Farming News – November 2024

I am approaching a time of decision, whether to grow potatoes in the future. My 39-year-old potato harvester is wearing out. I had to rebuild a gearbox earlier in the year and now another gearbox has failed because the output shaft has snapped in two, inside the casing. Yields have been poor for the last 2 years, and I must decide if it is worth all the effort and expense? I have always liked to grow potatoes because it is one crop, grown on the farm, which can be cooked and eaten without going through an industrial process. They have been grown here for at least 70 years but the economics of such an expensive and risky crop mean that I will need to consider whether to continue. I could pick by hand, but no one wants to pay any extra for handpicked potatoes.

November is the month for harvesting fodder beet. This is a job for a contractor, who can harvest in 2 hours what could take up to 2 months by hand.