The Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS) is best known for organising the Great Yorkshire Show each July but perhaps is lesser known for the work it does throughout the rest of the year. The new Yorkshire Farming Conference, taking place on Wednesday 28 January at the Great Yorkshire Showground, will help to change that. YAS is […]
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Phil Rowbottom, Woolley, West Yorkshire A Five-Year Journey into Direct Drilling It’s been five years now. Five years since we parked up the plough and put our faith in direct drilling. It’s a big leap of faith, I can tell you. You go from a nice, clean, ploughed field to drilling into what looks like
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A Farmer’s Reflections: Resilience in the Field and Pride in the Herd Angus Gowthorpe, Approach Farm, Riccall, York As we settle into 2026, it’s a natural time to reflect on the year that has just passed here at Approach Farm. 2025 tested our resilience, particularly on the arable side, but it also brought immense pride
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Farmer Focus: Resilience, Roots and Regeneration in North Yorkshire By James Pick, H. Sutton and Son Standing on the clifftops a few miles south of Filey, looking out over the North Sea, you quickly realise that farming here is as much about managing the elements as it is about managing the soil. I’m James Pick
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Written by George Hepburn and Olivia Bye from Aiva Fertilisers A simple topic made to be complex, carbon underlies the health and value of our soil ecosystems. Building reservoirs of carbon, and the variety of options available is where things become shrouded. The sliding scale of carbon begins at its simplest form, molasses. Components of
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Building soil health is one of the best ways to improve the resilience, profitability and sustainability of farming systems. The Soil & Water Health Day, organised in collaboration by Hutchinsons, the Ribble Rivers Trust and Mersey Rivers Trust, explored the practical steps farmers can take to improve soil health and protect watercourses, featuring in-field demonstrations
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Introduction: Three generations, thinking together The Gent family has been farming in South Lincolnshire for four generations, but while the mission of growing food remains the same, the world around has changed beyond recognition. The Gents have been practicing no-till farming on their 800-hectare family farm since 2008. Today they operate under the Gentle
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The much-awaited report from Minette Batters on farm profitability was released by Defra shortly before Christmas. Tom Allen-Stevens summarises what it means for soil pioneers. Building soil health at pace is central to improving the resilience and long-term profitability of English farming, according to the Farming Profitability Review led by Baroness Minette Batters. It calls
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Comprehensive evaluation at AMAZONE’s Wambergen Trials Centre has shown that drilling cover crops pays dividends in terms of establishment success and getting the best return on their investment. Establishing diverse cover crop mixes brings huge benefits to soil health. This multipronged approach improves soilstructure, enhances root formation, increases soil organic matter, provides pollinators with a
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Jan 2026 As I listen to Frank Sinatra whilst typing this, I’m reminded of the simpler days when farming was just farming: no phones, no computers and certainly no .gov website that does my absolute head in. I grew up on a farm that was run by my grandad and dad, a relationship that was
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