Is harvest 2019 getting desperate in Scotland??

How much of your crops are going down

  • none

    Votes: 23 31.5%
  • 1/4 of fields

    Votes: 25 34.2%
  • 1/2 fields

    Votes: 10 13.7%
  • 3/4 of fields

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • every field is going down

    Votes: 9 12.3%

  • Total voters
    73
a lot of my crops are now going down with the heavy rain and after a drive down to central Scotland at the weekend i was shocked and felt my crops werent as bad, some fields are completely flat out and about how will farmers lift them? with Nov wheat at 144 and a high chance of rejected malting barley this year that doesnt leave much for what we do lift, have things ever looked this bleak pre harvest???
 

Stuart J

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
UK
Eastern Aberdeenshire here.

We have possibly escaped the worst of it. Only small patches of SO down.

Still got some WB to cut though, this wet weather not making it easy.
 

HAM135

Member
Arable Farmer
100mm in the last week,Spring barley and wheat mostly still standing,managed to grab our osr on thursday,20% but thought it better in the shed which then flooded on friday!Have now got it dried though,blight starting to come into spuds now as well,cereals still at least a fortnight away yet so still hoping things might turn around.Oh to be a farmer!!
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Some Laureate spring barley went down in early July here, Otherwise, the rest of the barley is brackling as it comes fit but that's all so far. We seem to be avoiding the worst of the weather so far compared to you guys up north.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
It’s not been a easy harvest so far - about 30% though the wheat now, odd bits flat but not too bad.

Not panicking just yet but we are nowhere near as wet as some seem to be

Yields seem reasonable, quality seems to be there and prices are decent enough really (maybe with the exception of oats !)
 

Happy

Member
Location
Scotland
Is Laureate part of the problem? I think Scottish growers have gone into it too heavily given it's short track record. There is a lot of it flat around my area.

On my third year of 100% Laureate.
Each growing year has been very different but yielded well and all made malting first two years and looking well again this time.
Some people seem to find it a bit on the late side but never found it to be that with me.

Did put growth reg on mine this year which is a first for me in SB but not sure if crops going down this year is necessarily a variety thing rather than a growing season thing.

This year there were higher seed rates due to last years very high tgw. Best seedbeds in years resulting in every one of those seeds germinating. Fantastic growing conditions in May/June. Monsoon season of past 2-3 weeks.
Put that lot together and it’s the perfect recipe for flat crops.
 
Last edited:

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Is Laureate part of the problem? I think Scottish growers have gone into it too heavily given it's short track record. There is a lot of it flat around my area.
Ours is all standing, but it does seem to break down quickly. In 2017 we grew it for seed. It just went down into a tangled knot and was no use for seed.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,289
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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