LOOKING back to my last article, we were waiting for it to dry up enough to be able to complete potato planting.
Eventually it did and we completed on May 18, two months after we started, which must be one of the longest campaigns the farm has ever seen.
Since planting has been complete we have experienced a totally different growing season to the previous two. With yields being affected in those two seasons because of lack of rain, we could now be seeing a reduction because of too much water.
Driving around the area there are many fields that have areas lost due to flooding. We had an interesting flight over the farm to look at the crops from the air, and this has highlighted some of the areas that may prove tricky at harvest and where crop loss has occurred. We do not seem to have been affected by the flooding as much on Holbeach Marsh as they have in the Spalding and Pinchbeck areas.
The pea viners have been with us to vine some of the early peas. This is going to be a disappointing season due to the lack of sunshine and heat and excessive rainfall during the growing season. We are hoping that the later crops will do better.
Some of our early harvest Marfona potatoes have now been sprayed off ready for harvesting – we will hopefully start potato harvest in about a week’s time and I think this will be about when the wheat harvest will also start. We just need the sun to shine to help ripen and dry the crops.
On July 28 a world record was broken in Lincolnshire: it was for the most Quadtracs (Case articulated, tracked tractors, 400-600hp) cultivating in one field at the same time. The event attracted 50 tractors coming from all over the UK and Scotland to the event near Lincoln. It raised money for Cancer Research in memory of Lincolnshire farmer John Rainthorpe who died from cancer in 2010. It was quite a sight to see 50 of the biggest tractors that money can buy working in a line up the field, and one I suspect will not be achieved again for a very long time. Now let’s hope it soon stops raining, the sun comes out and harvest can get under way. To keep up with what is happening on the farm see www.worthfarms.co.uk