Blankney Farm Update – 14 August 2023

The recent wet weather has been frustrating for both the crop drying season and the combinable crop harvest.

It’s been stop/start over the last two weeks, however, the wet weather has saved us the cost of irrigating grass; it has also improved our yield prospects for future cuts of lucerne, grass and better yields from our sugar beet and maize crops. What a difference a year makes.

Combinable crop harvesting started two weeks ago and we now have combined 85% of our peas, 34% of spring barley and 45% of our wheat. Quality of malting barley is poor compared with normal years and there will be work to do cleaning the sample prior to sale.

The quality is holding up on our Group 2 and Group 4 hard wheats., however yields are disappointing and are running below the 5 year average on light land and above the 5 year average on heavy land.