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With heavy heart I have to report that truly shocking and heart-breaking news continues to bleed out of Ukraine. On the 17th July a missile was fired at civilian flight MH17 bringing it down inside the conflict region of eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers and flight crew including 80 children on board perished. I don’t even know where to begin with this, as a father with young children I am particularly sensitive the images of children’s belongings... 

Well to date the mixture of sun and rain we have had has been great for the Miscanthus and it is all looking very well, in fact it stands out as a sea of vibrant green amongst the golden corn fields. The areas that we were not able to cut due to the ground being too wet to hold the cutters are now continuing to grow at the same rate as the rest of the field, with the new cane growing up through last year’s crop. This leads me on to this month’s... 

What it is, where it came from and why we love you to be part of the conversation this year at the Worlds Largest Cheese Show in Nantwich So honored to be asked to write this blog and sometimes I wish had kept a written record of the trails, tribulations and tears that have be shed in shear frustration and laughter of trying to getting the idea of farmers on film understood! It was back in late 2009 when I found out that the London Olympic Games was... 

I’ve just recently returned from a family holiday to Mallorca, whilst out there I thought it would be interesting to take photos from various aspects of farming including the main products – olives, almonds, potatoes, oranges and lemons.  All these photo’s have been taken with the camera on my phone.               There are no natural rivers on the island only those from the mountains caused by rainfall. Coconuts aren’t... 

My last two blogs have covered the most critical time of year for us – our miscanthus harvest, so now I probably need to explain why we started the move into growing miscanthus ten years ago. Up until 1985 my grandfather and father had farmed a 430 acre mixed beef / sheep and arable farm in Warwickshire. Our rotation here had been a traditional wheat / barley / oats / beans and OSR in varying proportions, on a heavy clay soil.   After... 

Hello everyone, hope you’re all well. Thought it was about time for me to write another blog of my own instead of pestering our #teamblog for new ones! So, I’m touching wood whilst saying this but could this finally be the start of the summer, that strange yellow thing in the sky seems to showering us in rays of light and there doesn’t seem to be any of the wet stuff falling from the sky. I hope this is the case as my cricket season has just... 

Its hard to believe its 2 months since I did my last blog the time has just flown by and in another 2 months it will be full steam ahead with harvest! Its been a very busy 2 months! The Bateman has been busy flying up and down doing fert which am now pleased to say is now finished for the 2014 season, the n-sensor performed very well as always does with no problems as well. Then t0 and t1 was to do, this was straightforward in doing for a change it... 

I first became aware of twitter in January 2009 when a plane crashed into the Hudson River in New York and a picture showing the stricken plane was taken that went global very quickly. I first entered the world of Twitter in 2010 four years after its launch with a personal account to get used to using it ahead of a proposed launch of my then employer with their account, so I would be able to dual “tweet” when the time arose. I still have that... 

Spring has sort of sprung, and as we only have oil seed rape in the spring portfolio it’s a bit of a damp squib … It has long been clear SOSR plantings will be well down on last year, and actually, well down on a ‘normal’ (whatever that is) spring season – there’s still a month to go though so we’ll see. At least the sun is shining and it looks like a good (long) weekend ahead. The threat of a bank holiday usually stirs up a few ‘must... 

As we move from the wet winter months into spring, signified by losing an hour, we are in the middle of harvest yes that’s right, harvest.  While most of you will be pre-occupied with the delights of new births and the planting of seeds of all shapes and sizes and tending to the autumn sown crops, we are looking to get our crop safely gathered in. Harvest for us is 400 acres of biomass in the form of Miscanthus Giganticus, where the oldest fields... 

As a continuation from my last blog called “Beet, Sugar, Frosted Flakes”, this blog covers the potato in its many forms and where they come from and along the same theme of educating the younger generation. It’s not about knowing your King Edwards from your Maris Pipers or your Desires from your Marfonas, or even the difference between red and white potatoes, but knowing how it gets to your table. Potatoes,tates,tatties,spuds whatever you call... 

