Farming News – September 2024

As you read this, you will have noticed how the nights are drawing in. The light nights are slipping away quicker in the autumn than they arrived in the spring, which, I think, is due to the tilt in the polar axis. We are reaching ‘solar maximum’ so can expect more displays of aurora like the ones we have had in recent months.

On this farm I am still waiting to complete the barley harvest because it was late sown and flooded afterwards. Much of the low-lying crop will cost more in fuel than it will yield in grain and the only reason for harvesting it is to tidy the field up for next year.

I am expecting poor yields of potatoes this year, because the wet spring encouraged them to keep their roots shallow, and the droughty conditions of the last 3 months have left the plants short of water. Do I want a lot of rain now? Certainly not, because any wet weather at this stage will cause the tubers to split as they soak up moisture, which means that most potatoes will have unsightly growth cracks.