Building Profit and Resilience from the Ground Up
Soil health cuts costs dramatically
Featured Farmer
Farmer Focus – Stephen Temple
Mar 2026 Copys Green Farm, North Norfolk – 223 hectares, sandy loam over chalk with flint, pH averages 8, annual rainfall 600 mm. Our family have been farming in Wighton since 1912, but I only started in 2005 after the death of my father. After university, I was at the Scottish Institute of Agricultural Engineering, …
Featured Farmer – Frederik Larsen
Writing this article (while the season is coming to a close in the midst of a 30C heatwave) is the perfect opportunity to reflect on yet another exciting year of arable farming. I’m usually idealistic on which directions to take my farm and arable clients, always striving towards ambitious goals. However, for each new season …
Covering Soils – Scotland
We ran our first Direct Driller Covering Soils event in Scotland in May 2024. The day was based around how Neil White (our Farmer Focus) writer runs his farm. The products and services Neil uses and the approaches he takes. It was a great day, with great local food. We plan to continue these series …
Featured Farmer – Harry Heath
Arable & Pig Producer – Newport Shropshire 200ha Owned (Wheat / Barley / OSR / Sunflowers / Beans) 350ha Contracting 100 Sow Indoor/Outdoor Herd Our arable business has always traditionally been a poor relation to the livestock enterprise. It has however dutifully had the important task of growing combinable crops to feed the hungry mouths …
Featured Farmer – John Farrington
Farm Facts245 Ha plus 40 Ha WoodlandArable, Sheep and DiversificationCrops: Wheat OSR Oats Maize Spring Beans MiscanthusRainfall: 850-900mm average. Last 3 years 1200mm.Soils: Sandy Loam, “Hungry” Soil, Low CEC and Low OM In the time I have been a reader of Direct Driller Magazine, I have learnt a lot from the magazine’s content. While at …
Featured Farmer – John Farrington
Farm Facts 245 Ha plus 40 Ha Woodland Arable, Sheep and Diversification Crops: Wheat OSR Oats Maize Spring Beans Miscanthus Rainfall: 850-900mm average. Last 3 years 1200mm. Soils: Sandy Loam, “Hungry” Soil, Low CEC and Low OM In the time I have been a reader of Direct Driller Magazine, I have learnt a lot from …
Featured Farmer – Philip Rowbottom
Philip Rowbottom, is a 3rd generation farmer arable farmer from West Yorkshire. Some of you may know him as @golfnshoot on Twitter, so it may not surprise you to learn he also owns Woolley Park Golf club and represents team GB in Clay shooting. Here he explains his transition over to Direct Drilling from a …
Featured Farmer – Philip Bradshaw
I farm in partnership with my wife Jayne, in the Cambridgeshire Fens near Peterborough. We started farming together in 1989 when I left the family farm having gained our first tenancy on an 33ha County Council Farm. It is staggering to think that we equipped the farm for less than £10000, including a 15-yearold combine …
Featured Farmer – Julian Gold
• Julian Gold is farm manager of 800 hectares of Hendred Estate in Oxfordshire on the edge of the Berkshire Downs. The farm typically has a high pH (8.2) silty clay loam over chalk soil and a 6-year rotation of oil seed rape (OSR), winter wheat, spring barley, spring or winter beans, winter wheat, winter …