October 2020 – Autumn planning brings Countryside Stewardship back into focus

This autumn will have come none too soon for many South East farmers.

It’s been a harvest to forget; wet weather last autumn left growers struggling to get wheat in the ground, and then the dry spring and wet weather during August took their toll.

The NFU reckons yields could be down by about a third, making 2020 the worst harvest since the 1980s.

There is, of course, no such thing as a ‘normal’ harvest, just as there’s no such thing as perfect weather. Farmers have always dealt with volatility in terms of the weather, yields and prices. That’s part of the job description.

It does seem, however, that there is some kind of extreme weather event most years now, which impacts either on drilling, harvest or crop growth in-between.

 

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