As I sit down to type this I let out a sigh. It could have been worse but it really wasn’t good.
We expected 900 tonnes of wheat, we got 531
We expected 93 tonnes of beans, we got 67
We expected 303 tonnes of barley, we got 268
Compared to many other farmers we’ve done “ok” but the above figures really don’t read well. In money terms its about £75,000 less than expected.
This years performance – as with most years – was heavily influenced by the weather. Firstly the wet autumn (yes we had one) made it difficult to sow some of the crops to the point that we had to resow some of the wheat as, while planted, it was just too wet to survive. Then the well publicised drought… Our soil is predominantly clay, this means it retains moisture quite well and I think its partly due to this that we maintained the yields we have. I have heard some real disasters from those on lighter soils so we must count our blessings.
The nice thing about farming though is that whatever happens we move forward. Afterall the prices could improve over winter to make up the difference… Geoff and team also have tons of work to do to set ourselves up for success in harvest ’26. Unbelievably the rape was sown almost on the 1st of August, that early start and the little sprinkling of rain should mean its well established before winter making it more resilient to future challenges. The other crops will soon be planted too.
in other news, we’ve had archaeologists on site doing some preliminary studies ready for the new houses. Disappointingly nothing exciting (other than a cremation) was found. We look forward to the more detailed results.
Stanbridge Farms 
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