we are launching a couple of salad dressings made with Mellow Yellow in September. These have already won two awards, and we haven’t even got the label design finished yet, so with only a few days to go until the trade show launch, it could be interesting.
With so much going on, I keep forgetting about our latest office which will be coming up for rent shortly. Obviously I think it is a fantastic rural office, but then I’m bias, and besides, rather than getting a cheap plug in here, if you are interested have a look at the advert.
That’s all for now, back to that label design, and then hopefully finish off the wheat harvest sometime this week.
