Substituting the plough, power harrow, sub-soiler and cultivator for a one-pass machine makes sense for any farm. Creating a soil environment which allows nature to do the hard work is, as we all know, beneficial to farm profitability, farming lives, greenhouse gas emissions, birds and bees. These benefits fit with the thinking of Defra minister …
We have featured articles on many different types of robots that will at some point influence the way we farm, but have the simple wins in the arable world have been ignored? Possibly because they don’t benefit the trade, maybe they are simply a bad idea or maybe a bit of both. However, if the …
Written by Dominic Amos, Crops Researcher at the Organic Research Centre As based on information found on Agricology (www.agricology.co.uk)Reducing tillage and chemical inputs can be beneficial for soil and the environment, so could a permanent clover understorey acting as a ‘living mulch’, moving towards a perennial soil cover, offer a practical solution to reducing inputs …
Written by Jon Williams from www.thesoilexpert.co.uk An old adage of farming practice we need to pay attention to with our management of our slurry and manures for the benefit of the environment and our farm business. With increasing attention focused on the environmental impact of food production methods currently in practice and the industrialisation of …
Do synthetic fertilisers and pesticides exacerbate pest and disease threats? A session at the Oxford Real Farming Conference looked at the science behind the claim Written by Mike Abram The use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers is increasingly under the microscope, driven mostly by its impact on the environment and as a major contributor to greenhouse …
Is the adoption of IPM (integrated pest management) a journey? A journey of change required to react to changing market demands; a journey of learning, stemming from wanting to do something different to protect natural Beneficial’s and predators; a journey to increasing profitability from the production of a crop grown to an IPM enhanced standard? …
Written by Tom Chapman, Head of Regenerative at Innovation for Agriculture How would we design agriculture now, in the 21st Century, if we were starting from scratch? What would we do differently, given what we know about regenerative agriculture and about farming with, not battling against, nature? Would we continue with the same cropping, the …
Watching the live feed from NASA last week as the rover ‘Perseverance’ touched down on Mars was a quite spectacular achievement. A planetary alignment, or confluence, of millions of externalities came together to achieve something marvellous, along with a generous helping of rigorous planning and attention to detail. Sometime a series of events can surprise …
Does Ploughing Fit In Regenerative Agriculture? Read More »
Gabe Brown often quotes his friend Don Campbell’s aphorism: ‘If you want to make small changes, change the way you do things. If you want to make major changes, then change the way you see things.’ This nutty little saying encapsulates so much wisdom, but it is much easier said than done. We all have …
I was kindly featured in the January 2020 issue of Direct Driller magazine under the Agricology umbrella which was really an overview of the farm, where we had come from and where we were now as regards to our predominately, although diversified, farming business. Being asked again for a contribution is a great opportunity to …
