Global Wheat Prices
Suddenly, 2011 is off at a gallop, the struggle with the snow and severe frosts in December a distant(ish) memory and Snowdrops are showing shoots through slumbering soil. Once again, …
Oakley: a month in the life of a wheat plant continued
If you walk along the top of Crackle Hill and then downhill towards Polehanger you will notice a big difference between the wheat crops on view from the top of …
Oakley: A Month in the Life of a Wheat Plant
As promised, I am going to try to outline the process that a grain of seed wheat (and the plant that it becomes) is undergoing at the time of any …
Seasonal Conditions and the effects on Yield and Harvesting
It’s Saturday morning,11th September, and it’s not hot; not even warm. What a contrast to the start I made to my article two months ago! Two big events have occurred …
Summer Scrapbook
Rainfall ( lack of ) Everywhere around here is dry. The weather pundits say the first six months of this year are the driest for 80 years or so. The …
Thoughts on the Mega Dairy
Arable crop farming is by its very nature, seasonal and annually repetitive. I have now been compiling this diary for more than a year and should really be looking back …
Form Filling and the Single Payment Scheme
Hands up who likes filling in forms? April / May is full of it for businesses. To start with there are the usual year end Tax Returns. I always get …
Industrial Farming
Easter will long be gone when you read this but, as I write, it is Good Friday and it is damp and cold. Last episode I confidently predicted spring, triggered …
Meppershall Farming 25 years on . . . and 50
This post discusses some of the major changes to farming in Meppershall between 1959 and 2009. 1959 – 1984 [listitems is_numeric=”no”] The demise of a significant greenhouse industry in the …
Land Mapping Frustrations
It is with considerable relief that I can report what you will have already been noticing on either side of the road as you drive out of the village and …