AUTUMN cometh and with it, the colder nights.
The leaves are starting to fall off the trees, while the squirrels and other wildlife are desperately looking for food to tide them through the coming winter.
Like the fruit trees in your garden, the wild fruit and acorns are in short supply this year due to the drought conditions at the beginning of 2012 and the extreme wet towards the end.
The weather affected our own harvest as well with yields of corn being at least 20 per cent down on previous years and the bushel weight down as well, sometimes desperately so.
Wheats come in three sorts; bread making, biscuit and feed for livestock.
The bushel weight of bread making quality wheat this year is poor and throughout the world drought or wet has taken its toll, so the price has risen.
This is good for the arable farmer – who has no control over the price as that is decided globally and by speculators – as it helps recoup some of the losses due to the low yields and quality but is bad for the livestock farmer as their feed costs have risen – indeed many, because of the wet land, have started using up their winter fodder already.
All this is bad for you and me as the price of meat and bread will rise in the supermarkets.
It would be nice to think that they could absorb some of this increase.
