My farming week

This month, Roger Evans tells us about how lockdown has curtailed his over-the-hedge inspections of his neighbour’s activities, and how at home he is waging war on the profusion of docks and nettles.

Having been a Farmers Guardian diary writer for a good few years, I am not sure if writing on the back page is a promotion or a relegation.

I am now an expert (almost) in all manner of virtual meetings. I’ve also been made very aware of how poor my connectivity is on the farm.

In the unlikely scenario that I ever appear on Mastermind, my specialist subject will be the complete works of Henry Brewis.

In somewhat strange times, it has been heartening to see communities pull together and people appreciating the key workers that, fundamentally, are the backbone to this country.

At the end of February, a Government Minister made the warm and friendly remark that Britain does not need its own farming industry.

Jim Beary is a mixed upland livestock farmer in the Peak District and a member of the Future Farmers of Yorkshire at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

The last three weeks have seen a marked shift in how and where we buy our food. It is a pattern that will remain while we are in lockdown and I suspect there will be a few habits or behaviours that persist for the longer term. 

There is no doubt that beating the Covid-19 pandemic will require a sustained, collective effort unknown in this country since the end of the second world war.

Block calving 430 cows means a lot of calves have to be attended to all at once, and to ensure full attention a strict colostrum protocol has been adopted on one Welsh farm. Debbie James has the story.