October 2025 So nice to be looking towards the 2026 cropping and putting 2025 behind us. I think that the ‘25 cropping will be remembered for all the wrong reasons for quite some time and it’s one we hope won’t be repeated! Can you believe that we are talking about next year’s cropping already? Where […]
Farmer Focus – Tim Parton Read More »
Ocotober 2025 It is a year since my last piece in Direct Driller and what a year it has been! On the back of a reasonably good previous financial year and with the prospect of BNG money hitting our bank account, we decided to spend over half a million pounds and invest in a new
Farmer Focus – Julian Gold Read More »
Ocotber 2025 I mentioned a couple of months ago that we’re dividing the farm into two so that my brother Paul and I can do our own things. It’s been an interesting year with some tricky weather, but pleasingly, we spent very little on any of the crops, so yields of 5 to 6 t/ha
Farmer Focus – John Cherry Read More »
I should begin with a declaration: I’m a fan of Groundswell. (I cheered the Cherry family when the event won the Food Innovation Award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards last December.) I’ve attended since it was little more than two blokes and a spaniel (OK, a few hundred people in year one), and over
Farmer Focus – Tom Martin Read More »
October 2025 I am sat here writing this and it’s raining; raining for what feels like the first time this autumn! But I am sat here content. Land work here in East Anglia is generally all up to date, and it’s finally a quieter week for most of the arable farming network. 2022 was the
Farmer Focus – Ben Martin Read More »
From the Field to Westminster: A Year That Changed Farming It’s been about 18 months since my last contribution to Direct Driller, and during that time, a lot has changed — both on my farm and in British agriculture. I’ve always tried to be open and honest in these pieces. They’re not polished PR, not
Farmer Focus – Clive Bailye Read More »
June 2025 I get asked a lot of questions about farming stuff, most of which I have no idea what the answer is. So I usually make something up that sounds right. However, I do suspect that there will always be an element of truth in whatever I say in those situations because after 40
Farmer Focus – John Pawsey Read More »
We were always told that rainfall was the limiting factor to yield in our part of the world, which is North Lincolnshire. We received 146mm of rain up to week 25 of the year, twothirds of this fell in the first six weeks. The annual average rainfall is 632mm, so we have received less than
Farmer Focus – Andrew Jackson Read More »
Since last harvest:• Oats bales• Rain• Budget and consequences• Our values• Winter• Concrete and tanks• Poor prices• From wet to four very dry months• Reunion and cereals• Purchase of a bowser• Where we are today• Harvest planning• Future outlook, basics good limecompost balance soil indices• Do less better! Assess priorities,given past week and budget.• Other
Farmer Focus – Tom Sewell Read More »
June 2025 It doesn’t seem possible, but it is 10 months since my last article. I was at that point concerned whether our late summer drilled Pollen and Nectar mixes would be good enough for the year ahead, and indeed while some were good, a few areas unfortunately looked poor. In late October I drilled
Farmer Focus – Philip Bradshaw Read More »
