We have finished our spring barley harvest, started our parsnip harvest campaign and await the start of our carrot harvest season. I’d imagine over the following 12 months, May will be the only month of the year we won’t be harvesting some type of crop.

Spring barley finished last Tuesday night and was a strong performer. It was drilled in after carrots that were covered with 20t/acre of wheaten straw. The straw was lifted off the carrots and chopped followed by incorporation through approximately 8” of the soil profile with a spader before ploughing, pressing and drilling.

Cereals

Cereals after strawed carrots is a slightly different crop to normal cereals as the volume of straw in the ground makes the soil retain moisture, giving the crop good staying power even if late drilled as our barley was on 8 May (very late for the area).

In the end the crop knocked out a fraction over 3.2t/acre at an average bushel of 65 at 14% moisture, a very strong result in any conditions and needless to say we were very happy with it. It’s a common question I have to field around crop performance following root crops so it’s nice to be able to prove the theory around their benefits as a break.

I would expect that over the coming years as the straw breaks down into organic matter, the soils will benefit hugely as a result of the 40 bales of 8x4x4 squares that were incorporated. As our ground around the farm is too heavy for carrots, I often lament not being able to straw up some crop at home to get the organic matter into our own ground.

Parsnips

On parsnips we are moving through the crop nicely and very happy with quality of the earlies, a couple of upcoming supermarket specials will eat a nice few acres, we will use them as an opportunity to take out a few areas that could get wet while we are digging some tonnage to meet the promotion orders which can be over ten times our normal volume. Volumes in general have been pretty small as the high temperatures mean people haven’t turned back to traditional winter veg and roasts. Be careful what you wish for and all that.

It looks like we will have to fire up the irrigation pumps and reels yet again

Outside the farm gate, watching the news last night about the mushroom farm in Tipp town that is closing was a harrowing ordeal. You couldn’t but feel sorry for the man who had built what looked to be a very impressive business only to lose it overnight after a nonsensical protest vote in the UK. It would be nice to see the farming community row in behind businesses in situations like that.

On a parting note, we are sitting on the sidelines watching to see what happens with the weekend's rain but if it doesn’t materialise into anything above 12 or 13mm then it looks like we will have to fire up the irrigation pumps and reels yet again. In a year where farmers in the north of the country have been washed out, we have never had to pump as much water as we have this year. Again, be careful what you wish for.

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