I have been growing seed wheat for many years and there is always a need to walk the tramlines and check for contamination, especially with winter barley plants which have heads well above the still vegetative winter wheat.

We didn’t find many, but enough to disqualify the crop for the seed bonus. In a week or so we will go around and deal with the wild brome, but the window is wider there.

Last week our gluten free oats customers gave us an update on prospects for this specialist crop. It has become an important part of the crop mix with us and I was glad to hear that the demand for their product is increasing after a slight cut back in acreage last year.

The weather has delayed our spraying programme, but we have the most urgent crops of oilseed rape and the winter barley done for the moment.

I am disappointed with the efficacy of the pre-emergent spray on the beans. We got it out in perfect conditions and while there is some charlock in the field, I am more concerned with the bindweed.

If it gets out of control it can make harvesting an absolute nightmare as it did a few years ago, wrapping itself around the intake augur of the combine. We will treat it at the first opportunity.

May has given us what looks like good crops for first cut silage - with fine weather forecast we plan to cut at the end of this week, wilt for 24 hours and ensile it as quickly as we can. We have stuck with our system of making clamp silage.

It has meant replacing worn out concrete occasionally, putting in effluent channels and making sure they work properly by sending the silage effluent into the dirty water tank. But this is all standard and worthwhile to avoid the expense and heavy use of plastic in making big bale silage.

Last week I mentioned the visit I had from the Health & Safety Authority. This week I had a most unusual visitor from a European agency. I was told it was random, but on checking his identification papers he confirmed he was acting on behalf of Eurostat, the EU statistics agency.

He wanted to know did I own the field he indicated on the map. I said I did - he asked what crop was growing in it and if he could take a soil sample? I said fine and off he went.

I can only assume that this was in fact a check on either Teagasc or the Department of Agriculture by “Brussels”. The phrase “quis custodiet ipsos custodes” (who will guard the guards themselves) came to mind!