If ever there was a year to highlight the need for flexibility and the adoption of as many cultural controls as possible to manage weeds and diseases in winter wheat crops, this is it! The relatively mild and dry early winter led to comparatively forward stands in February. This was followed by an excessively wet …
Testing season highlights the need for well managed cultural controls Read More »
Written by Dick Neale from Hutchinsons It’s all about the soil – this is now a well understand driver of sustainable farming systems. Being in a position to reduce inputs, change cultivation techniques or understand how cover or catch crops might benefit the soil, has to start with the soil, its condition and improvements required. …
Growing from a single 150 acre farm to 1400 owned hectares in 12 units across north Wiltshire and south Gloucestershire over the past seven years, Malmesbury-basedCP Farming is taking a fully-integrated, three-pronged approach to sustainability. Under the guidance of innovative young manager and NFU Student and Young Farmer Ambassador, Mike Wilkins, the current 900ha of …
Fully-integrated Wiltshire approach to sustainable farming Read More »
Written by Rosalind Platt, managing director of UK leaders in crop nutrition, BFS Fertiliser Services. BFS is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Foliar nitrogen fertiliser treatments later in the season can dramatically reduce the total amount of nitrogen needed while maintaining or increasing crop yields. The recent turmoil in the fertiliser market has …
Healthy soil … what does that actually mean? Written by Dick Neale from Hutchinsons Hutchinsons launched its Healthy Soils Assessment service in 2016. Since then the overall understanding of what goes into making a soil healthy has increased massively. Shared knowledge, research, observation, plus a clear increase in grower interest have all combined to accelerate …
Written by Steve Hollaway, Soil Fertility Services Ask anyone to define healthy soil and you will get a multitude of varying replies that will probably include having a good number of worms; friable soil with a texture that’s similar to chocolate cake; unhindered vigorous crop rooting and so on… But, have you considered what must …
Always start with why…? Four years ago, John Cherry and I were having an enlightened conversation while seated around his kitchen table discussing the future of agronomy. This was several years after John and his brother Paul along with Paul’s son Alex, had founded the Groundswell Conference in Hertfordshire. Attending Groundswell, meeting Frederic Thomas, being …
MULTI-YEAR SOIL HEALTH STUD MEASURING DIFFERENCES IN NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY Summary Over the past several years, agricultural industries have been focused on the Nitrogen(N) portion for improving soil and plant efficiency. However, we cannot forget the importance of the remaining primary, secondary, and micronutrients. This research report highlights how L-CBF not only capitalizes on N use …
Transitioning to more regenerative regimes hasn’t been entirely plain sailing for three growers with very different soils and situations who shared their experiences at a packed Agrii Green Horizons seminar at this year’s Groundswell. However, they have all found their journey over the past 6-8 years very positive and are increasingly profiting from moving less …
Transition Experiences Give Groundswell Guidance Read More »
By Richard Harding, ProCam – all views are my own It was very refreshing to read Adam Driver’s Farmer Focus article in issue 10 of Direct Driller. In this update, Adam echoed many of the thoughts I’ve held since I began my agricultural studies. It seemed then, as it does now, that our constant desire …
Breaking The Cycle With Groundswell Agronomy: The Future Of Agronomy Reimagined Read More »
