Farming Archives - Page 6 of 8

Wonderful Weather, Quality Wheat

Thank-you to all of you who came along to Open Farm Sunday last month, we had over 500 people visit Bottom Farm to get taste of life on a modern family farm. Many people were very complimentary of the day and all the different experiences they enjoyed, a day that was a real team effort with nearly 40 family, friends and neighbours volunteering their time helping make the day such a great success with wonderful weather.

This year we will start harvesting the rapeseed around 18^th July, a full week earlier than our average start date and nearly two weeks earlier than last year. Thanks to the warm season we have had, with rain at the right time and plenty of sunshine to match, the crops have grown and matured well. Let’s just hope the favourable weather keeps up over the next couple of months to really make 2014 a great year for crops, following the disastrous year of 2013. There is a theory that the weather patterns around the few days of the change of each season, dictates the weather for the next coming season. This year for the summer solstice on 21^st June, the weather was wonderful, so if you believe the theory, we are in for a good summer.

Some of the wheat we grow is destined to make flour for bread in Sainsbury’s. To make good quality bread, the flour requires a high protein quality. Protein quality in the grains of wheat is affected by the weather and the amount of Nitrogen available to the crop. I am involved in a trial to predict the eventual flour quality, from the crop growing in the field. By doing this I can assess whether or not the crop needs extra Nitrogen fertiliser to ensure the required protein quality. I have been around our fields with a pair of secateurs in hand, cutting quadrant samples of wheat to send off to a laboratory, where it is analysed to predict the final protein quality. I find this approach to agriculture and the careful use of valuable resources fascinating, as well as being a great opportunity for me to learn and fine tune our best practices. The results have shown with a degree of certainty that we need to apply a little more fertiliser this year to ensure the final quality of bread in your local supermarket is top quality.

Only a few days to go until Open Farm Sunday on 8^th June. Marvin and Father have recently got the combine harvester out of the shed, to service and clean it for the occasion. So far they have found a resident mouse which rather liked destroying the driver’s seat, a couple of bearings and a suspect drive belt that need changing. This is all standard stuff.

June is a month of preparation and a time to plan and take stock of the season so far. As well as getting ready for Farm Sunday, we are also ensuring everything from grain stores, to trailers, tractors and so on are cleaned, serviced and ready to go when harvest starts at the end of July. On the crop front, things are looking pretty good. The rapeseed is looking very well with the warm weather, the sun, and rain, making ideal conditions for the crop to grow. The wheat also is looking great in some fields, whilst the dreaded ‘Black grass’ is rearing its ugly head in other fields.

The black grass is one subject that many arable farmers will spend hours discussing. It is a grass weed that thrives in our moist fertile soils. However, it is extremely competitive and can reduce crops yields by over 60% in bad cases. Over the last decade, the weed has steadily and stealthily become a major issue for UK agriculture. Pre-1993 farmers were allowed to burn crop stubbles as a great way of cleaning up weed seeds. This however also killed many other things, including insects and small creatures. Following the stubble burning ban, farmers have relied on herbicides to control black-grass, but over the years it has become resistant and now we have to look at a combined assault on the weed using chemistry, physics, and biology; with herbicides, crop rotations, cultivation techniques, cover crops and so on. So far we are at best holding the status quo and in time I hope we will start winning.

Recently, friend and expert ornithologist, Dr. Mark Avery did one of his bird surveys on our farm. I didn’t see him on this occasion, as it was early one Saturday morning. He recorded 29 species of birds, including 7 on the Red List. I can add Lapwing and Grey Partridge, which he didn’t spot that morning. But never the less, we were delighted to hear such a range of birds in one couple of hour visit. As well as growing food for humans, we are also providing food and habitat for our feathery friends.

Busy busy busy. It is full steam ahead here as spring work continues on the farm in perfect weather conditions. Marvin has finished planting the crops, which have germinated and are rapidly emerging through the warm moist soils. The patchwork colours of the English countryside will continue to change from browns to different shades of green, along with the yellow of rapeseed, mixed in with the greens of autumn planted crops.

We continue to apply fertiliser to the crops helping them grow successfully throughout the season. Additionally, we are walking all the fields regularly with the agronomist, looking for any signs of disease that may need treating. This year it has been ideal conditions for something called ‘Rust,’ a disease spread by fungal spores in warm dry conditions, resulting in the leaves on the wheat crops becoming covered in a brown rusty looking disease. The disease saps the energy from the plant as it is not able to photosynthesise efficiently and we control it with a fungicide chemical, not dissimilar to one used in controlling athletes’ foot in human medicine.

