Showpiece

Farming can be a very public activity. A moment's inattention; a blocked seed drill; steering slightly off course; uneven application of fertilisers or pesticides; a corner of ill-prepared seedbed; these days, a mistake in setting the computer control systems. All of these can be highly visible, not for a day or a week, but for up to a year

Some fields offer a more public display than others, of course. It may only be your neighbouring farmer who teases you over the hedge. This, however, is the nightmare acre. Not just right beside the public road, but sloping upwards from the hedge line, layed out like an amphitheatre; you can't tell from the image, but the layout of the lane - a couple of gentle bends - presents this bank perfectly in the line of sight of every driver who passes - in a car or on a tractor

Every detail on show here suggests to me work done with meticulous care by someone who is well aware this is their shop window, or at least their party piece. Every row is ramrod straight; there are no breaks in the rows; care has been taken to ensure that the rows drilled across the field are contiguous, and fully overlap with those drilled around the edge - the headland. It is so easy to leave small triangles of unplanted soil: insignificant economically, but cause for comment on market day. The even, bright greenness of the crop, and the absence of any sparse patches due to slug damage (a common occurrence on slopes like this), speak of careful husbandry throughout, not just on drilling day

The farmer did not, of course, arrange for the picturesque flock of rooks that drew my eye in the first place, and made it worth stopping the car mid tip-trip. But I interpret even that as a good sign. At this time of year, I don't think they are looking for the seed that gave rise to the plant - that is long gone. Rather, I think they are hunting in the soil for insect larvae. This suggests that the soil retains insect life and a below-ground ecosystem, despite all the stresses that contemporary agriculture can put it under. Good show