Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming “Feed the soil” is one of those phrases that sounds faintly virtuous, like taking a cardigan to the theatre or remembering to write thank-you letters. You hear it and think, yes, quite right, very sensible. Though what it actually involves, and why we’ve not been doing it …
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming Some of you may be aware that Steve has taken a small step back from running Soil First Farming in recent years. I have been left to steer the ship and try to keep the business true to its original aims. More recently, Paul has joined us, …
With harvest well under way in parts of the country we, once again, are thinking about autumn establishment. With commodity prices under pressure, and support measures falling away, what are you doing to cut cost and attempt to maintain profitability. Being a soil consultant, I am always going to argue that the soil is the …
Written by James Warne With zero-till the answer is probably never. The reason behind the question is that once again seed drills have been out in the field before the soil conditions are suitable. Putting seed into the ground and getting it to emerge consistently and evenly is all about seed to soil contact, and …
Unmoved stubbles can often be the driest land on the farm after heavy rainfall. Yet we are told that cultivation helps to dry land out. What are the factors that allow stubbles to move water downwards faster than cultivated ground? It’s now apparent that many cultivated soils are not draining recent deluges fast enough. Crops …
Slender Foxtail has put in its annual appearance with great vengeance this year. It’s that time of year where we all can see the results of each other labour’s. With wheat now out in ear, fields that are normally clean are showing the effects of the long & wet winter. Grass weeds are out in force, particularly Slender Foxtail AKA Blackgrass. The lack of herbicide activity and lack of conditions to get the applications on in a timely manner are showing. No doubt the mild wet autumn also played a part in reducing the longevity of herbicides.
As the daylength increases we are all now waking up from what feels like the mildest ‘winter’ and longest wet spell ever experienced (since the last one anyhow!). It feels like it started raining in July and we haven’t really had a respite since. Soils in most parts of the country have been permanently wet …
It is clear that the term ‘Regen ag’ is now becoming as confused and meaningless as ‘min-till’. The question of ‘what is Regen’ now happens with regular occurrence. Worryingly there now seems to be, in the UK at least, organisations who are keen to control the narrative and take ownership of the term regen for …
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming As we look around at the landscape in the early autumn we can see that some early drilled cover crops are now coming into flower. Those planted in late July after the first harvests of OSR or Barley will now have been in the ground for 6-8 …
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming Many years of looking at soil proves to me that cultivations never improve soil structure. They may help to overcome an immediate problem – like compaction. But they are only ever a short-term fix; and not a very good one, either. Cultivations always leave some sort of …
