What farming thought of 2022: Angus arable farmer Amy Geddes

A hot dry summer for many parts of the country kept drying costs to a minimum this summer and crop quality was reportedly up across the board.

In Angus, arable farmer Amy Geddes, of Wester Braikie Farms, reported a very good harvest, despite worries early in the summer that the lack of rain may cause issues with crop yield and quality.

Amy farms in partnership with her parents outside Arbroath and this past season they grew 120ha of wheat, 32ha of winter oilseed rape, 52ha of spring barley for malting, 44ha of seed potatoes and 28ha of vining peas.

She told The Scottish Farmer that her highlight for 2022 was the ease of harvest and said if she could ask for something for the years ahead, it would be to have a harvest like that every year.

“We were very lucky here in Arbroath to have a relatively easy harvest. With a hot dry summer, we had been nervous that crops wouldn’t get enough moisture, as we didn’t have rain for weeks and even lost field to fires, it was so dry.

“However, once the dust had settled, everyone had a really good harvest. It was very early, quality was up and all our barley that went for malting was accepted, which was fantastic news. Wheat looks to have yielded well, even with the lack of moisture, which is a relief.

“The higher temperatures also meant drying costs were kept to a minimum which has been a welcome outcome given the rising costs of energy in the past few months.

"My biggest issues were keeping crops cool. We bought in an extra grain fan and more pedestals to bring grain temperatures down as quickly as was possible."

Angus Winter oilseed rape harvest at Wester Braikie Farms

Reflecting on some of the challenges over the past year, Amy pointed out that managing inputs has been a concern for arable farmers across the board, due to the volatility in the markets, availability of some products and the rising costs.

“Fertiliser prices have been unbelievable. Some people had bought early when prices were lower, but even then, there were issues around making sure you got the fertiliser you ordered,” she continued.

“We had bought our fuel early in the year, before we started spring work, which was just luck and I remember thinking 72ppl was very dear at the time – but a week later, Russia invaded Ukraine and fuel went through the roof, pushing in extreme cases nearly £2 per litre. You can’t plan for these exceptional events and for farmers, we just have to ride them out.”

Amy, like most farmers is well ahead with planning for next year.

“For 2023, we are looking at keeping planting areas broadly similar, but we do have a bit more oilseed rape and spring barley just due to the rotation.

“Although we have been looking at different varieties, we really have to stick with what the maltsters want for spring barley, which currently for us is the variety Laureate.

“We will be trialling a hard wheat on the farm next year so it might not be targeting the same distilling market, but it should look to cut costs. We are trying to look at ways to reduce inputs, especially costly fungicides.”

Whilst on the phone to The SF, the doorbell rings and a grazier is at the door. Amy explains that they recently got in touch with Ringlink to bring in someone with sheep to graze their cover crops and have been seeing good results.

“We have recently got in tow with a grazier and will have sheep munching around 73ha of oil radish this winter, which we initially started planting as a cover crop to respond to problems with free living nematode in cereals and potato cyst nematode reduction, which is a really important part of seed potato growing.

"It has been a win-win working with the grazier, as it is reducing PCN and FLN levels, the crops keep the ground covered over the winter preventing nutrient leaching and provides fodder for the sheep, plus we get dung in our soils which helps increase our organic matter and feeds the soil.”

Amy pointed out that most arable farmers are very conscious about soil health, especially with the Scottish Government pressing on with soil testing.

“We are all relatively aware of the future direction of travel and soil health being an important part of that, but as of yet, there is still a lot of uncertainty about what the finer details of the support scheme are going to entail.

“The market is very much taking a lead on this and I have had a couple of contracts floated in front of me requesting details on what we are doing in terms of biodiversity and carbon audits, and requesting on-farm data.

“I think we need to be very careful to question why we need to provide such detailed agronomic data and what it is going to be used for. We are seeing a big rush with companies keen to deal with scope three emissions, asking for increased sustainability from suppliers which is understandable, but we need to see fair treatment, and reward at the other side.”

Looking ahead to 2023, Amy said the reality was that input costs would really be felt in next year’s harvest, and she expects there to be another ‘rollercoaster of a year’.

“This year, we saw staggering prices for our cereals, with wheat selling at a high point of £350 per tonne, but this has now dropped back to around £240 per tonne.

“We are expecting a dip in our income, but we still have to balance that with buying fertiliser at high prices. Fuel prices may have come back down but fertiliser and crop protection products haven’t moved so much and aren’t likely to.

“Next year, will see a lot of expensive products going into a crop that might not make so much money. It will be hard to keep even keel but we need to keep planning ahead as best as we can, keeping an eye on the market and being proactive not reactive.

“Sometimes you don’t know what the world is going to throw at you but for now, our winter wheat and oilseed rape has gone in while conditions were good and is looking fantastic – the job now is to keep the pigeons off it.

"Everything is looking good going into winter but moving forward it will be about managing what we can and trying to steer a steady course.”