Written by Chris Fellows Did you know we are currently in what is called the Fourth Agricultural Revolution? I’ve heard the phrase before, but I had to look up what the first three were. There is some variation, depending on what you read and where you live, but this is my summary of how the …
Written by Chris Fellows We certainly confused a few in the last issue with the title change. As you can see, we are back to normal now (see what we did there). But the point stands, regen agriculture is everywhere right now and Defra have made it more profitable than ever. Thus, every other publication …
Welcome to the 5th Anniversary issue of Direct Driller / Normal Farming magazine. When we started the magazine, we really didn’t know what to call it. We knew it should focus on soil health, reduced cultivation, conservation agriculture (remember when it was called that), sustainability, efficiency and profitability. Lots of good words and I’d hope …
Written by Chris Fellows We have recently taken part in an Innovate UK competition to try and encourage farmers to read from formal material. Trial results, papers, research, on-farm projects and so forth. The assumption being that farmers who are better informed, make better decisions and thus become more profitable or sustainable (or both hopefully). …
Chris Fellows reviews important research into this ignored gas which pollutes our atmosphere. Reducing tillage could result in less production of a potent greenhouse gas, according to a study out of Penn State University. Nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas,” is the most important greenhouse gas after methane and carbon dioxide and the biggest …
Does No-Till Means Less Nitrous Oxide in the Atmosphere? Read More »
Getting a confession out the way. About a third of my meals are 100% vegan. But in balance, an evening dinner rarely doesn’t contain meat. I like to think this is normal. Nutritionally balanced. A healthy diet, that supports a healthy farming ecosystem of arable and livestock. What’s not to like about that? Well, everything …
As executive editor of Direct Driller I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new sponsor Trinity AgTech and its founder and executive chairman Dr Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny. At the same time, give most sincere thanks to ProCam for their support and inspiration from the magazine’s first issue. Procam have been great from the …
Some people are born to be leaders, most just learn on the way. The latter seems to be how it works in farming. Our leaders are bred. Groomed though various roles to be the right mix of farmer and business we need to represent us. I’ve had the pleasure in meeting some of the spokespeople …
The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government or organisation has withstood a challenge of this percentage of their population or membership mobilised against it during a peak event. This rule is based on an insight that political scientist Mark Lichbach developed in his 1995 book “The Rebel’s Dilemma”. In it, he speculates …
There is so much talk about carbon at the moment, and there is no doubt that farmers will make some income by changing practices to sequester a bit more carbon. Buying HVO versions of Red Diesel is just an example of a way to do this. It costs you are little more to fill the …
