It’s a dodgy sort of harvest

Eventually harvest started in the middle of July – and dodging the showers has been the name of the game! The weather has been the polar opposite to last year, when 19th July was the hottest day of the year in that astonishing heatwave. This year is totally different, with decisions having to be made about when to cut and how much are we prepared to dry. Fuel prices have dropped a little from the highs of last year but it is still expensive to dry grain and oilseeds. The yields of our malting barley have been variable, mainly dependent on soil type, but overall it’s been a satisfactory result. As I write, are about to start harvesting our oilseeds – which from a distance look fairly average so we will have to wait and see what ends up in the barn. Currently prices are volatile, seemingly dependent on what food exports Russia is allowing from Ukraine.

Take 5

Before harvest we hosted a Health and Safety meeting at Rawston, organised by the NFU. It was well attended by local farmers and their farm staff, and was a very informative day. The NFU’s Farm Safety Week, from 17th to 21st July this year, highlighted health and safety issues on farms – 23 people were killed on farms in 12 months between 2021 and 2022. Agriculture has a poor record on the number of deaths on farms and the theme of the safety week was ’Take 5 to Stay Alive,’ encouraging farm workers to pause, to take the time to address the task in hand and to work out the safe procedures. Statistics show the main causes of death were falls from heights, machinery accidents, falling objects and livestock incidents. In the course of a day’s work on a farm we have to complete a wide range of tasks, each