Dec 2023 – As we are all aware, this autumn has been especially wet. Although we are not a big farm and most probably, we have a drill capable of sowing twice our area, I would like to report that the principles of direct drilling and regenerative farming do work. We are all sown up …
Dec 2023 Like all farmers I am an eternal optimist and have decided to roll the dice again with another year of cropping. Things will be better next year? Hopefully! This autumn I think we have been lucky down in Kent. I didn’t start raining until the 12th of October and the soils were very …
This year’s numerous challenges continued into autumn on the Claydon family’s arable farm in Suffolk, writes Jeff Claydon, who invented the Opti-Till® direct strip seeding system. Date: 27 November 2023.      What a difference a year makes! I started my last article for Direct Driller, written on 29 August, by suggesting that further agronomic, meteorological, …
Dec 2023 This summer my eldest 2 children sat their A-Levels and GCSE exams. Both did very well and their grades have earned them places at their chosen University and sixth form to continue their studies. Last year I spent quite a few days taking Emma, my eldest, to University open days. It was fascinating …
Dec 2023 So it’s back down to earth with a bump this year. We have had a run of favourable summers that have helped us succeed with our direct drilling and progress with cover cropping across the farm. Essentially the harvests have been earlier and drier, allowing timely straw baling and cover crop establishment. However, …
Dec 2023 We have had a very busy few months since my last article, with non-farming activities sometimes compromising the day job of farming. The beans and mustard planted in the spring established well, and we also planted some home-made wild bird seed mix on the old stewardship plots. With a reduction in farmed area …
12m Eco XL Joe Adams farms 2200 acres between Daventry and West Hadden in Northamptonshire. Thrupp Farms Limited are in the 5th year of growing continuous wheat and took delivery of the 12 meter Dale Drill Eco XL in 2021. Joe explains the reasons for moving away from a traditional plough based system to using …
Dec 2023 I had an interesting experience last week when out crop walking on a glorious sunny afternoon. Was firstly walking through chest high flowering cover crops which were full of white, yellow and purple flowers, then moved into Oilseed rape crops dwarfed and semi hidden from view by a thick stand of berseem clover …
When it comes to growing cash crops, most farmers will spend plenty of time choosing the right varieties with traits that suit a farm’s physical and management characteristics. However, many growers are sold cover crops by species, with little or no additional information to demonstrate their suitability for different enterprises, soils or rotations. As one …
We ran the first in a series of Direct Driller days around cover crops, SFI options, agronomy decisions and compaction on the 21st September at TWB Farms in Staffordshire. It was a great day, with great local food provided by Untamed Grill. We plan to continue these series of days, some based on the trials …
