Mixed news for spring sowing

With this week seeing some of the first few dry days of spring, field work has been commencing around the country.

And grain growers were yesterday reporting that while some fields were dry enough to see some drilling start, most parts of the country still had pockets which remained “no go” areas due to the prolonged wet winter.

“Following an extremely difficult start of the year for arable farmers across the country, many regions are now beginning to see some improvements and are able to start spring sowing – which comes as a huge relief, especially at this strange and unprecedented time for us all,” said Willie Thomson, chair of NFU Scotland’s combinable crops committee, yesterday.

“For us in Lothian, the better weather has meant that we have been able to start sowing oats over the last few days and have managed to start sowing spring barley today.

“We are of course having to choose where we sow carefully as there are still fields and pockets in certain fields which are too wet.”

Elsewhere in the country he said the situation looked to be a “mixed bag”.

In the east central area of the country, some had been getting out onto the land – but many were still finding that a lot of fields remained too wet to work.

But Thomson said that, further north, spring barley was being sown: “From Aberdeenshire we are hearing reports of much dryer conditions, although like those of us further south they are still having to choose fields carefully.”