A low input, grass-based approach to sheep and dairy farming is producing delicious food and benefitting the soil and wildlife on two Pasture for Life farms. Former Pasture for Life director Sara Gregson paid them a visit Sheep farming in Kent Fidelity Weston has run her family’s 82-hectare mixed farm near Sevenoaks since the early […]
Pasture farming boosts soil health and biodiversity Read More »
Over a thousand attend Agroforestry Show after record-breaking drought A “growing movement” is recognising that trees can offer farm resilience and business opportunities in the face of extreme weather with more than a thousand people joining the Agroforestry Show. The Soil Association and Woodland Trust event brought farmers, foresters and environmentalists together at Woodoaks Farm
“Growing movement” of farmers seek benefits of trees Read More »
No one can attend or probably even watch the replays of all the Groundswell Sessions. That’s what Mike Abram’s new Substack newsletter The Regenerative Farmer is promising to help with, but first Mike explains why he started the newsletter Change is coming. “It’s made farming exciting again.” Over and over that’s the phrase I’m hearing
The Groundswell Sessions Read More »
By Ben Foster, RHIZA Product Manager Rotations are changing, and farm management systems need to change with them to help farmers manage their data effectively. According to the latest DEFRA figures on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) actions uptake, there are 32,200 active SFI agreements, taking 3.4% of England’s utilised agricultural area out of food
New Updates for Agrii’s Contour Platform Help Manage SFI Changes to Rotations Read More »
Jason Pole, AHDB Technical Content Manager, explains how knowing what makes the ergot pathogen tick can help target management to reduce disease pressure, limit crop infection and keep clean grain clean. Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) grows in and replaces grain with its own fungal tissues, which eventually form a hard, purple-black sclerotium (with a white interior) known
The four weaknesses of ergot Read More »
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming Some of you may be aware that Steve has taken a small step back from running Soil First Farming in recent years. I have been left to steer the ship and try to keep the business true to its original aims. More recently, Paul has joined us,
An Inversion Conversion? Read More »
Based on a paper by Dr Gareth Thomas et al., Rothamsted Research, University of Exeter and University of Warwick — adapted for Direct Driller readers Across the UK, farmers are dealing with one of the most stubborn and costly fungal problems in modern agriculture: Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. This soilborne disease causes white mould and stem rot
The Fungus That Fights Back: Harnessing Soil Biology to Tackle Crop Disease 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 »
By Donna Harvey-Bailye For as long as I can remember, I’ve been happiest with soil under my nails and a design plan in my head. Gardening has always been my creative outlet; a place where I can paint with plants, sculpt with texture and choreograph the seasons. My large farmhouse garden in Staffordshire has long
When Farming Meets Gardening: How Regeneration Took Root in My Garden Read More »
By Dan Crummett from No-Till farmer USA Takeaways Big changes are under way in the soil testing industry as digital technology demonstrates the importance of viewing farm fields as a living system — requiring more than a yearly grocery list of plant nutrients. No-tillers and strip-tillers take soil biology seriously and many of them are looking beyond
How Soil Testing is Evolving into ‘Predictive Agronomy’ Read More »
