January is the first month since December 2022 that has been colder than average, with a mean of 2.9°C and the average for January for the last 50 years being 3.7°C. It has also been a slightly drier month with 42mm falling, against an average of 44mm.

You may have noticed in the news that the price of fresh produce is going up. The reason for this is farmers have not been getting a big enough reward for growing it. There has to be a lot of care and attention to get all vegetables and fruit blemish-free on to supermarket shelves. Then, when there are no price rises, or the price rise is below the cost of inflation, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

These poor rewards, coupled with long working hours, have been further exacerbated by the government’s decision to change the inheritance tax laws. Farming is a long term industry and these new tax reforms will discourage both financial investment and the next generation from joining the industry.

Added to that, it hasn’t been easy to get fresh produce picked, as the government has put restrictions on manual workers who are needed to pick and prepare the produce. We’ve also had large increases in the minimum wage and have had two years of above-average rainfall, which makes planting and harvesting more difficult, placing a strain on people and machinery. The result is some farmers have had enough, they have gone for the easier option of growing crops that are harvested by the combine.

Growing and storing potatoes is one example of fresh produce that requires year-round attention, but not to the extent that is required for supplying vegetables and fruit. In general, potato growers have not been making much money over the past few years and that is why the cost of potatoes has gone up. When we grow potatoes on contract and have them in store, we get a cost price rise for every month we store them. Some of our stored potatoes were contracted for delivery in February, so it was good news when McCain asked for some of our chipping potatoes to be sent to their factory at the start of February. We will get payment earlier and will have more weight to send to the factory, as every extra day we keep potatoes, they lose weight.

Looking after sheep and cattle is also a seven days a week job, often dangerous too and again the rewards have not been good enough. Imagine being the farmer with 100 or 150 milking cows, they have to be milked twice a day every day. Hats off to them, they deserve a decent income. However, many have moved away from pastoral farming and taken an easier option of growing cereals. These will all go through the combine, but now with better payments from the government for looking after our dwindling wildlife, farmers are now growing crops which are designed to improve our soils and let the birds and insects do the harvesting.

Goldfinch

When I was in Spain looking at vegetable growing last year, I was amazed how much wildlife there was in and around the fields. Nearly all the fields were less than 10 acres and there was no block cropping, as there was a different crop in each field. Those different crops would be sown at different times, harvested at different times and cultivated at different times. There was twice as much boundary than a single 50 acre field would have in England. Most of our farmland birds like the field boundaries and so large fields are in general not good for wildlife. There were lots of houses and gardens because they were all small farmers, it all added up to being good for wildlife.

I have seen Barn Owls flying at dusk and dawn lately so I expect voles are getting in short supply. Spare a thought for the Barn Owls – think how many more places there would be to hunt for voles if all of our fields were a lot smaller, with increased boundaries.

We have some alder trees in the yard, they were planted in 1987 to comply with planning to hide the newly built potato store. Twenty years ago at this time of year when the Goldfinches had eaten all the teasel seeds there would have been a charm of over 100 Goldfinches chattering away in these trees – this winter there have been only about 20. Goldfinches are a species that supposedly has not had much of a decline in nation surveys.

Two species that are doing very well are Greylag Geese and Wood Pigeons. Greylag Geese can survive well by just eating grass from when they are born. They like short grass and, as people like to see grassy places mown fairly short, this means they are doing very well. There are some crops that are far more to their liking than grass, however, such as potatoes, sugar beet and rape, where up to 1,000 can land on our fields. A vehicle parked in a field is quite a good deterrent.

Wood Pigeons can be just as troublesome as the geese, if not more so, on peas and rape fields and they can come in their thousands. Again, a vehicle parked in the field can be a good deterrent but they get used to it sooner than the geese do. Wood Pigeons have also learnt to go under the hedges to eat the bird seed that I have thrown for the smaller birds. They never used to go under the hedges but they have gradually learnt to do it

Robins are also seen around the farm, they just seem to pop up everywhere, especially in the garden or round the farmyard. They appear because we are about and are looking, or even asking, if we are going to be moving or disturbing anything that might provide them with a snack. According to the BTO, Robin figures over the past 20 years have increased by about 20%.

The Turtle Doves which we have been over wintering and planning to release in May are doing well. We’re looking forward to releasing a few of them wearing trackers so we can see what they are doing, how well they are nesting and because of the trackers, we will also be able to find their nests.