Ten years ago The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association (PFLA) was formed by four farmers in the back room of a pub. Now, with more than 600 members and almost 2,000 consumer supporters, the organisation is looking ahead with confidence and excitement. Sara Gregson reports… The PFLA is a diverse and growing community of farmers, butchers, food …
If you are like us, then you don’t know where to start when it comes to other reading apart from farming magazines.However, there is so much information out there that can help us understand our businesses, farm better andunderstand the position of non-farmers. We have listed a few more books you might find interesting, challenge …
Welcome to another 100 pages of Direct Driller magazine. Pages that tell farmers so much about the mysteries of soil and the ways ingenious engineers and scientists have devised to handle it. This story has only recently become news. In recent years the world of media, politics and education have begun to grasp the story, …
As farmers, information is becoming very important to us. However, the ability to move information from one place to another is never easy. Thus, every platform we use requires us to add the information all over again. It’s something I point out to companies a lot, “that’s a great idea, but asking the farmer to …
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming “I don’t care what colour it is, what it looks like or it’s consistency, it’s lime, get it spread” were words quoted to me recently by an agronomist who clearly didn’t understand the basics of some simple chemistry. The above quote was part of a conversation about …
By Ralph Early (ralph@theethicalfoodie.co.uk) Part one of this two-part article on agricultural ethics set out a thesis which argued that the development of farming asan industrial activity during the 20th century, aided particularly by dynamic and commercially advantageous sciences and technologies, has brought us to a point where agriculture itself now presents a substantial threat …
Agricultural Ethics: Charting The Path To A Sustainable Future Read More »
Written by Chloe MacLaren As based on information found on Agricology (www.agricology.co.uk) Chloe MacLaren is an ecologist at Rothamsted Research exploring how we can design resilient, sustainable cropping systems. Her PhD focused specifically on weed management, but now she works more generally on how different crops and management practices can be combined to maximise both …
Jon Williams provides a fascinating insight into the development of chemical farming, the super-importance of calcium and magnesium, and the limitations of using PH as a guide to fertilising. He ends with a useful soil sampling suggestion At the end of the second World War there was rationing in the UK and the Government edict …
Why Agriculture Is A Practice And Not An Industry? Read More »
Written by the Soil Association A survey of 346 people interested in agroforestry reveals much greater support, information and payment certainty are needed for farmers and land managers to implement agroforestry in the UK. Planting trees on farms can boost farm productivity by 30%[i] and bring a range of benefits including improved soil health, carbon …
The Soil Farmer of the Year competition has been running now for the last five years and aims to find, promote andchampion those farmers who are putting soil health at the centre of their farm business management. This year thecompetition has been slightly challenging to run due to the COVID pandemic and the inability to …