A lot has happened since I last sent a blog in to Farmers Review and some of it actually about farming but first I’ll start with the geo-political stuff. Over the course of a couple of weeks Ukraine went from having a functioning if not deeply corrupt administration to the government ordering the devastating use of live ammunition in Kiev to the President fleeing the country and a new interim government issuing a warrant for his arrest. Russia thought... 

We are told by the farming press that we are lagging behind the antipodes in sheep breeding because they are using science and technology to drive towards profit, unhampered by the sentiment or tradition often associated with agriculture here. Who could have failed to wonder when watching the scene setting episode of this year’s “Lambing Live” if the progressive elements hell bent on copying them have a point. Swaledales and Scottish... 

I treat you guys so well! From the end of this month we will be holding a monthly prize draw. The prize is the contents of this hamper. To enter the draw all you need to do is post two product reviews on Farmers Review. Yep, that’s it! It’s really that simple! I’m sure you’ll all agree the prize is fantastic but I wouldn’t have been able to assemble this amazing hamper without the support from the following companies Crisps... 

If I’d known how much effort it requires to keep the @TheFarmersOfTheUK account going for a week I’m not sure I’d have volunteered to do the job whilst lambing……. Startling revelation? I don’t think so, more a reflection of the fact I threw myself at the job completely whilst trying to do the day job (and night job) to the best of my ability. Despite the fact someone kindly said it looked planned, I’ll be honest and say on Monday morning... 

Well it feels like it was only last week since I did my first blog and haven’t had any one telling me to shut up so here’s my second one. February started off fairly quiet getting odd jobs done and getting things ready for the busy times, also had a n-sensor refresher course at askham bryan college. It was very interesting and good to be reminded of how the n-sensor operates and also any updates that have been made and also future developments... 

Hi everyone, just a very short blog to keep you up to date with what’s going on. As many of you are probably well aware of I in the middle of assembling a really amazing hamper of British products. So far I’ve managed to get the following:- Crisps from Corkers Crisp Rapeseed oil, mayonnaise & soap from Hillfarm Oils A bottle of Gin from Warner Edwards Cordial from Edwards Cordial Some chilli preserves from Galloway Chillies Sauce from Stokes... 

Saturday morning dawned and by 7am I was getting on the road to the first farm to collect the fodder. By 10:30 I had collected the load from the last of the farms, just north of Banbury, had a group photo of myself, Georgina, and the final donating Farmer taken by the local paper, and began the run to Somerset. All loaded and ready to go I stopped twice in the first few miles to check the ratchet straps as the heavy silage on the top of the load... 

You can’t have escaped the news of the devastating floods that are continuing to affect Somerset residents and farmers. The news clips struggle to convey the magnitude of the problem, but when, as a farmer, I saw farms completely underwater, farmhouse and all, it became painfully clear that they face a problem that eclipses anything we’ve seen locally in my lifetime, if ever. Soon after the floods had begun to have a serious effect, my... 

The flooding currently affecting the United Kingdom has, in parts, changed the landscape of our island forever.  Some areas, notably the Somerset Levels should in time return to a state of normality depending on the efficiency of the Environment Agency’s sixty five pumps removing over a million tonnes of flood water.  Whether normality will be maintained in the future is another question. The photos used have been provided by Ally Hunter Blair... 

Well this is a first for me doing a blog so lets see how it goes! I’ll begin by introducing myself to you all. I am married and have a daughter who is 2 shortly so am kept on my toes regularly, I am a farm worker on an estate in the east riding of Yorkshire and have been here for 16 years come march, am quite happy in my job and find it very satisfying watching and working with nature. Have seen the estate change big time in the time I have... 

In a spring where you would be better off planting rice than any other crop, it will be with some trepidation that some farms will be waiting for the waters to subside and the fields to dry out to see what state their grassland is in. Some fields maybe that badly damaged that a total reseed will be necessary but hopefully many of them would be in a reasonable enough state to recover from the floods but could maybe benefit from a bit of a refresh.... 

