Dec 2023 – As we are all aware, this autumn has been especially wet. Although we are not a big farm and most probably, we have a drill capable of sowing twice our area, I would like to report that the principles of direct drilling and regenerative farming do work. We are all sown up …
Dec 2023 Like all farmers I am an eternal optimist and have decided to roll the dice again with another year of cropping. Things will be better next year? Hopefully! This autumn I think we have been lucky down in Kent. I didn’t start raining until the 12th of October and the soils were very …
Dec 2023 This summer my eldest 2 children sat their A-Levels and GCSE exams. Both did very well and their grades have earned them places at their chosen University and sixth form to continue their studies. Last year I spent quite a few days taking Emma, my eldest, to University open days. It was fascinating …
Dec 2023 So it’s back down to earth with a bump this year. We have had a run of favourable summers that have helped us succeed with our direct drilling and progress with cover cropping across the farm. Essentially the harvests have been earlier and drier, allowing timely straw baling and cover crop establishment. However, …
Dec 2023 We have had a very busy few months since my last article, with non-farming activities sometimes compromising the day job of farming. The beans and mustard planted in the spring established well, and we also planted some home-made wild bird seed mix on the old stewardship plots. With a reduction in farmed area …
Dec 2023 To Certify or Not to Certify, that is the Question I was fascinated by Helen Browning’s reply to the leading question in a session at this year’s Groundswell entitled, “Is it time to certify regenerative farming?” Given Helen’s position as Chief Executive of the Soil Association and her role as a board member …
Dec 2023 I had an interesting experience last week when out crop walking on a glorious sunny afternoon. Was firstly walking through chest high flowering cover crops which were full of white, yellow and purple flowers, then moved into Oilseed rape crops dwarfed and semi hidden from view by a thick stand of berseem clover …
How I think I can achieve scalable no till organic farming Nov 2023 In my opinion the Holy Grail of farming is to find a way both to use no till drilling methods and achieve a conventional farm level of yield with no artificial inputs. One sunny summer evening, this was something I was discussing …
Regen and Tech – Hand-in-Hand Written by Daniel Davies, Arable Division at Lower Pertwood Farm – Nov 2023 The concept of regenerative agriculture is continuing to gather momentum across the globe. To me, it is clear that technology is going to play a bigger part than ever in farming, as methods continue to change and …
Trials test the tech – December 2023 On-farm trials have always played a key role in exploring new tech, and helped Simon Beddows develop a new use for John Deere’s Harvest Lab. For the past30 years I have been a farm manager, firstly in Kent and latterly in South Oxfordshire. For 25 of those years, …
