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8/5/07
Cropping plans for next year occupied me for much of the time this Bank Holiday weekend. Yields, potential and real, are different for each crop depending on their place in my crop rotation. Other things like labour requirements, cultivations and autumn time constraints also need to be reflected on before I reach a working plan which I can then discuss with Andrew.. Usually he agrees with most of my sillier ideas, making just a few helpful suggestions about weed control programmes and profitability. Making the best, and most sustainable use, of our soils has become a complex management task, and I appreciate his knowledgeable advice.
A day of showery rain was a much needed tonic to the crops and it gave me the opportunity to clear my desk of paperwork as I watched the crops happily growing. Keen readers of these rants will know that I, like most of my colleagues, am rarely satisfied with the weather; but I am happy with this weeks forecast rain, if we get it
Even the traffic in the lanes has finally reduced to manageable levels, with road signs being obeyed at last. Light evenings have brought out a flush of cyclists, giving the rural roads the distinctive peace of my 1950’s childhood. It will not last so I will enjoy it whilst I can.
Fertiliser has finally dissolved from the soil surface, so I have planned the final application of Nitrogen to raise the protein levels in the milling wheat. Every kilogram of fertiliser on the farm has to be recorded as part of our responsibility to the ACCS assurance scheme and the Police’s concern that the chemicals could be used inappropriately. We try to follow all of the recommendations for safe storage by locking and restricting access to the storage sheds, but this is difficult when ramblers are still allowed to use old farm workers tracks which led from their cottages to the farmyards where they worked. Other paths allow everybody to enjoy the countryside and I would not mind if we could have sensible discussions with interested local people to increase their safe access to our land.
Right to roam legislation does not apply to other industrial buildings, so there is a case that it should not be slavishly applied to ours.
The recent appointments at school are baffling, as we now have no member of the senior management with specialist knowledge of mathematics, ICT, technology or science. Having a vibrant speciality in the ‘Performing Arts’ has increased the confidence of most of our students but we are not a ‘stage school’ and should try to give all of our ‘learners’ a balanced educational experience.
Lively debates should be actively encouraged about the future of our schools. I fear that they have been stifled by the pressure of reaching the arbitrary targets dropped from on high by our micro-managing masters.
Very high levels of bird activity in the Park have given me great pleasure this spring. Increased use of grass strips and careful planting of pollen and nectar rich plant species along some of the edges of our arable fields seem to have created a network of paths which have drawn in high levels of game birds as well as owls, hawks and buzzards. Nature, in this crowded southern part of our Island, has needed a little help and I am proud that many farmers have enthusiastically grasped the environmental opportunities given to us with the SFP support scheme. Governments should realise that we are not all intent on polluting the land that we work and celebrate the growing success of biodiversity schemes.
An historic day on the island of Ireland I hope. Many years of bitter conflict seem to have been put aside with the resumption of the government of Northern Ireland by locally elected politicians from all parts of the divided community. Let us hope that this tentative step quickly grows into an unstoppable march for peaceful coexistence and a positive example for other conflict areas in the world.
13/5/07
Curious goings on in the country, as all of the politicians try to realign their positions in response to Mr Blair’s announced resignation (in several weeks time to allow for a stately farewell ‘progress’ around the planet). The Brown revolution is about to hit us; gone are ‘New Labour’ and ‘Cool Britannia’, and in is ‘Brown’s Britain’. How he balances the needs of the voters and the preservation of our diminishing rural environment, as he juggles with ‘aspirational housing needs’, will be fascinating (if not devastating) to all that we have tried to maintain in our sector of the economy?
April and May seem to have swapped climatic places, as the warm showers and longer periods of heavy rainfall, have perked up all of our crops.
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Nitrogen has been taken up by the plants which have partly emerged grain carrying heads already. Knowing when to complete the application of the final fertiliser feed and the timing of ‘flag-leaf’ and ‘ear wash’ sprays is something of a problem; but we needed the rain.
