Harvest Done.
It is always a relief to be able to say that, and especially this year. Having had the most challenging growing season of my career, it is with great relief that we have managed to harvest and store all the combinable crops that we had planted. As ever none of this would be possible without the incredible commitment and hard work, all hours of the day and night by the entire team. I am lucky to have a brilliant team here on the farm who work tirelessly to make sure that we can get crops harvested around the ever changing weather.
Sadly we don’t get much time to rest on our laurels at this time of year, driers and grain stores run 24 hours a day at the moment, drying and conditioning grain so that it can be stored in perfect condition for the next twelve months. To keep cereals in long term storage we have to get it down to a moisture content of below 14.5%, this is achievable straight off the field on a long hot sunny day, sadly we don’t seem to get many of them, and so most crops have to be dried when they reach the store. This takes considerable time and care to make sure we dry them correctly while maintaining the quality so they can still be used for milling, malting or seed.
As well as getting last year’s crops safely tucked away, we are already busy with planting next years. With oilseed rape and turnips already planted and growing away nicely. As the farming calendar rolls on, and the autumn starts to arrive we will be planting the Spelt wheat, ready for next year’s harvest for Northern Pasta.
