richardbenson.com

THE BIG, ROUND wrapped packages that populate stubble fields in the summer have a curious hold on the imaginations of some artists. David Hockney paints them, and Marina Lewycka mentions them in her novel A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. Kevin can’t get enough; he says they are like abstract sculptures in the fields. They contain hay (cut grass used for feed in winter), silage (wet grass used for the same) or straw made from the stems of barley, wheat or oats. Straw is used for animal bedding or feed, or for insulating vegetables against frost in the winter. Fashions in shapes come and go. Big square ones are common now, and there are many different colours and kinds of wrap. Black wrap is losing favour because of crows; when the sun shines, crows see their reflection in the polythene and attack it, pecking holes that let in the water that rots the contents. Some people have resorted to painting patterns on them to break up the reflections•