Shropshire Farming Talk: Nature of the season has created huge challenges
Shropshire, like the rest of the country, has certainly had its fair share of rainfall with up to 30% more than the 1990-2020 average falling in some parts of the region in 2023.
Since the start of 2024 conditions have been very unsettled and a lot more rain has fallen, making saturated ground even wetter and more difficult to travel on.
Let's hope these conditions change soon to help farmers tackle important jobs that are building up.
The nature of the season has created huge challenges with drilling and establishing crops this season.
There are large areas of the region with nothing in the ground, large areas of compromised looking crops, with only a small proportion looking as you would expect for this time of year.
Conditions in the west will see a far higher proportion of spring planting than expected and this has created a high demand for seed.
As always, ensuring spring crops are drilled into optimal seed bed conditions will be the key to driving yield, giving the plants the best chance of establishment in the ever more volatile springs we are experiencing.
We’re expanding so contact us if you’re interested in joining our agronomy team!
Will Spurdens, Farm Consultant and Agronomist at Ceres
