Arable

Shadow Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner has admitted the Labour Party will find it ‘tough’ to change farm and trade policy while the Conservatives have such a big majority.

I was in Scotland last week, trying to catch the fish of 10,000 casts or so Ian the gillie told me after I blanked.

Labour’s Shadow Defra Secretary Luke Pollard has said he believes farmers are set to be ‘screwed over’ by future trade deals, and there is nothing Parliament can do to prevent it from happening.

Oats were the worst hit, with up to 50% of the grain on the floor; a shame when they were looking such a good alternative wheat break. Still, we must never make decisions on a single season.

Harvest is all but finished here in North Yorkshire, the last few stragglers of spring barley are to be mopped up while spring beans are just about ready to cut.  In all, yields are what we expected. Need I say any more?

Cereal growers are being advised to be particularly cautious when handling over-yeared seed bags following reports of bags ripping or spilling during movement.

Sprayer operators without the skills to access online training could struggle to fulfil their National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO) CPD requirements, with face-to-face training opportunities cancelled due to Covid-19

Its always a nice feeling to be finished harvest regardless of how it has gone and, with our 2020 efforts concluding yesterday (September), we have shaved a week off our usual date - helped along last week by some glorious windy days allowing very early starts.

Once ELMs has run its course, the next scheme to be dreamed up by our acronym-loving leaders will be the Complete Rewilding of Agricultural Property Scheme, says Neil Farmer, an arable and sheep farmer from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border.

During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in April, food kept flowing through the UK’s borders and into our supermarkets. But a second wave coupled with a no-deal Brexit has the potential to threaten our supply, says Efra select committee chair Neil Parish.