What the weather is doing is very important to arable farmers. Over the last few years there has been a noticeable change in weather patterns. In the south of the UK, the fields are wet as you would expect in the winter however, it is much warmer. Ken Crowther asked Essex farmer Hugh Pegrum how this affected the crops.
A familiar sight across the Essex countryside is the fields of blue borage. With the drop in price of oil seed rape, borage is a good choice as a break crop for farmers who harvest it for its seed. The seeds are crushed and the oil extracted and used in pharmaceuticals, baby foods and cosmetics as farmer Hugh Pegrum told Ken Crowther.