Diary

Arial application of nitrogen commenced on the 2nd of April. It is planned to give one application to all the Winter Wheat and Oilseed Rape, 4,000ha in total.

The newly acquired Grain Chaser Bin is a very important addition and drill loading times are much improved over the big bag system used previously. The Chaser Bin will also be an essential part of increasing harvesting rates.

Spring planting of 7,000ha is now underway with a good start for the sugar beet (1,000ha) & spring malting barley (2,000ha)

his is 3 weeks earlier than normal and ahead of last year where we started at the same time but rain stopped any field work for the following two weeks.

The weather has been excellent with night time temperatures falling only to 8-10C and day temperatures reaching 18-20C. Crops are getting away well and we expect early emergence and good establishment of the spring crops.

Plans are in hand to work 5,000ha of derelict land this summer for autumn wheat planting but there are delays in equipment delivery due to the huge demand in Russia and elsewhere this season.