Thursday 21 September, 2023

In your field: James and Isobel Wright - 'With fertiliser twice the price we are assessing our options'

The leaves are turning and we have had 120mm of rain in the last week or so and we keep on finding mice in the cottage. Autumn is definitely here.

clock • 2 min read
In your field: James and Isobel Wright - 'With fertiliser twice the price we are assessing our options'

The leaves are turning and we have had 120mm of rain in the last week or so and we keep on finding mice in the cottage. Autumn is definitely here.

We love autumn and it's a lovely time of year for the farming calendar too, with tups going out, cows coming in for scanning and you get to open the first bales of silage, which is a pleasant experience until you get to January when it turns a bit laborious.


Like many, we are considering what we do now that fertiliser is twice the price than this time last year. We normally spread 6-8 tonnes a year, with everything getting a light dusting early in the spring and then spreading the rest after the second cut.

Thankfully this year we made a bumper crop of silage and have enough for both this and next year.

Instead of spending £3,200 on fertiliser, we are going to spend half of that and fence our silage ground to increase our grazing area and next year won't produce any silage. We're also going to buy some extra electric fences with the insurance money from the fire to make better use of the forage we produce.

The hope is we can carry more stock with no fertiliser bill and that the market will have rebalanced for next year.


I'm sure we have all seen the videos on social media of the new Salt Bae restaurant in London, which is a very high end steak restaurant. Customers are paying £650 for an imported frozen Australian steak or £250 for a gold foil-wrapped burger.

They are paying for the experience and the Instagram photo, although I do imagine it still tastes good, but not quite sure the price matches the experience. What stories can we tell for our own products?


With all the talk of the scarcity of resources, the beef price has dropped back slightly and processors are tight on space and you have to look at booking weeks in advance.

The fact that demand for British beef remains strong should give us hope that the price won't fall much further as we head into the Christmas season. 

SALE CANCELLED - LAND AT LEECHES FARM

SALE CANCELLED - LAND AT LEECHES FARM

VIEW ADVERT
£POA

Dee Bank Farm, Mount Road, Leek, Staffordshire, ST13 7LT

Dee Bank Farm, Mount Road, Leek, Staffordshire,

VIEW ADVERT
£POA

Easter Kinnear Farm, By Newport-On-Tay, Fife

Easter Kinnear Farm, By Newport-On-Tay, Fife

VIEW ADVERT
£POA

More on Farm Life

Agricultural occupancy houses on the market for longer

Agricultural occupancy houses on the market for longer

Properties tied under agricultural occupancy are restricted to who they can have living there

clock 21 September 2023 • 3 min read
Congratulations to Matthew Elston and Maria Warne-Elston on their wedding

Congratulations to Matthew Elston and Maria Warne-Elston on their wedding

Congratulations to Matthew Elston and Maria Warne-Elston who got married in July 2023

clock 21 September 2023 • 1 min read
Richard Young was best known for playing a 'pivotal role' in the organic and sustainable farming movement (Sustainable Food Trust)

Sustainable Food Trust policy director and Cotswold's farmer Richard Young dies

Patrick Holden, chief executive of Sustainable Food Trust, said Richard Young died on Saturday morning (September 16)

clock 21 September 2023 • 2 min read