January 2023 Well, the last few weeks have been exciting! A few weeks back I finished a 7yr stint managing a large veg and cereal operation in West Suffolk and am now taking a bit of time off to explore what direction I want to take myself and my little family next. Taking a bit …
Written By Sarah Hill and originally published by No-Till Farmer in the USA The combination of a 3-way crop rotation, covers and grazing is resulting in big savings by reducing the number of tillage passes, increasing yields and improving soil health. Pictured Above: SHORT GROWING SEASON. No-tiller Kurt Stiefvater has a very short fall season to get cover …
January 2023 French Style Harvest Since my last article in May harvest has been and gone (very quickly) and all the winter crops have been established and are looking well. This harvest it felt like we were farming in France. Most was done by the end of the first week in August and due to …
January 2023 As I write on this very wet December day (yes very last minute) it’s nice to look back on such a dry year. I wrote in June that the area looked the best it had ever looked, crops were full of potential, and for once they carried that into what was our record-breaking …
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 …
Written by Tony Gent It doesn’t work if just removing some elements of what you are doing now and leave others in is “OK I’m doing less”. A couple of articles caught my interest in the July additional of this magazine, first What’s Your Colour written by James Warne and Farmer Focus by Andrew Ward. …
Written by Thomas Gent It’s no secret that employing regenerative farming techniques – minimal soil disturbance, the use of cover crops and organic manures, applying carbon-rich fertilisers – both reduce the amount of farm-generated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and add to the amount of carbon stored in the soil. These GHG reductions and carbon storage …
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 …
DIRECT DRILLER MAGAZINE – AUTUMN 2022 Excellent results from the 2022 harvest, but what next? With the harvest safely gathered in Jeff Claydon, Suffolk arable farmer and inventor of the Opti-Till® direct strip seeding system, discusses the results and looks ahead to next season. ——————————————————————————————————————————— 18 August 2022 It has been a very strange year …
Excellent results from the 2022 harvest, but what next? Read More »
October 2022 Power Corrupts There are two occasions in my farming year that remind me of the anticipation and trepidation felt as a child when my exam results or end of term school report were received. The first is of course harvest, yields being the score card for the team effort of all involved in …
