By Martin Lines
May has to be one of the best months of the year and is when nature is good to us. The countryside is green and lush with trees and hedges in blossom, and the burst of spring life all around. There’s joy in seeing that first swallow, the first pair of English partridge, and watching the primroses gradually succeeded by bluebells and cuckoo flowers in the verges and woodland around the farm.
It’s so important to take time out to enjoy the countryside that we’re lucky enough to manage. Many are working in offices and cities and don’t get to experience the mental and physical benefits of nature.
Sometimes I have long days in front of the computer screen or in London, and I long for the opportunity to take a break and walk around the farm. Not only do I enjoy seeing the crops come to life, I also appreciate the wildlife, knowing I’ve helped to encourage this biodiversity back onto the land, and in return, it benefits my farm business.
Fortunately, the April rain came just in time to breathe life and energy back into our emerging crops after a long dry spell that nearly outstayed its welcome. Looking around the countryside, many farmers have made good use of this time to establish their crops. Autumn-sown crops have also started to come back to life and show promise of potential yield.
With crops established and fertiliser and nutrient plans completed, the focus turns to disease and weed control. Of course, each season brings us a different problem. On our farm, just as we get on top of one weed burden, another seems to appear, with creeping thistle being the latest arrival and our current focus. I’m also reading concerning reports of new ‘disease-resistant’ crop varieties already becoming more susceptible.
With our ever-changing weather patterns and climate forecast for the coming years, using varieties that can provide good returns despite unpredictable weather is becoming increasingly important. Many organisations solely prioritise the investigation of drought tolerance in crops, when we’ve been experiencing the wettest, cloudiest summers for years.
We’ll increasingly need crop varieties that provide good all-around performance in a variety of extreme weather conditions, as we don’t know precisely what climate change will bring.
Furthermore, we’ll require resilient, healthy soils to support our crops effectively. The biodiversity on my farm includes fungi, protozoa, and bacteria in the soil microbiome, all of which support the resilience and vigour of my crops in the face of extreme weather. I can’t control the weather, but I can control whether my land is a welcoming haven for nature.
I recently spent the afternoon at AHDB’s headquarters to hear about their work; they’re trying to increase farmer involvement in their projects going forward. As someone who’s involved in many things and tries to stay up to date with developments in the farming industry, I was unaware of the great work they’re doing and the resources they produce.
They offer guidance on the benefits of regenerative farming, approaching integrated pest management, and current farmer-led field trials, to name just a few examples. It’s all hosted online, for free, and breaks down complex ideas into easily digestible and practical information.
Keeping up to date with the latest AHDB disease reports can provide guidance on what we should be looking out for in our crops, particularly as new diseases are identified and as resilience and tolerances change.
Are you up to date on the latest market and crop reports? I highly recommend visiting the AHDB website and signing up for their regular emails as a simple way to stay informed in this changing climate.
We must produce our crops whatever the weather, so the more we equip ourselves with the knowledge and skills to work with nature, the more we’ll succeed in creating resilient farm businesses.
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM.
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