The ground has at last dried off enough for me to finish off the area around our new bio-bed, getting this levelled and set with grass seed ready to make the farm yard all tidy for Open Farm Sunday on 8^th June. Plans for the event continue to evolve well, the beer and hog roast are booked, as is the tea and cake stall. Eli will hold salad dressing making workshops throughout the day and some livestock will arrive with neighbouring farmers. Before this event, we are also getting involved with the Northants Young Farmers annual rally, where Farrington Oils are organising an ‘Oil Slide Challenge,’ in which Young Farmers will compete to raise money for two charities close to our hearts.

As part of our major spring clean around the farm, we are also decorating one of our barn conversions to get it ready to hopefully rent out to prospective local businesses. I’ve been around with the screwdriver fixing some door fittings and electrical work, whilst my Father is poised with a paint brush in hand. Now, while I write this article, I can hear gasps and laughs as everyone is next door having some first aid training today. If nothing else, working on a farm is certainly a varied career, with no two days often being the same.

Last month I predicted that by now I would have planted our spring beans, however, the stormy waters has so far not allowed that, although conditions are improving and I hope we can be doing something in the next couple of weeks.

Those who have read my column for some time will know I do mention the weather occasionally. Recently it has been making the national headlines. We had a few trees blow down, including one which blocked the road for a couple of hours before we cleared it up. However, this is nothing compared to what many around the country have suffered. Farmers on the Somerset Levels have suffered a second year of potentially livelihood ruining conditions.

I visited farmers on the Levels last year, remembering one farmer; an award winning, forward thinking person, with a fantastic business he has built up with his family and staff over the years. Most of his pasture was under water for 11½ months of the year. This nearly sent his business to the wall, but thanks to determination and a close relationship with his bank, they had worked out a way for him to pull through it. That was last year, but now I think of him as it has all happened again.

Somerset farmers know the levels flood; they have done since Roman times. Up until 1990, local rivers were dredged to manage the winter flooding. However with authorities like the Environment Agency now run by Westminster intelligentsia, priorities had changed and despite local knowledge and opposition, the powers from afar have not carried out this vital management in recent years, which has lead to the inevitable consequences in the last two years. Fortunately, with the political outfall, it looks like things may change from now on, as organisations will have to answer some big questions on the balance of priorities.

In the mean time, there has been a surge of support for the flooded farmers. Farmers around the country have organised much-needed food and bedding for stranded livestock, whilst the generosity of the wider British population has been overwhelming. In rural and urban areas alike, neighbours have been helping each other when homes have been deluged with flood waters. Often such devastating events bring out the best in people.

I have been refreshing my knowledge on how to manage our soils in our growing business. Soil is my pet area of interest, as ultimately everything we eat, whether this is meat, milk or vegetables comes from the soil it was grown in. Looking after soils both nutritionally and physically will ultimately look after us, to this end we have not ploughed on our farm since 1998. Ploughing is the traditional way farmers have prepared ground to plant crops for thousands of years. It has many benefits, which up until the last hundred years was mainly carried out behind a horse. However with the advent of the tractor, bigger and heavier machines have been used, which has bought some disadvantages from a soil health perspective.

At Bottom Farm, we talk terms such as ‘Minimum Tillage’ or ‘Direct Drilling.’ We use ‘Cover Crops’ and various other techniques, all of which have bought huge, measurable benefits to our soil health in increased organic matter and improved nutrition. However as our soils have improved, my knowledge has not kept up with the latest advances, so it has been really refreshing to learn more on the better use of cover cropping, crop rotations and improvements in how to establish crops. Some may say it is a dull subject and if you were to accuse me of being a soil nerd, I am happy to go along with that.

Agriculture and farming offer very interesting careers, not often considered by those from outside the industry. It is at the cutting edge of technology, for example I have just learnt about the use of LED lighting to grow British Strawberries throughout the year, or in my case understanding the biology involved in creating healthy soils. However it is also about an appreciation of the natural world we work within, the weather, wildlife, animals and living plants.

Agriculture is a growing industry, needing to recruit around 60,000 people by 2020. There are jobs for all sorts of careers from animal husbandry, engineers, biologists, financial and commodity trading and so on. I am just looking at recruiting one person this year, perhaps someone who is willing to share some of my passion about looking at the very ground beneath our feet.

Winter jobs are well and truly underway, as always the list is long and never seems to be quite completed. This year’s priorities include a little hedge planting; some hedge cutting, as every hedge planted does in time need managing; digging out ditches to reduce wet muddy soils in the fields; and, the main project this December is to clean out a pond.

