16th August 2024
Last Word: Timeworn pages
“Remember the real me when I cannot remember you” – wow, as someone who’s cared for a relative with dementia, that quote has brought a tear to my eye.
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Opinion
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16th August 2024
Talking Taties: Variable outcomes
Somewhat predictably, given the rain, it’s a light land year. Our winter barley is all cut and varied in yield from not quite 6t/ha to a reasonable 7.9t/ha, with the average tantalisingly close to 7t/ha.…
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16th August 2024
Nature Natters: Harvesting new opportunities
It’s been a busy summer of conferences, shows and events across the country and I’ve had conversations with many different farmers. It’s become increasingly obvious that they fall into two distinct camps – those who…
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15th August 2024
Smith’s Soapbox: St. Margarets field under new holy orders
Harvest 2024 is erased from the fields but probably not from the memory, for all the wrong reasons. The record wet that fell in both the autumn and winter left its scars – cereals don’t like…
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24th July 2024
Talking Taties: Testing Times
As seasons go, spring 2024 must be one of the most frustrating that I’ve experienced in 30 years of farming. It’s tested everything – from kit to people to resolve, and everything in between. But…
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24th July 2024
Nature Natters: Hopes for harvest and beyond
With a changing climate, the unpredictability of our weather has certainly been bad news for food this year and not for the best for farming. Predictions were always that it’d get warmer, but lately we’re…
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24th July 2024
Smith’s Soapbox: A PTSD-conditioned harvest
I once read that to claim to have lived a full farming life, a farmer should see first-hand at least fifty harvests. I’d guess I’m far from alone in that given I was handed harvest…
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20th June 2024
Nature Natters: Pastures new
As farmers, the unusual weather and the amount of rain during the past year have had a considerable impact on our work and it’s affected us all. On this occasion, it was our Prime Minister…
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19th June 2024
Smith’s Soapbox: 1966 and all that
I’ve never been one to get over excited about elections, but when they do come around, I usually summon up the energy to troop to St Osyth village hall to put my pencilled mark against…
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18th June 2024
Talking Taties: The challenges continue
As seasons go, spring 2024 must be one of the most frustrating that I’ve experienced in 30 years of farming. It’s tested everything – from kit to people to resolve, and everything in between. But…
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17th June 2024
Last Word: Ruminating regret
In my opinion, it’s all too easy to claim that you have no regrets – that the decisions you’ve made along the way have all contributed to the person you’ve become today. And while in…