Blog

With the Royal Family having links to the likes of Sandringham and Balmoral, King Charles has been a passionate advocate of sustainable farming.

The harvest moon will appear soon after sunset on September 9. The bright moonlight in the early evening was traditionally a great help during harvesting, hence the name.

Finally, a little more rain has arrived here in Cheshire. Regardless of soil type, the second half of the summer has challenged all our grazing.

Recently, Dad and I took a now very rare trip to Gisburn Auction Mart. As the business has grown over the years, we have headed down dealing with more direct contracts, so no longer get out to marts as much.

The recent rain has been very welcome here, as I am sure it has for most of the country.

Becky Fenton and husband Paul milk 180 pedigree Holsteins under the Springlebee prefix at Centenary Farm, a Cheshire county council farm. In 2021, they bought a farm in Staffordshire and they plan to farm there once the new dairy set-up has been built.

The expression ‘the perfect storm’ seems to be a phrase used more and more recently. Unfortunately for farmers, it sums up what many of us are going through in 2022. Whichever way you look at the outlook, economic or weather-related, the picture does not appear to be hugely rosy.

Dairy farmer Andy Venables farms in partnership with his family, milking 330 cows in Cheshire, selling milk on a Co-op contract. He is also managing director of Hillsgreen, a marketing agency dedicated to agriculture with many high-profile clients, including NFU and Cereals.

Ben Gratton, 18, is from a dairy, beef and sheep farm outside of Buxton in Derbyshire. He is currently working on a dairy and arable farm in Shropshire as part of his level 3 advanced technical extended diploma in agriculture at Reaseheath College.

Roger Evans discusses the price of milk, whether it is viable for farmers to keep producing their goods, and gives a suggestion for what needs to happen in Westminster.