Shropshire Farming Talk: When the rain suspends play and silage!
Whilst spending a very rare and much-needed hour relaxing on the sofa, on what turned out to be a rather uneventful Wednesday evening, I took the opportunity to start deliberating the various potential topics on which to base my ‘interesting article’, requested by Nerys for the latest Agri Advisor blog feature.
Being the most recent recruit to the Agri Advisor team, the pressure was on to make a ‘good impression’ and write a piece that gave my readers an insight into the ‘real me’, so it was time to pour a well-deserved glass of wine, brush up on my creative writing skills and put pen to paper!
I very quickly reached the conclusion (and the bottom of my glass!) that there were two very pressing matters taking priority over the week; Wimbledon and silage!
After reflecting further, I then realised that whilst tennis and silage are, of course, very different in their nature, they have overwhelming similarities. Both activities can typically go on for hours, and the success of both depend entirely on the weather!
Whilst at Wimbledon, thousands have flocked there this week to catch only a glimpse of tennis on Tuesday, before the rain suspended play, back at home in Wales, farmers across the country put in long hours and pray for the rain to hold off, to get in that much needed crop in preparation for their winter fodder.
For some of us, the weather plays a significant part in our day to day lives and determines what we do and when, but recently, and more widely across the world, we are all becoming far more aware of the dramatic effects of climate change.
In the UK, we are no strangers to experiencing extreme weather conditions and whilst at times we will all flock to the coast in droves to enjoy the spells of sunshine and high temperatures, we have come to realise that these long dry periods can very often be followed by heavy storms of torrential rain, flash flooding and electrical storms.
It is now commonplace for these extreme weather conditions to change from one day to the next and without any reflection whatsoever on the seasons.
At both ends of the extreme, whether it be too wet or too dry, the weather can have devastating effects for farmers.
So, in conclusion to my thoughts for the evening, whether you are praying for the weather to remain dry for the rest of the week to see in that crop, or whether you have tickets to ‘The Final’ on Centre Court, just take a moment to reflect and think about whether there are any ways in which you can make even the slightest change and help do your bit, in our global fight against climate change.
Sophie Davies, Associate CILEX Lawyer, Agri Advisor
