Fen Peas

As you can see peas are growing well, and quickly at the moment. These are our first drilled crops which are growing well enough to keep the pigeons at bay currently! That said pigeons are getting at the recently drilled crops. Novella drilled a couple of weeks ago are begining to emerge, which is quick, given that we haven't had very high temperatures. The drills are now hard at work in Holbeach Marsh drilling into good conditions. As you approach the end of April people start to ask about the start date for harvesting. Looking at the early peas, and the fact that a lot of Oilseed Rape is in good flower, I think it will be the middle of June. However, anything can happen between now and then. The Assured Produce scheme is now causing problems. It started out as a means by which the Growers could be indepentently audited to prove that the food they were producing was safe, and complied with various crop protocols. Some years down the road it is become far too onerous and moved away from its original core values. Growers are now having to confirm and fulfill obligations that are covered by other auditing procedures. In these harsh economic times the last thing the Growers need is additional work and cost, which ultimately leads to an increase in crop production costs. Let's hope common sense can prevail!