If we didn’t complain about the weather, would we be farmers ?

2020 has been the year of record breakers. We have had the wettest February on record, followed by the driest may on record and we are seeing the effects.

The weather has again highlighted quite how important working together with our soil and environment is. By ensuring that our soil health is up to scratch we can mitigate the result of these extreme weather conditions. A good soil structureaids for nutrient and mineral retention in extreme wet or dry, this is achieved in a multitude of ways but something we see across our farms is planting cover crops in the off season. This said Salad and vegetables are extremely thirsty crops and daily irrigation (watering) is still a must if the product is going to tick all of the boxes that we as a consumer desire. Weather we are Irrigating potatoes via irrigation cannons, or strawberries and celery via drip line irrigation it is crucial that water efficiency is a the top of the agenda and reducing the carbon footprint of our food. Understanding soil health is a very important part of growing food as it ensures that the plant is not stressed. It is when a plant is stressed that we see a direct effect on flavour and yield, for example; Underwatering lettuce can often intensify the flavour and cause a bitter sensation. Overwatering crops such as tomatoes will see increased leaf growth and a lower fruit yield. The long and short of it is; knowing the water holding capacity of the soil, how much water each individual plant needs and how much water is being lost through evaporation is essential to knowing that we are putting the correct amount of water through the irrigator. Getting this right helps to ensure a good flavour and eating experience.