FARM ZONE
An advice, comment and opinion resource for the agricultural communityThe Windsor Framework: A Q&A
On Monday the UK government and the European Union announced The Windsor Framework, a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Bright Maize has put together a question-and-answer briefing pack to explain what the Protocol is, how it has impacted UK farmers, what is in...
ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes) – The Basics You Need to Know!
We are in the middle of a process of change that will have a major impact on almost every farmer in the United Kingdom over the next five years. What is it? The introduction of new systems for government support to farmers. In England, most payments will be made...
A REGENCY CHRISTMAS DINNER
Those worried about overindulging during the festive season might take solace from discovering the opulence of their forbears. Bright Maize takes a look at the culinary splendours enjoyed by some in the Regency period As Christmas comes around once more, it brings...
MAIZE SEED: THE MARKET AND OPTIONS FOR 2023
When a sales advisor tells you to place your maize seed order early, you will do well to heed the advice this year. The shortage of maize seed in 2022 – not least because of the 40% yield reduction experienced last year – is real. It is true that suppliers always like...
FIVE THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT MAIZE
It’s easy to forget what a remarkable plant maize is: a crop physically unlike any other whose history is as rich as it is surprising. This is a staple so important that it was once worshipped as a god - and yet it wouldn’t exist without human cultivation. There are...
GONZAGUE DE CARRÈRE: THE VIEW FROM MAS SEEDS
Renowned international seed company Mas Seeds has been developing and supplying maize to distributors and wholesalers for decades. But its acquisition of Bright Maize in 2018 brought with it a new challenge: selling directly to UK farmers. Gonzague de Carrère is Mas...
EDWARD GERALD STRUTT AND LORD RAYLEIGH’S FARMS
Lord Rayleigh’s Farms is known today as a successful farming and property company based on the Terling Estate, near Chelmsford, in Essex. It takes its name from the Barons Rayleigh, a title created for the Strutt family of Terling Place by George IV in 1821. The third...
BOOK REVIEW: WILLIAM SITWELL, EGGS OR ANARCHY. THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE MAN TASKED WITH THE IMPOSSIBLE: TO FEED A NATION AT WAR (Simon & Schuster, 2016)
Feeding the nation has more or less been taken for granted in the post war years; but that premise is now being challenged as pressure mounts on production, supply chains and retail prices. We thought it would be worth revisiting by way of this review the subject of a...
MAKING THE MOST OF GRASS
Why make the most of grass...? First and foremost, it’s a lucrative resource. As Charlie Dolphin writes in the introduction to our new grass seed brochure, grass is ‘the livestock farmer’s most sustainable, cost-effective feed’. There are other reasons too - it’s very...
FOOD PRICE INFLATION SET TO CONTINUE
Food inflation hasn't been going up this quickly for over a decade - and the worst is yet to come. A flurry of recent studies furnish some statistics. Consumer group Which? found that supermarket groceries in February this year were on average 3.14% more expensive...