After almost continuous rain, how does the wheat look & Red Tractor nonsense
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- We got all the wheat drilled and then had 135mm of rain in just 4 weeks (20% of our annual rainfall) but how did the newly drilled wheat cope?
Then Red Tractor has been in the headlines after they introduced a new Green Farming initiative that has got farmers seriously angry. I explain why.
Good news that British farmers are making a stand against bureaucratic crap!
Well said Nick.
Agree. Everyone should resist the woke crap.
That would be their handouts
More and more pandering to a tiny tiny percentage of the population crying on twitter.
@@terryo5672 I'm curious as to how you make anything in Harry's vid an argument against "woke crap"? You're mis-using what woke means and are conflating it with a narrative that has altogether different origins. Harry makes very sensible common sense vids and I mostly agree with him, but remember, the Government of the day are in charge of agricultural policy, not a "tofu eating left wing wokerati".
Glad to hear the farmers are taking a stand against these crazed overlords!
Red Tractor 🚜 Illuminati🔺👁️ 😈
In Ireland we have similar scheme to red tractor, Bord Bia. It originally marketed produce. Now imposes quality control similar to Red tractor. It now employs a small army of inspectors. It is paid at sale or slaughter. We have a neibour who was asked for his rodent control records. He said his cats were his rodent control. She then asked for his cat worming and vaccination records!
Fs, their stupidity know no bounds. Hope he said they were wild cats!
The problem in Ireland is we have vegetables propping up the government , ie The Green Party !! 🤬
That is disturbing! Surveillance and control. I love your neighbours humour though, reminds me of my dad getting a sales call “can I speak to who deals with your security please..” my dad’s response “I would let you, but he’s in the garden right now barking at the pigeons” 😀
Totally correct and in the north cats are a no no but must have proof of any dogs wormed and entered into medicine book as well. We can’t kill rats, catch them and drown in water then burry a certain depth total bonkers . I could go on an on
Harry should be a senior executive civil servant in the ministry of agriculture ,they simply couldnt cope with his common sense .
Best farming content .
Head of Defra more like!
Harry is a calm, measured thoughtful chap. Working in DEFRA would melt his head. 😬
You can't get those jobs , unless you're compromised
he needs to funnel some Russian money to the Tories to be able to qualify unfortunately.
Common sense and politics don't mix well, if at all actually 😂
Thanks for bringing this to the attention of the general public. The majority of whom (including myself) knew nothing about this. We want to support our farmers, but most of us only have supermarkets to provide our food, so they call the shots.
I hope the NFU hold their nerve.
Thank you
UK farmers should band together more often - to hold the environment agency to account and our politicians
All fascinating stuff Harry - thanks for the update
I agree and particularity because most civil servants and politicians are ignorant suburbanite or urbanites . They know absolutely nothing about farming , about the land , about nature , about the the country side and understand - even less.
I am shocked that the Red Tractor compliant wheat grown by UK farmers is being mixed with non compliant imported grain ! That needs publicising - I think this could be in your favour with the public to get them behind the "Good Food UK" push.
We can’t grow enough crops in the UK to feed the nation - we haven’t been able to since the 1960s. Hence the joining of the EU and single market. We import 40% of our food.
@@markm49 1960's more like 1860's, even before WWI we imported 40% of our food rising to 65% before WWII, mostly grain, sugar and 'exotic' (non native) fruit and veg. Just a lot less sugar now as Sugar Beet now forms the most used but a lot of that comes from Ireland (both NI and IE).
Can't? The UK chooses not to be food self-sufficient. In the 1980s the UK produced 82% of its food needs, obviously unable to supply coffee, bananas and the like. The only thing stopping complete self-sufficiency is lack of political will.@@markm49
why do we let technically inept bureaucrats make the policy decisions, something needs to change because this is the road to ruin through no fault of the people on the ground
Or the inept in everything ( except smoking an boozing) Theresa Coffey currently Minister of the Environment Food and Rural affairs. I seriously doubt the green red tractor thing happened without the involvement maybe even promulgation by said serialy incompetent minister.
they start off as good ideas, everyone joins then it changes along the way it seems
Good the farmers are sticking together. Together we are strong, divided we are easy pickings. Great video as always.