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Sitting at this computer, I can see at least ten different shades of green in the fields and hedges that surround me. Frighteningly, the sneers have started already, with anyone wanting to question and discuss the plans to use our limited land resources being branded a ‘NIMBY’. Older offensive descriptions, such as SCAB, seemed to have dropped from our mainstream political lexicon; but am I wrong trying to explain to people the need for long term balance, not short-term expediency? Regional planners have been working on inaccurate plans, for example, in their determination to place a forth travellers site within two miles of where I am sitting. Yet my attempts to correct the inaccurate descriptions of the land use in this area have been crudely ignored, and letters to local government departments have been ignored. Only a local village councillor has been giving me help, and I am grateful for his support.
Un-replied to communications seems to be an increasingly used weapon in our ‘communications age’. Rejection of one of our loads of grain, (as mentioned last month), led me to challenge the nature of the contaminants and the unreasoned assumption that they must have come from the farm and not the transport between the farm and the mill. Suspiciously, I have had no replies to my request for detailed information, and we have not been paid anything for this load. Until we have specific information as to how we can improve our grain storage against future incidents of this alleged type of contamination, we are in a rural and technical limbo.
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Patches of thistles and other broadleaved weeds in some of our wheat crops, entertained Andrew and I at a recent meeting. Protecting the yield of the present and future crops from infestations of hard to control weeds must be balanced against the economic cost of the treatments Our usual strategy is to keep the majority of weeds under control without, necessarily, trying to achieve 100% ‘clean’ crops.
Records, though increasingly tiresome as I age, can help a lot to compare crops and fields over the years and I would find it much harder to farm nowadays without the help of my computer and ‘Muddy Boots’ crop management software.
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The Silso incinerator that has safely and efficiently disposed of all of our chemical packaging in recent years, will become illegal to use next week. Alternative, and more expensive and traceable schemes, of waste disposal are in place as we loose our agricultural exemptions to industrial waste legislation on the 15th of May. No industry has a licence to pollute, I fully accept that, but fear that fly-tipping will increase as a result. Dumping rubbish in gateways and hedges has become an economic lifestyle choice for some owners of small commercial vehicles, with little action being taken against the obvious (and contemptuous) over loaded trucks that ‘swan’ into and out of some of our local caravan sites. Legislation is easy, and so is enforcement for those of us stuck with a post-code, mortgages, taxes and all of the other responsibilities of legitimate economic activity; but others seem to enjoy more tangible freedoms than those of the open road.
Our students at school are entering yet another period of examination and testing with varying degrees of enthusiasm and commitment. Vocational courses, of high interest and skill development, would appear to offer the best route forward for some of my lovely, but less academic, young people. Everyone needs to feel passionate about their short stay on this wonderful planet, and our politicians should remember that they should strive to enhance, not damage or destroy, the rights of all to leave it in good condition for future generations.
21/5/07
It stopped raining, and the wind dropped enough, for us to finish applying the last fertiliser to the winter wheat and the fungicide mixture (plus some Epsom salts as nutrients).
A busy weekend for me, not helped by the PTO shaft breaking on the sprayer. I managed to untangle the twisted metal enough so that I could attack it with hack-saws, hammers, welding torch and angle grinder. A couple of hours of hard work and I was back in the fields. I missed the soccer cup final on the television, but the tractor radio kept me in touch with a boring game.
The Rugby Football Cup Final on Sunday was a much better game; and I finished just in time to watch it on television. I was nursing a sore head, as I had managed to bash myself against the underside of the sprayer as I struggled to remove the broken parts.
I suppose it was the knock on the head, but I felt a curious melancholy as I struggled to get the job done, alone. Rural life, so close to motorways and commuter towns can still be a little lonely. Everywhere looked fresh and green, yet in my addled brain I could sense the bulldozer and the planners ‘revving up’ for their attacks on my fields. A strange feeling, shared only on these pages and with close friends.
Here are a few photographs taken during the past week. I will add a fuller diary entry later in the week.
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