Farming News – December 2021

We have had a wonderful autumn, with trees holding their leaves until quite late and the colours, in particular the beech leaves, giving a golden aura to the passing summer. My fodder beet has been harvested which is the final job of the year. We now spend time chopping firewood, servicing machinery, cleaning ditches, repairing fences and bagging potatoes for sale (see below).

In November the main talking point for farmers was the rising cost of fertiliser, from around £275 to £690 per ton. If prices stay high, then farmers may stop buying it altogether leading to lower yields and food shortages with much higher food prices. The more probable outcome will be that smaller amounts of fertiliser are bought leading to lower yields with some food shortages and slightly higher food prices in 2022.