Farmers sticking together, I'll believe it when I see it actually happen 😂
Someone's head will be rolling at Red Tractor after this ends up with the whole scheme being completely scrapped. This is what happens when people don't read the room.
unlikely, probably get a promotion & a pay rise.
Time for all farmers to leave the scheme en-masse. They cannot implement it when nobody takes part.
@@GrahamFrench247totally agree. It’s a money making scam. Red Tractor and Farm Quality Assurance are just more paper work and red tape.
Over-reach, got too big for their boots.
Rainbow tractor will be next.
How inclusive is your farm?
Since watching your programmes my respect and admiration for all farmers has grown immensely.
It should be required viewing to all those in government associated with the farming industry.
I do wonder how multipolarity and BRICS might change the world with regard to commodities where it would appear that prices might be taken out of the hands of the existing financial markets?
This and Clarkson's Farm showed me how dire the situation for UK farmers is. Who the hell would get into farming now with how hard it is and how little money you make?
The river Gipping near me in Suffolk has not been cleared for 40 years. It use to be dregged every 10 years. Houses have been flooded that have never been flooded before.
Since the E A took over there has been no maintenance on the water ways .
Look at what the lack of investment did to the Somerset Levels.
Yes, and a lot of the flooding on the roads is due to poor, or non existent, drain maintenance. Much easier to just blame climate change.
Doesn't flooding start on the land? A healthier catchment with functioning geomorphology delivers less soil into the rivers, slows the flow and reduces flooding.
And if you build on flood plains... Ditch clearing used to be obvious when I was a kid in the 20th century, and road sweepers pumping out gully traps were seen 2 or 3 times a year.
Harry thank you for your farming industry insights, it's good to have a greater knowledge of how our food industry works.
Thank-you Harry for yet another informative and educational video.
Another great video.
The actions or lack or actions of the E A are absolutely criminal.
Floodplain are called this for a reason.
@@HUMPERS42 The land in Anglia is supposed to be drained properly, a lot of it is below sea level.
Great informative video Harry. Hope the weather improves for all our farmers 🤞
I was talking with a friend of mine in Norfolk yesterday; they had 200mm of rain in October, he pointed out that the drains around the fields were not dug because someone had a quiet afternoon and got bored so they thought the spade could do with an outing. The way land is managed has been squeezed and skimped on for so many years in order to balance providing food and the struggle to remain viable. Hedging and ditching was a regular winter job, but that was when each farm could afford a workforce.
People need to think about what they eat and the choices they make. If people did, there would not be a need for Red Tractor Schemes.
More power to you, Harry. It's the time of harvest festivals and great bounty from the land. Thanks for your massive contribution.
Great video. Very informative and sadly revealing about the pressures farmers are under particularly due to the weather. Keep up the good work.
I love your Farm vids Harry. I'm no farmer, but I learn so much and find them thoroughly enjoyable and educational. Thank you. I know once you've harvested and then drilled there's not much to report, but even watching that (excellent )guy doing the dry stone wall was fascinating stuff. And what about your solar?
As for this green Red tractor lark, go woke go broke as they say....
The single disc planter is exceptional. You can can plant between the previous seasons rows. The Boss planter here the wheat is germinating in 24hrs
As always informative factual, well presented and engaging
Interesting about the Red Tractor… more evidence, if it were ever needed, that this government has completely lost it grip
To be clear, Red Tractor is an industry body and not part of Government.
Looking forward to seeing how till no-till compares this season.
Cheers
Thank you so much for helping me understand the issues from the arable farmers' experiences and points of view along with the evidence you present from your own situation. Also thank you for sharing your experiments with new methods of farming; always fascinating to me. You are so articulate, cogent and clear.
Very well said at them end Harry. Respect ✊
Interesting and informative. Dealing with the unpredictable weather must be difficult enough without unpredictable bureaucracy weighing in and adding to your problems. Let’s hope sanity prevails.
Can't beat the plough to get the water away.
Thanks Harry - you bring home to viewers the issues we all face
The Environment Agency,
The Government agency in charge of monitoring water pollution 😉😉
The Environment Agency who prosecute small businesses or farms when they accidentally pollute .