As you’re probably aware earlier this week LAMMA, the UK’s largest farm machinery, equipment and agricultural services show took place at Peterborough. I’m sure many of you even attended the event, just thought I’d write a quick blog on the show. So on Wednesday I set off from home at around 9am, expecting a reasonably short journey to the show, everything was going really well, the A47 was pretty clear and was sailing into Peterborough, THEN…... 

Goodbye 2013, hello 2014! And hands up all those who made New Year’s resolutions? What is it this year? To quit smoking, join a gym, give up chocolate (don’t be stupid!) or stop swearing? I for one don’t have a habit of making resolutions as I rarely keep them, but this year I have decided to make just one. To have more patience. Now stop choking on your coffee and sniggering, husband! I know this may seem funny to you as I am a... 

Is Solar a good investment for the average farmer?  Mike Smith of UK Energy Consultants takes an in-depth look. Judging by the latest installed capacity figures, it would certainly seem so, he declares. Commercial PV systems ranging from 10kWp to 50kWp are now outstripping the

Grass is pretty capable stuff.  Many UK farmers rely on its ability to produce fodder for livestock year on year, and it does it almost regardless of the conditions it is exposed to. But this resilience has a downside – we don’t always realise that our grass is starting to struggle because, with the addition of a little “sugar”, it keeps on growing and giving. In this edition of our blog, I’m going to look at one of... 

Hi all, firstly Happy New Year to you all. I hope you all had a really great festive season & Santa brought all the presents that you wanted.  My Christmas and New Years was really nice, very relaxing and chilled. We shut up the office on Friday 20th & returned this morning (6th Jan), so a nice long break. To be honest I’m quite happy to be back in the office now, there’s only so many Storage Hunters & Big Bang Theories you can watch... 

“What do you want to do today kids, swimming, play park or join the revolution?” Not the normal Saturday morning family breakfast time negotiation but it is what I found myself saying last weekend. Ukraine hit the headlines this week as a demonstration turned in to civil unrest and then an attempt to replace the government. The spark was an abrupt about face by the Ukrainian government signing an EU Association Agreement that would have paved... 

I thought it was about time that I wrote my own blog, as the other bloggers know I pester them quite often so I thought I should finally write my own one. Well, we’re not far away from Christmas now, what’s the present everyone wants this year? My family and friends have asked for everything under the sun from rifle cabinets and shotgun safes (like these ones!) to fancy wellies, British Bake Off utensils and a Xbox One! So what do I want for... 

Nearly there! The recommended list is about to be published – still the highlight of the seedsman’s year. While the recommended list has its faults (in common with all trials!) And while we, as breeders, sometimes ‘regret’ the decisions made (see ‘Breeders decisions’ in this blog) it is, at least, an independent source of data. The list gives data over a number of years, and a number of sites across the UK. Varieties that do well, both... 

Now some time to catch up a bit on all the things that have been put off over the summer. It has been a busy six months, particularly on the fruit and veg side of the business, which is really my main enterprise. Pumpkins and squashes are our last crops of the season before we close down the Pick Your Own at the end of October. They have been selling fast over the last few weeks and the main problem with them has really been theft as they are easy... 

At least in some respects, anyway!   This time last year we were looking at potentially the biggest planting of OSR seed in UK history, now we are looking at many planning a return to rotations involving more winter barley and more spring cropping, and therefore a reduction in OSR plantings. (the grain price doesn’t help either!)Wheat will probably stand still.   I’m sure everyone recalls the terrible establishment conditions of 2012,... 

Welcome to the Farmers Review Blog Section, we have been working hard for the past months working on a number of updates for the website. One of which being the blogging feature which gives opinion from farmers, agronomists, industry experts as well as international perspectives relevant to the UK industry.  With the blogs registered members have the chance to respond & make comments on what they have just read. We hope this tool gets used &... 

What an amazing 2 days!  After getting everything ready in record time we managed to not only make it through the exhibition without any major glitches but also exceed our wildest expectations of new members.  It was great to finally be in an environment where we could demonstrate to all involved in farming the benefits of our site. The only downside was the weather and even then we were delighted to see our umbrellas put to good use. Just to let...