Author name: Mike Donovan

Introduction – Issue 18

There’s quiet confidence in farming at present, and it looks like there will be more money than normal available for investment. Andersons ‘Loam Farm’, their virtual 600ha of combinable crops, is forecast to have a business surplus of £840/ha (on an output value of £1966/ ha) this year compared with £573 in 2021 – but …

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Introduction – Issue 16

Farming is not the only industry to face tsunami-sized variations in product prices and input costs. Think airlines, oil, retail, manufacturing, restaurants, hair dressers, theatres… I recently had a very interesting conversation with a very senior oil man who explained the hugely difficult and expensive process of shutting down a refinery and the equal cost …

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Knowledge Transfer

Despite the pandemic and the likely economic crises in its wake, people continue to experience a growing anxiety concerning greenhouse gases (GHG) and climate change, which extends to include farms and food production. While farming, and the process of photosynthesis, is one of the few ways of reducing CO2, livestock production and soil cultivation release …

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Introduction – Issue 13

Substituting the plough, power harrow, sub-soiler and cultivator for a one-pass machine makes sense for any farm. Creating a soil environment which allows nature to do the hard work is, as we all know, beneficial to farm profitability, farming lives, greenhouse gas emissions, birds and bees. These benefits fit with the thinking of Defra minister …

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Introduction – Issue 10

We, the readers of Direct Driller, need to give a huge round of applause to Clive and Chris, the energy behind this magazine, together with all the contributors to this issue. The contents is truly awe-inspiring, and the knowledge it contains colossal. It’s impossible to pick individual articles because that relegates the others, and it …

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Introduction – Issue 9

No-till farmers are increasingly seeing grass as a useful arable break crop. The mat of grass roots created by No-till provides a fertile top layer of soil for the cash crop, which also benefits from the deep rooting pasture species. Grass builds soil structure and fertility, and also provides a useful income. Hence our cover …

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