Fertiliser prices have fallen in the last month, but they have a long way to go yet before it makes economic sense for drystock farmers like myself to return to even our modest usage levels of two years ago.

The entire farm has been soil tested twice in the last three years to monitor the effects of the lime that was spread, and the reduction in P and K usage. Every effort will be made to maintain optimum pH, P and K levels, but economics can’t be ignored either.

Meanwhile, In the discussions about CAP reform, the EU Commission said there would be fewer on-farm inspections.

Many farmers wrongly thought this would mean fewer inspections in total, but what we will see are more remote inspections and desk-top inspections.

The level of detail available from the satellite imagery used by the Department of Agriculture is incredible, and when combined with computerised inspections, it is obvious that we will be spending more, and not less time, with planners and in our farm offices.

Few farmers like to spend too much time in the office, but it is becoming increasingly important to be on top of the admin side of running the farm. Falling behind with paperwork can be a nightmare to catch up on.

Up until last year I used one of the main farm packages to prepare my financial accounts for my accountant. The move from filing entries into paper ledgers to entering details into the accounts section of the farm package was a huge leap forward.

For the last year, however, I changed to using an app on my phone, instead of an accounting package on my lap-top.

This has made keeping invoices, bills and statements up-to-date really simple and accessible. When my accountant first suggested the app I was unsure, but I quickly realised that anyone who can take and send a photo with their phone is fully trained!

There’s much about smart phones that annoys me. People continuously look at them, and there seems to be little etiquette around their use at official meetings or in company.

But they have many important uses, and have become a vital tool for farmers.

Whenever an invoice or statement arrives in the post, it can be filed and accessed by my accountant, as quickly as it takes me to photograph and send it.

Using the app to minimise the time required to get the financial information to my accountant has greatly reduced the stress involved, and by mid-January all the figures were in his office without the need for a big box of invoices.

It is nice to head into lambing and calving knowing that job is up to date.

Over the next few months there will be plenty of time spent in the office dealing with the new CAP schemes and putting the final plans in place for crop rotations and stock numbers. Having the most up-to-date financial and cash-flow data will be important in the decision-making process.

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Angus Woods is a drystock farmer in Co Wicklow