Bateman Sprayers | News | Bycott Farm Diary | June 2026
Bycott Farm Diary: June 2026
So far, this season has been one to forget here at Bycott. We were almost into October before we could begin drilling, some two weeks behind schedule.
Ground conditions were marginal, but with the season moving on there was little option other than to keep going.
Once the crops emerged, the rain barely stopped and, looking back through the diary, it continued until around mid-March. We lost half the wheat acreage and half the barley acreage, the oats survived, but only just.
Anything that failed was replanted with spring oats during April ready for wholecrop this summer. We’ve recently planted winter bird food plots, headlands and field corners.
The contrast with last season could hardly be greater. In many ways, we have gone from one of the best harvests in the last twenty-five years to one of the most difficult seasons in recent memory. However, on a more positive note, grain prices are rising, albeit slowly.
As a regular visitor to the factory, I couldn’t help but be swept along with the excitement behind the launch of the new machines. I was lucky enough to take the new RB50 for a run up one of the lanes.
It’s over sixteen years since I stepped out of the cab of an RB35 VG and my previous spraying life. Driving the new machine, the difference compared to the older models is remarkable, the cab, screens and controls are a huge step forwards, yet despite all the upgrades it still feels unmistakably Bateman.
As Bateman is celebrating fifty years this year, it’s provided the opportunity to reflect on my long connection with the brand. One of my earliest memories of Bateman is visiting a winter agricultural show in Barnstaple during the late 1980s. I was eight years old and can still remember picking up the HiLo brochure and being fascinated by it.
Fast forward to 2002 and I drove an RB15 whilst working near Cambridge, before returning to Devon and driving an RB25 whilst contract spraying for the Bateman family on this very farm.
Which brings me nicely back to the farm and the rest of this season. Harvest will be what it will be. Our focus will then turn to regrouping ready for drilling on the 10th of September, that’s our target date, maybe this year nature will oblige.
Wishing you all the very best for your harvest.
Matthew Alford is our Agronomist, and has been working with us since 2019.
Before his current role with Agrii, Matthew gained extensive experience using Bateman Sprayers and spent 5 years contract spraying at Bycott Farm.