Spring to-do list seems just as long in arable retirement

摘要

It has been a good spring to be retired from arable work. When the rained stopped at the end of March, I imagined what my "jobs to do" list would have looked like. There would have been a whole bunch of spring crops to get in (even some of my chalkland neighbours were only half drilled up after a good start in February.) The rest of the farm should have been well into its fertiliser programme, and agronomist Tod's sheaf of urgent spraying recommendations would have been visible from space.