This week, hundreds of combines were rolling across the country as the UK harvest continues its march north. The next couple of months will be critical for arable and livestock farmers until we get the harvest home.

Early-sown crops seem to have weathered the season better, as their larger plants were able to cope with the sodden soil throughout much of the spring. Straw availability is another hot topic, with merchants always keen to play down availability. Until the sales in Carlisle and Thainstone begin, there will be no official prices to report. There’s nothing like an auction to set an open price.

Over in Ireland, they have suspended straw incorporation – measures which paid arable farmers to chop their straw back into the soil.

The scheme had previously paid out €12.3m to arable farmers who adopted the measure in a bid to increase carbon in the soil and reduce fertiliser bills. This week, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association called for arable farmers to be paid to bale straw.

The increased straw supply should be a boost for Irish and UK livestock farmers who will see more straw on the market, potentially depressing prices.

Previously, significant shipments of straw had been sent across the Irish Sea for livestock farmers and mushroom production. However, we need to get the straw baled first, and all that depends on the weather.

Many of our readers will have received letters from the Scottish Government, providing more information on new hoops to jump through for support payments.

The letter is a good start in communication on future requirements, so let’s hope RPID hit the road and run more open meetings for farmers to discuss the changes face to face.

While, in theory, much of the new requirements are possible without contracting a third-party consultant, the reality is farmers are unlikely to find the time to use the programme PLANET for nutrient management plans and habitat maps.

Even fewer will be able to run their own carbon audit. As a result, the cost of obtaining support will go up, which will hurt smaller producers disproportionately.

Let’s hope with more carbon audits being conducted, they can be refined with great practical advice and a much wider scope for accounting for sequestration, or farms will forever be unfairly penalised as the ‘bad guys’.

How these requirements will affect those who are claiming land but not actively farming it remains to be seen. We are yet to get clarity from the Scottish Government if the ‘alternative practice’ route to claiming public cash will remain open.

Currently, a relatively modest amount of land is being claimed, but not farmed, using this loophole. If regions two and three were to be amalgamated to a payment over £30/ha, thousands of slipper farming acres could come into the system and push money away from production.

Anyway one thing is for sure, not many active farmers will have much time to wear slippers in the next few weeks.