Farmer Focus: Winter wheat down 1t/ha, but quality good

After receiving 110mm of rain in July, we then had 102mm in August.

We managed two proper days of combining, starting before 10am and finishing at about midnight. The rest was all part-days and stop and start.

The winter wheat straw was all baled, with very little getting wet – a credit to all involved.

Winter wheat yields are down 1t/ha, but all our Extase and Palladium are nearly full specification, so, after claims, they will be returning a mid-£60/t premium.

See also: Seed sales show heavy reliance on limited number of varieties

About the author

Robin Aird

Arable Farmer Focus writer Robin Aird manages 1500 ha on the North Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border with a further 160ha on a contract farming agreement.  Soils vary from gravel to clay, with the majority silty clay loams. A diverse estate with residential, commercial and events enterprises. He is Basis qualified and advises on other farming businesses.

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These varieties are always grown as feed, but for some reason this year they have very good proteins and specific weights.

The Siskin was cut mid-month and that is all feed wheat. The premiums will certainly fill the gap in the margin left by the lower yield.

Spring wheat surprised me by also yielding 1t/ha less. I thought it would be far worse, but this is full-specification Group 1 milling wheat.

This stubble now has a multispecies cover crop growing before it goes into maize next spring.

I recently received an email informing me that our Sustainable Faming Incentive (SFI) agreement will now end in March and not in September as was previously thought.

We have just had another email that looks like we will, hopefully, be able to apply for the latest round of SFI again in the next four weeks.

Having just done a couple of RLE1 forms, I hope this will not slow the progress.

Our wild bird food areas look magnificent this year. Sadly, this has nothing to do with me, but at least the weather has been good for one crop.

Maize is slowly ripening and, hopefully, with the recent hot weather will have moved forward at pace.

The crop looks strong and we hope to have enough clamp space to accommodate it all. We really want this off nice and timely so we can get the winter wheat all planted.

The local community is in a state of shock after a young contractor took his life.

He had done a lot of work for us over the years to a high standard and was always willing to try something new to help you along.

Remember that you are never alone, there is always someone you can talk to.

A problem shared never sounds as bad as it is and 99% of the time there will be a solution.

If you are worried about someone #AnswerAsAPercent is an easy way to start a conversation.