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Gaddesden Estate Parish News October 2024

Farming

Harvest seems like a distant memory, and much has happened since. Since I last wrote, all the crops were safely gathered in, and the busy autumn period of preparing ground for planting has taken place.  Much of the produce has already been moved off the farm, on its upward journey through the various supply chains. 

First to go was the oilseed rape, which readers may remember was cleaned to remove impurities.  This went from here to a large central store, and from there is likely to be crushed at a plant in Erith in Kent, to produce vegetable oil.

The malting barley went next.  We only had one field’s worth of this, around 85 tonnes or so, which only makes up the best part of three lorry loads.  Despite the relatively small quantity, this is still enough barley to produce over one million pints of beer.  Sadly though, the value of the barley in a pint of beer is less than 15 pence, which just goes to show how much money is tied up further up the supply chain when you consider the cost of a pint!

Wheat too has been moving, most recently to Weetabix.  I was concerned after harvest that the protein level of the wheat would be too low to make the grade.  However, it seems that with low proteins across the country this year, the specifications have been relaxed slightly, allowing lower protein crops to be used.  As ever these markets have been impacted by global events, with war in the Middle East, Persian oilfields, and weather in Europe all playing their part, combined with exchange rates, domestic supply and demand, political and other factors – predicting what’s going to happen is anybody’s guess…   

Our more “stable” commodities, the Wildfarmed wheat, Wildfarmed barley, and organic oats are all safely in the sheds, waiting for movement.  The latter has made the grade for organic porridge, though I’m not sure which processor this is going to yet.
With many of these crops, we will be saving some back to use as seed for next year’s harvest. This year has seen the development of another home-grown seed cleaning project, this one significantly increasing our capability.  It has involved mounting a second hand cleaner (bought on the industrial version of ebay…) on an old trailer, and then sourcing, repairing, and adapting two conveyors and one auger to feed it with grain, put the output in a trailer or seed bin, and put the rubbish in another bin.   After a fair amount of tinkering, it is now up and running and is doing an excellent job.  It is important to clean the grain before planting to remove weed seeds, broken grains, and bits of straw and unthreshed ears that would otherwise block up the drill (planter).  The machine has been christened Nessie by Dave the electrician who did the wiring, and only now needs some eyes drawing on her as a final touch….
 
We are looking to expand the area of arable ground in organic conversion this year, though await confirmation that we will be able to do this.   Assuming we get the go ahead, we will be planting a diverse mix of grasses, legumes and herbs in the fields to the north of Ledgemore Lane in the early summer.  As with our existing leys, the mix of species is designed to increase fertility, smother weeds, and provide diverse range of habitats for the two years that the organic conversion takes.

On 7th September we hosted the annual Redbourn and District Agricultural Competitions association ploughing match, something we had not done for many years.  The match was held on Elm Tree Park, the biggest field on the farm, and attracted a record number of entrants at 42.  It was a lovely rural scene, with ploughmen and women from all over the district coming to compete.  It followed many hours of tinkering over evenings and weekends, as competitors got their machines set up just right.  For many ploughing can seem rather anachronistic, with the advent of weedkilling sprays and reduced cultivations, but it remains a vital skill, particularly in organic farming where of course no chemicals are allowed.  There are some spectacular photos and videos to see on the association website, which can be found by googling “redbourn ploughing”.
 
Finally, I can’t write about the farm without mentioning the weather… since the 21st of September, we have had about 6 months’ worth of rain in three weeks, just when we should be starting to plant the wheat for next year’s harvest.  As a result, it’s looking increasingly likely that very little of what we planned to plant will get done, although we have managed to make a start on a couple of our best-drained fields.  Saturated soils are impossible to plant on – not least because the machines will do damage to the soil, but also that the seed drill will block up, the tractor will get stuck, and the seeds will rot in the ground.  The pattern of extreme weather that we have been experiencing recently seems to be continuing, which has certainly made growing crops something of a challenge, and one which we have to think very hard about meeting.  Creating resilience to these extremes is top of the list, and I’m constantly thinking about how we can continue to produce in these challenging times.

GFJH