The question we hear from farmers at this time of year is some version of “Where is this all heading?” This autumn it feels louder than usual.
You only have to look at what farmers have been talking about these past few weeks. Up in Scotland, a suggestion that future farm payments could be tied to formal training landed about as well as you would expect, with men and women who have farmed for 40 years asking why they should sit in a classroom to prove it, and a smaller camp wondering whether any trade that takes public money can really refuse to show its workings.
Both halves have a point, which is usually the sign of an argument worth having. In the week SFI “launched” in late September, our own Farmer Happiness Index showed the biggest fall we have ever registered. Hardly a surprise, but proof that governmental decisions do materially affect farmers’ mental health.
Elsewhere, the week’s news told its own story about the direction of travel. Smithfield Tractors called time on 30 years as a John Deere dealer, which is the sort of quiet change that says more about where the machinery trade is going than any press release. And once again, the question of who actually benefits from farmers’ own information was being chewed over, as the food industry was told to turn that data into action. If you have read Direct Driller for any length of time, you will know it is a question we keep coming back to, because the answer still is not settled and little in the way of payments for this information is flowing.
None of this stands still, and neither do we. Which brings me to a change here at Direct Driller that I want to explain properly, farmer to farmer.
For nearly 10 years we have posted Direct Driller out to farmers for nothing and put every issue online for free as well. We would love to carry on doing both, but the printing and the postage have to be paid for (they have tripled since we started), and until now that has come entirely from our advertisers and sponsor. I had to double-check this, but a Royal Mail 1st Class Large Letter 500g stamp costs £3.60 these days. To keep the printed magazine going, we are asking the farmers who want it on paper to help cover the cost of it.
From the next issue, a printed copy of Direct Driller will cost £6.25, billed yearly as a single £25 payment. That is four issues posted to your door – in January, April, July and October – of around 100 pages each of no-till, soil health, cover crops, machinery, tech and real results from real farms. This issue is the last one we will post out free. If you want to carry on getting the paper copy, you will need to subscribe before the next one goes to print.
Now the important part, so nobody is caught out. The online magazine is not changing, and it stays completely free. Everyone currently on our print list will be moved automatically to a free digital subscription, so you keep getting every issue online without lifting a finger. You only need to do something if you want the printed magazine to keep arriving in the post. If you are happy reading on a screen, or you are abroad, there is nothing to do and nothing to pay. The £25 only covers printing a magazine and putting it in the post, so it is UK addresses only.
Signing up takes a couple of minutes. Scan the QR code on this page with your phone, or head to the shop at directdriller.com and log in. If you are on The Farming Forum, it is the same account and the same password. Your name and address are already on file, so there is nothing to type in. Pick the print option, pay the £25, and you are sorted for the year. This same portal is where you will also change your address going forward.
Everyone on our list will also get an email over the coming weeks with step-by-step instructions, so you will not have to work it out from scratch. And if you have supported Direct Driller as a patron over the past year, thank you. You will receive a code giving you your first year of print free – our way of saying thanks for backing us when it was pay-what-you-like.
We know £25 is not nothing, and some of you will decide the free online version does the job. That is fair enough. For those who like the paper on the kitchen table or in the cab, it works out at about 48p a week to keep it coming. Missed a few issues over the years? Back copies are available from Farm Marketplace if you want to fill the gaps.
Any questions, drop us a line at [email protected] or give us a ring on 01543 396 770. As ever, thank you for reading, and for coming along with us. We are never quite doing it right yet, and that, as I have said before, is rather the point.