We have several ponds around the farm. Over the years leaf litter and silt build up in ponds. By removing this, it gives the pond a new lease of life, creating a freshwater environment for everything from bugs, newts, and dragonflies, to drinking holes for passing birds and mammals. When cleaning ponds, it is important to create different depths of water, creating different habitats in this mini ecosystem. It is also ideal to have some of the banks steep, providing shelter for nesting birds from predators and other areas of the bank, leading gently to the water’s edge, so mammals can access a drink.

As the workload on the farm slows down for winter, farmers can often be found getting together at meetings to exchange ideas. This is an important part of any industry, although with agriculture most businesses are not in direct competition with each other, which can allow for honest probing conversations, where the participants can really gain from each other’s experiences.

This year I have been looking at personal development and in particular, how I can improve my management skills. Farms tend to be isolated businesses, where the employer and his or her workforce may be the same person or a team of say two or three people. HR, payroll, marketing or IT departments do not generally exist on the average farm. As such, farmers, or indeed other small businesses, do not easily have access to develop their skills in how to manage people in their businesses. Such skills are not something you can readily read about in a book or learn at college or university, they are honed over years of experience, both learning from others, as well as making plenty of mistakes yourself.

I have realised over the years, and especially in the last few months, that successful businesses employee great people, give them clear roles and goals and then give them the tools and encouragement to get on with the job. I believe that a manager’s role is to make work rewarding for their employees. At a recent team meeting I even suggested that work can be fun, however judging by the look on their faces may be I was being a little too alternative as they wondered what I was going to say next.

www.leafmarque.com

Farming Diary

From LEAF Demonstration Farmer Duncan Farrington

New Opportunities.

I started writing my Farming Diary for the recently launched, Village Bystander back in 2006 and have greatly enjoyed sharing some anecdotes with you, about what goes on here at Bottom Farm, from month to month. Admittedly most of my reports are about mundane things that happen throughout the farming year, often revolving around the weather, with all the issues that may bring. However, I have been presently surprised when meeting several Bystander readers, hearing how many of you have enjoyed reading my little column over the last seven years. It is now time to move into new opportunities.

Back in 2006, we were a pretty standard family arable farm for the area. Times were hard in agriculture financially, with many farmers looking at supplementing their incomes from diversified sources. I was no different and had just finished my first year of producing our Farrington’s Mellow Yellow cold pressed rapeseed oil – the first farmer in the UK to produce such a product from field to bottle. Back then I sold around 6,500 bottles a year. Now we can produce that number of bottles every couple of days; a success that far exceeded my original ambitions and expectations. So rather than being a farmer with a little extra income, I am more an oil producer that tries to fit farming around the day job. None of it would have been possible without the support of my wife Eli, family, or indeed the fantastic growing team of people now employed to help meet our customers’ demands.

I will still be writing a farming diary, which you can read on our website. Additionally, I have been asked to write it for the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph as an exclusive column. I am very excited for the opportunity, but this is mixed with a little sadness at saying goodbye to the Bystander.

May I take this opportunity to firstly thank Katherine for hosting the dairy over the years, I am sure she will fill the column with someone far more entertaining than myself. I wish her and The Village Bystander all the best in the future. Secondly, thank-you to all of you that have read my ramblings and for all the comments I have received. So, for now, it is Goodbye from me.

However, time marches on and I am sad to say this will be my last column for the Bystanders

The autumn planting campaign has been a great success, with the majority of crops planted in ideal conditions and growing well, with the Winter routine almost upon us. I just have one field left to plant with wheat, which I have delayed to allow the weeds to grow first. These can then be easily killed off rather than trying to control them once a crop is established. With the recent rains over the last few weeks, if conditions don’t allow for autumn planting, the field will instead be planted with a spring crop once the soil dries out.

Once the main work is completed for another year on an arable farm, the machinery is cleaned down and given a pre-winter service before putting away for another year. We then sit down and take stock of how the previous year has gone. This last twelve months has not been fun in our case, thanks to the continued unfavourable weather throughout the crop year. The result has been that income is down 30%, which presents challenges in any business. However, the underlying business is sound and we have a good relationship with our bank manager who will stand by us for the next twelve months. On a brighter note, looking ahead, the prospects for next year are already looking much better and will hopefully get us back on course by December 2014.