Yet turn a blind eye to water companies who pump shit into a rivers and sea , on a industrial scale 🤨 on a daily basis 🤨.
Water companies 2006 /2017 post tax profits of 18.86 billion 😳
75% of water companies are owned by foreign investors
Black Rock
Lazard
Vanguard
JP Morgan
Cheung kong Group, hedge funders ripping the cash out , and not investing in Water treatment or infrastructure 🤨 with government blessings under the noses of the Environment Agency 🙈🙊🙉.
And now they are telling the British people you are going to have to pay more 🙄 to get them to do the job they agreed to do when they took over the running of the water companies.
THERE MUST BE A PUBLIC INQUIRY.
Tory government only interested in dividends for rich backers!
There seems to be a war against farmers from the government. Amongst many other wars If I had a tin foil that I'd assume it was all part of this build back better wef inspired horse shite . But thought like that would make me a conspiracy theorist. Very pleased to see some farmer push back against Mr wef sunak and his ilk. Always good to watch a Harry's farm update. Direct drilling of grass seed as an example, has been used on golf course's for at least the last decade. Thank you harry and Charlie.
Spot on. All the issues around the world are leading us into their "rescue" package called the great reset. Expect more problems, more wars, more price hikes and more debt which will eventually cause the financial system to crash.
There's a war against farmers from Holland to New Zealand. But why?
@@freespeech3673 Control the food and the money and you have it all.WEFminster wins.
@@freespeech3673because current farming practices are not sustainable.
@@OnzeManInKazakhstan Do you work for the WEF?
Thanks for the update, Harry. Maybe consumers would rebel against red tractor if they realised the disadvantages it imposes on UK farming.
Back in the day when you could shoot seals in Scotland. All the salmon farms in Scotland signed up to the RSPCA freedom foods scheme as it was the scheme which allowed you to shoot the most seals!
These foods schemes are funny old things consumers have no idea what goes into them!
Many thanks for your informative videos. Always learning loads. 👍
Another great episode. Thanks.
Excellent farming video by top presenter
Does Red + Green not make Brown?! We do like to make things difficult for ourselves as a country sometimes, often not for the right reasons. Always enjoy a new Harry's Farm video. Cheers.
Thanks for that update Harry. Excellent explanation of Red Tractor too. 👍
Invariably these schemes such aw Red Tractor become laden with layer upon layer of civil servants, and of course once the gravy train starts its impossible to stop it
Bureaucrats love to Bureaucrat
Their job doesn’t involve looking at the overall big picture
To be clear, Red Tractor is an industry body and not part of Government.
Cheers Harry, thanks for the fab update, keep well.
Interesting again Harry. The view from the field without the drama and anger that can disguise the simple facts. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Harry - a brilliant watch.
Thank you, it's interesting to hear what it's like in the UK. We've had alot of rain also in Sweden since mid July, and it just keeps going with no end to it. Fortunately we aren't affected the worst but its the wettest year for a very long time. I'm sorry for all the administrative burden being piled on. We see this in the dairy industry too..
Thankyou for the report.
Thank you for the update.
Another great, we'll explained video. Thankyou.
Redlines on farming issues mean something more than reaching the end of the video. Many thanks.
Harry…thank you again for the insight on farming conditions and for explaining the Red Tractor scheme and how flawed it really is. You surely deserve some Government job to tell the people now in charge, just how stupid they are…words of one syllable are needed! Good luck in the Winter which might be a cold one as we have escaped that for many years recently.🤔🤔😬😬😬🙂🙂🙂🙂
There's me with long face 'cos it's raining when I walking to the car to drive home after work.Thank you Harry for giving me this insight. The "Red Tractor" caper is some thing I cannot comment on with any knowladge, however I can say most consumers have no idea how expensive "most things" would be if they were produced here in the U.K.
Mr Metcalfe,
Thank you again.
I hope you realise how important your farming programmes (I am a great fan of your motor car ones too) really are! Your good work might help to protect the people of the British Isles from hunger. We really do need some consideration for food security. Somebody needs to think about fuel for humans for a change!!
