There’s quiet confidence in farming at present, and it looks like there will be more money than normal available for investment. Andersons ‘Loam Farm’, their virtual 600ha of combinable crops, is forecast to have a business surplus of £840/ha (on an output value of £1966/ ha) this year compared with £573 in 2021 – but …
Getting a confession out the way. About a third of my meals are 100% vegan. But in balance, an evening dinner rarely doesn’t contain meat. I like to think this is normal. Nutritionally balanced. A healthy diet, that supports a healthy farming ecosystem of arable and livestock. What’s not to like about that? Well, everything …
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 …
With three trade shows coming in quick succession this year, LAMMA, Cereals and Groundswell, the question ofwhich colour you like your steel painted comes into focus once again. Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming Along with the rise of the Conservation Agriculture techniques being adopted on more and more farms across the UK, …
From Drought to Deluge I am sitting here today (May 24th) listening to Thunderstorms outside. In the last 6 days we have had around 50ml of rain which has been very appreciated. This time last week it was 26 degrees, and the crops were wilting and looking very drought stressed, amazing the difference a week …
It’s amazing how one book can change your life. For 2022 Nuffield Farming Scholar Emily Padfield, this one book was For the Love of Soil by Nicole Masters. Many describe having their ‘eureka’ moment whilst undertaking their Nuffield Scholarship. Although I am only at the start of my Nuffield journey (having undertaken only a few …
In the second part of Direct Driller’s series exploring sap analysis, Mike Abram finds out about the science behindnutrient use in plants Nutrients are vital for life but if they get out of balance it can cause either deficiencies or excesses that restrict plant productivity. Sap analysis is a tool to help growers understand the …
THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT Since the release of the Virkar Dynamic DC machine back in 2018 Virkar have continued to develop the Dynamic range with the addition of the Dynamic D and C and soon to be released DD machine. This now means we have 4 coulter options to go into the Dynamics frame. All …
Healthy soils, as the basis for healthy crops, livestock and ultimately the business, is fundamentalto readers of Direct Driller. Knowledge of soils, the relationship between soil physics, chemistry and biology and completing soil health assessments are principles that are often discussed in the pages of this magazine. Readers will then use the findings from analysis …
It’s an interesting time to be farming and, as readers of Direct Driller will appreciate, we all have important decisions to make about how we want to take our farms forward. The war currently raging in one of the world’s key breadbaskets is focussing a lot of minds on how agricultural policies should be reframed …
