by Ruth Kimber.

We have done the maize harvesting – this makes an excellent nutritious silage for the dairy cows. Our yield was down due to the hot dry summer, albeit maize doesn’t mind it hot, but it was even too much for it this year, just not enough rain to keep the plants growing.

We have just returned from a holiday in France – we have a friend who farms in the Loire Valley where we spent a few days. He grows all sorts of interesting things, haricot beans, red onion squash, but the main enterprise is maize for seed. It’s a very complicated process and involves a lot of planning between the growers. It’s important to avoid cross-pollination of varieties. When the plants flower, it is hoped that weather conditions will ensure the male plants pollinate the female plants at just the right time. After, the male flowers are cut off and discarded to prevent further pollination. Then the female flowers are cut off to prevent any cross-contamination with another variety. It is inspected regularly and if a crop has too many male flowers left, they have to be picked by hand – this is always the case as more male flowers can appear after the first cut has been done, involving lots of hands. Casual seasonal labour is short in France just like here in England.

The price paid depends on not only the quantity produced but the quality and germination results. This year the French maize seed farmers have suffered badly from the weather – the sun and wind have to be just right for pollination, and there were simply too many days of very hot sun. The yield, quality and most certainly the germination will be badly affected.
When the cobs are ready for harvest, a cob picker picks them mechanically, they then are fed into a conveyor which take them into a machine to stripe of the outer husk. In a good year most of the husks come off cleanly, however not always, so a group of people have to pull out the ones which are not clear of husks and send them round again. Paul and I did this for a couple of hours – it’s pretty intense as you can’t relax for a moment. After this, the clean cobs are sent off to the co-operative where they are dried, keeping each grower’s crop and variety separate. It really made us appreciate how much work and care goes into producing our maize seed. It is a costly crop to grow and with this year’s disappointing yields, I guess it will reflect in next year’s price to us, their customers.

Our friend, Yves had dairy cows, lovely looking Normandy cattle. However, he reluctantly decided to sell the dairy as the price he was getting, just like here, was not enough to pay the bills. He was telling us that by the end of the year France will have not enough milk for the home market. Our milk price is much better now, but not enough to halt the exodus of still more dairy farmers. With rising prices of inputs, the margins are still tight.
When we returned it was lovely to see our cows out grazing and the turkeys enjoying the autumn sun. Our order book is open for Christmas, and it looks like whatever else happens, people are determined to have a good Christmas meal.
n Kimbers Farm Shop, The Kitchen at Kimbers, Somerset Trading Barn; Linley Farm Charlton Musgrove BA9 8HD Phone: 01963 33177; www.kimbersfarmshop.co.uk info@kimbersfarmshop.co.uk; opening times Tuesday-Friday 8.30am-5pm; Saturday 9.30-4pm.