Harry, Great video as usual. I always look forward to your POV on farming matters. Regarding the red tractor rebellion, I was amused to see the still taken in your video (13m24s) showing page 6 of FW "Industry split over future of Red Tractor". However, the irony that on the bottom LH column of page 7 is an issue of a supplier passing off "free range chicken". This is an example of why Red Tractor traceability needs to exist to drive up quality in the food industry. In turn it should cause Red Tractor approved food stuffs to command a better price for those who want it. Maybe not the bottom line consumers but certainly where you want to market all your menu as Red Tractor produce.
Please keep posting.
The same issue the farmers here in germany fight with, struggleing with all these government papers, we are fed up as well.
Great video, Harry telling it like it is as usual. Bureaucrats need to listen more to farmers like Harry and less lunching with the 'green' lobby who have no foresight or practical experience in what they are meddling in.
Appropriately it started pissing down again as I was watching this! Seen plenty of partly flooded fields around my way. Over double the average October rainfall here 😮
Last week we reached the annual amount of rain in Denmark, and there’s still two months to go before the year ends. 2023 have been wet - very wet. 🌧🌧
The intro said it all 😂
Walking in the Paddy fields ...... 😮
Thanks for video and info very good all best from north of Inverness 😊
Great stuff Harry, the farmers realize where the Asylum is and who's running it.
Another interesting video Harry. As contractors we haven't turned a wheel in almost 3 weeks, paying salaries but no furlough scheme for the weather. The weather regularly creates a type of lockdown for agri related business. Hopefully there will be some unity on the RT debacle going forward. Good explanation of what RT is all about for your non farming viewers too.
"Harry's singing in the rain." ☔🎶
Thanks for the catch up. Hope it dries up for you mate
We're very moist in Suffolk. We have huge puddles in fields that have never had puddles in before and they're not draining 🤦♂️
Read "DIRT TO SOIL by GABE BROWN". You NEED multiple cover crops to build up the soil Harry and water carrying capacity Harry.
Here in Eastern Europe, we haven't had rain since 5th of September. Yesterday we had the first 20mm of rain for the last 2 months. Almost no cereals have come up yet.
Awful dry here in Queensland Australia, send us some of that rain please Harry!
"2023 is a very peculiar year for farmers..." Harry, the last couple of years have been very peculiar for everyone! Very peculiar indeed.
Crops looking great
well done to the British farmers , how could we the British public support you more , didn't know a thing about Red tractor
Very interesting, I don't envy you, you must be going mad with all this red tape, hope you farmer win your case. Bob
Thanks harry need more information like this government are out of touch with the hard reality of farming
Good luck for getting some sunshine ✌️
Maybe plant trees in the useless swampy area. Something wet-tolerant of course. 😀
P.S. Little tiny trees, so you'd have MILLIONS !
That’s already in the works for next year. Great minds etc..
Hope the farm survives this crazy rain.
I'm interested to see what kind of yields Harry will achieve with direct drilling. Anecdotal evidence from the farmers in Bucks is that the yield for direct drilling wheat is only one third what is achieved with old fashioned ploughing. The main reason being better drainage.
Did you notice a difference in water infiltration rate in the direct drilled area vs the area drilled with the harrow tine drill, or if puddles formed more in areas drilled with the Claydon or the JD drill?
Still chucking it down here in Bano!!
Wheat on the US western high plains has not had much rain in 2023. non irrigated is needing rain to germinate. The good thing is wheat may not be as cheap as it was 4 years ago! 130 mm rain would not fill our subsoil. We direct sow to save the water for the crop.
[11:15] So long as there's somewhere to drain it to, a few lengths of tile drainage ought to have some useful effect on that boggy field.
Please continue growing food Harry!
I look forward to HF updates so clicked "like" but obviously not that much to like down on the farm at the moment.
Looking back, the weather we've had is very similar to last year, record breaking hot spell temperatures, reservoirs low, water restrictions followed by one of the wettest Octobers on record and here we are again. Coincidence or the pattern of things to come? Hopefully not the latter.
I'll hold my hands up and say I wasn't even aware of the Red Tractor/Green Tractor scheme but it sounds like an ill-thought out load of rubbish, probably drawn up by a bunch of desk bound bureaucrats with limited knowledge of the real problems facing farmers here in the UK.
Very well put if I may say so.
