A Bury St Edmunds farmer is celebrating the success of one of his more unusual crops.
Edward Vipond, farm manager at Troston Farms, is growing a sizeable number of sunflowers - 60ha in total - and is due to harvest them soon.
He has found the crop - which is grown on a commercial basis and sold into the bird seed market - has been very reliable.
He is exploring other markets such as sunflower oil - seeing the crop as a low-risk alternative for the business.
"We are a commercially-focused birdseed producer," he said. "So far they are good. Last year was an extreme year for everything.
"But they are full of potential. Last year's were OK - even with extreme drought.
"We have grown them for five years. At the moment they are for mixes for environmental feeders for other farms."
The estate is owned by Cathrina Claas-Muehlhaeuser who heads up family-owned German farm machinery makers CLAAS.
The farm has been in the family for many years and is not far from CLAAS's huge UK headquarters off the A14 at Saxham.
In 2021, Edward was crowned Farmer of the Year by Farmers' Weekly.
He was praised for his huge commitment to the 1,500ha arable operation, and consistent performance of crop yields for the farm's wheat, barley, rye, beans, sunflowers and maize.
He joined the business eight years ago and changed its rotations - removing oilseed rape, sugar beet and forage rye from his light land and replaced them with sunflowers and milling rye to reduce risk.
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