While the farm side of the business may not have had a good year, I am pleased to report that Farrington Oils continues to do well. We have had several changes in staff over the last few months, which have given us a great opportunity to get some fantastic new blood into the company and build a very strong team. This was recently rewarded as we all attended the Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards at the Derngate in Northampton. We were delighted to be nominated for three different awards and came away with two. A fantastic result made all the more enjoyable by sharing it with the team – who actually make it all happen. Such events are also a wonderful opportunity to catch up with and meet other county businesses to share and exchange ideas, as well as me being able to show off my moves on the dance floor at the end of the evening. Thank-you to all who organise and host the awards each year and to all of you who nominated Farrington Oils, it means a huge amount to us all at Bottom Farm.

What a wonderful summer it has been, as September draws to a close we continue to enjoy lovely weather as the days shorten and the nights start drawing in we reach the final push. The last eighteen months in arable farming have not been pleasant from a weather perspective. The resulting financial implications will endure for a further year, meaning I am having to look hard at my cash-flow figures and having regular conversations with the bank manager. However the farming calendar revolves and we start looking towards next year’s crops, so far it has been perfect conditions to start the new farming year.

All of our rapeseed was planted in warm moist soils, enabling this most delicate of plants to get off to the best possible start during the crucial first few weeks of its life. Next we turn our attention to planting the wheat crop. Again the conditions are perfect for the crop to grow, with warm and moist soils. If it’s perfect for crops to grow, the same rings true for the weeds, which (you may be surprised to hear me say this) is a good thing. Rather than rushing ahead to plant our wheat, I am currently nurturing the weeds to grow. By encouraging as many weeds as possible to grow now, we can easily kill them off with a mixture of cultural control from raking the soil, backed up with spraying them off with a herbicide. The more we do now, the less competition in the following wheat crop. If we get it right, fantastic. If we get it wrong and the weather suddenly changes to cold, wet rain, we have a repeat of last year, where we couldn’t get the crop established at all. I am nervously optimistic that we can’t have two disastrous years in a row and all will be good this time round. With wheat planting starting, some long days and nights keeping the drill going, should see the end of the autumn planting with great success.

Farming is becoming very much a topic that people are interested in learning more about. I was delighted to see the recent BBC series ‘Harvest’ in which three different farming systems were followed throughout the year observing what it takes to grow our food, cumulating in the all important harvest. It was refreshing to see agriculture portrayed as a modern, caring and efficient industry, growing fantastic quality food, using the latest techniques backed up by knowledgeable hard working people. Of course modern agriculture has by its very nature to be sustainable, both economically and environmentally, a message I have been talking to people about for years and something that LEAF farmers can and do deliver. However for the BBC to portray agriculture in this way, unapologetically, without the hair-shirt, unrealistic ideals that agriculture and food production can be achieved in some romantic fashion, was a great breath of fresh air for everyone. By show casing the very best of our industry, is not only a great advert for UK Agriculture, but also gives the consumer a refreshing outlook of what actually happens on our farms. Congratulations to all involved; the farmers and their staff, and especially the BBC for presenting the programs in this way – long overdue I say.

In the oil side of the business, it has also been a busy few months. We have had a few staff issues but, I am pleased to report, these have been successfully sorted. I have again got a fantastic team, which is the most important asset any company can have. We are all looking forward to getting togged up for the annual Calsberg UK Northamptonshire Food & Drink Awards on 17th October, in which we are finalists. Whether we come home victorious or not, I am sure everyone will enjoy a well deserved great evening together celebrating all their hard work.

Quick one this month as I take a few minutes to sit down while we are getting the combine ready for long hours on another field. I am pleased to report that although as expected the crop yields are pretty disastrous on the whole, the weather over the last few weeks has at last been very much on our side so we can get on with the job in hand.

Normally rapeseed harvest would start around 27^th July, with wheat following around the end of the first week in August. This year however due to crops maturing at different rates all over the place, we started harvest on some wheat on 3^rd August, before moving to some rapeseed on 13^th August, on to spring Barley on 19^th August, back to finish rapeseed off on 21^st August, before moving back into wheat later around 23^rd August. Yes it has been challenging trying to decide which best to do first. Every time you change from one crop to another, it takes several hours resetting the combine for the job in hand.

The wheat and rapeseed yields have been very low, with rapeseed being 30 to 50% down on what we would hope for, however the wheat has so far been good quality, so although it won’t make many loaves of bread, at least they will good ones. The spring barley has been very pleasing with Father saying it was a pleasure to harvest. The yield was good and hopefully the quality will be also.

As well as harvest, I have been helping the guys bottle oil during the day as we are currently short staffed, and the summer sales continue to go well. It has been a while since I have helped in the bottling room, and although I would rather the timing being a bit different, it has been good to get back in there helping everyone along. We have a good team and it is important to help them when they need it.

That’s it for now, I am being called to go and help get on to the next field, so better show that I am not just hiding in the office drinking tea.