Blog

Given last week's 'treeathon' which dominated the Royal Welsh Show and livestock consistently being seen as the bad guy in the climate change conundrum, it will come as no surprise that documents are circulating around government departments outlining destocking as the best way forward. 

Darryl Shailes is root crop technical manager for Hutchinsons, with a nationwide remit. He has been working in potato agronomy for more than 20 years.

The hot topic Royal Welsh Show this year was the Sustainable Farming Scheme - Wales' replacement to the Basic Payment Scheme.  

Once again I find myself writing my In Your Field piece with wind and heavy rain rattling the windows of the sitting room. I'm not sure what has happened to our summer this year, but hopefully we will see it again soon.

This week it has been good to get back to normal after several days at The Great Yorkshire Show. Although tired we have a sense of elation as Ben and an Abbiene cow were champion Holsteins for the second year.

Jessica Ellwood, 18, from Church Brough in Cumbria, is a dairy farmer at Brough Castle Farm

Rob farms on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border with his parents and young family, growing combinable and forage crops with a mix of owned, tenanted and contracted land. An agronomist for Edaphos, Rob also hosts AHDB Monitor Farm events.

Tree are often seen as the miracle cure to the climate emergency and it looks as though the Welsh Government has fallen into that trap.

Simon Nelson advises farmers on a wide range of arable and forage crops across Cumbria, north Lancashire and into south west Scotland. He has worked for Agrovista for 23 years.