Another great informative video, Harry, but there's one thing missing - where's Stanley? Not seen him for a while.
keep'm coming Harry 😊 excellent fodder
Didn't realise that red tractor was linked to everything. I do try to buy redtractor meat etc. when I'm given the choice but I didn't realise it was also part of bulk wheat etc. too crazy that it's not a premium. Good luck with everything!
great content keep it up !
Red tractor need to be kept in its box before they get too out of hand, they obviously have too much spare time.
It’s already too far gone. It’ll be difficult to get rid of it. The supermarkets promote the hell out of it. They really are the driving force behind it.
Well said re Red Tractor my hubby is always ranting about them . The woman that does his inspections absolutely rub him up the wrong way she is awful ! I have shared this to my FB to show my friends what hubby has to put up wit. You explained it so well !
How about planting rice in the apparent rice paddy area?
Canada here, not a farmer. Sorry. With that out of th way, local grocery store threw out expensive premium bread suppliers in favour of pita bread. Before that it was wheat flour tortillas they were pushing. Pita is overpriced, but still cheaper. Thanks for showing the new drilling, and all fields. it has begun snowing here in spots
Dear Harry Metcalfe
I follow Harry´Garage, but also with great interest Harry´s farm. I think both channels are serious and very well produced. I myself am a trained farmer and former Danish milk producer. I very much agree with your considerations about steak production in the UK. In some ways, your considerations also fit into Danish steak production.
I have a small but important question regarding Harry's Garage. Where is your fine Actic Rolls?
Once again, many thanks for your youtube channels.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ole Arnbak West Jutland, Denmark.
Partly good news, expect headline inflation to drop down to about 4.5%. That’s still double the Bank’s target and with wage inflation still up, rates are still unlikely to fall.
Just driven through the vast openness North of Adelaide in South Australia,every vast field is wheat.
Do they not do crop rotation in these vast open fields!
British farmers can’t compete!
Harry well done for using your platform to speak up against nonsense red tractor compliance rules. Can’t stress enough your point about imported produce not having to comply with the same traceability rules that UK produce does. Not to mention chemicals allowed.
I don't envy you, thanks for sharing.
What a fantastic update Harry . farmers just want a level playing field kick the Red Tractor out not needed
These ideas come from people that have to justify their jobs , I'm pretty sure most people have no idea that food from overseas could be mixed with red tractor qualified foodstuff. It's obviously pointless to have this traceability.
Have you considered rice as an option?
☀️☀️2022 anyone?
I guess we were somewhat lucky in Oxfordshire that we didn't get AS crazy an amount of rain as other areas, but we did get a Crazy amount anyway. Other farmers, as you've shown, haven't been as lucky. The recent storm went into Europe - and of course they've been hit by the same waves of wetter than average weather as we have.
Probably harder to see for "townies" - where I live in Chippy, we're up on a hill, so unless we go and have a walk in the low lying fields, it all looks fine - just a lot of rain falling for us and rolling away down the hill. If it ever floods here, it's the end of the world and we'll be shouting out for Noah to help us...
The Red Tractor thing, as a townie, but also as someone who lived as a resident on a farm for 5 years, it seems there's a constant meddling with farmers.
I recall my landlord often cursing as he told me about the red tape, the constant fiddling, the ridiculous level of rules and confusing ever changing landscape.
I'm old school, can't help thinking some of that land prone to standing water would have been better ploughed, for drainage. How many acres do you drill, and what is the cost of the JD Drill, all those extra £1000's of pounds would buy a lot of Diesel.
I occasionally put a subsoiler through but it was so wet prior to drilling this year I didn’t bother. I will make it a priority next year!
I use a contractor for all the drilling so I won’t be buying it but I was keen to try one, to see how it compares to the regular drill we use come harvest time
@@harrysfarmvids 👍👍
The greening on the Red Tractor is a classic case of remit creep to tick green boxes. "Oh, this sounds like a good idea"....Red Tractor needs to have a major rethink and go back to being a "Kite Mark" for animal welfare standards, industry standards with regard to storing chemicals, medicine, any waste, and produce etc in line with regulations.
Farmers like Harry should be advising the government
Since when have governments listened to people who actually do the expert work?