Welcome to the 5th Anniversary issue of Direct Driller / Normal Farming magazine. When we started the magazine, we really didn’t know what to call it. We knew it should focus on soil health, reduced cultivation, conservation agriculture (remember when it was called that), sustainability, efficiency and profitability. Lots of good words and I’d hope …
Written by Emma Adams on behalf of The Farm Carbon Toolkit The second in our series of farm walks was with David Miller in Hampshire. This year’s Arable Soil Farmer of the Year, David is keen to demonstrate how a regenerative system can be both simple and profitable even on challenging soils. Managing 700ha of …
Arable Soil Farmer of the Year – A farm walk with David Miller Read More »
January 2023 It’s certainly been an odd year. The hot and dry summer made for an easy harvest, but our spring crops were very poor with the slow, or even non-existent start, that most of them had. I’m sure I was whinging about this in the June edition. We didn’t even plant a lot of …
Last week I was at an event where inspiring farmers – in this case Nick Down, David Miller, and Nik Renison – showcased, with the pictures to prove it, some of the brilliant innovations they have pioneered on their farms. And they really were inspiring, with a palpable buzz in the full-house audience as they …
I ended my previous article noting the challenges ahead, but with some optimism for the season, and the forthcoming harvest. However, I had underestimated how exciting it was to get, and how much volatility we would come to enjoy! Our crops continued to look well through the spring and early summer. The spring beans established …
Always start with why…? Four years ago, John Cherry and I were having an enlightened conversation while seated around his kitchen table discussing the future of agronomy. This was several years after John and his brother Paul along with Paul’s son Alex, had founded the Groundswell Conference in Hertfordshire. Attending Groundswell, meeting Frederic Thomas, being …
Farmers and growers flocked to the sixth annual Groundswell, the UK’s largest regenerative agricultural show in lateJune this year. It was another sell-out event with 5,500 attendees who travelled to North Hertfordshire for two days ofinformation exchange, inspiration and a bit of liquid refreshment during the worst drought since 1976. Written by Alex Cherry With …
Transitioning to more regenerative regimes hasn’t been entirely plain sailing for three growers with very different soils and situations who shared their experiences at a packed Agrii Green Horizons seminar at this year’s Groundswell. However, they have all found their journey over the past 6-8 years very positive and are increasingly profiting from moving less …
Transition Experiences Give Groundswell Guidance Read More »
October 2022 Many farmers have been surprised at their yields this year, the starting point must have been a kind autumn and winter, but it appears that sunlight in June contributes more to yield than we thought and rainfall to the beginning of harvest (6 months), was 207mm, could be of less importance. Like the …
Some people are born to be leaders, most just learn on the way. The latter seems to be how it works in farming. Our leaders are bred. Groomed though various roles to be the right mix of farmer and business we need to represent us. I’ve had the pleasure in meeting some of the spokespeople …
