Creating a simple, low input system that produces nutrient dense food with a low environmental and economic cost is the ultimate goal for one Borders grower, as part of his aim to move towards a net zero future. David Fuller-Shapcott is a multi-award winning fourth generation farmer, operating a mixed arable and livestock farm across …
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 …
In the realm of sustainable agriculture, the significance of soil biology in crop nutrition cannot be overstated. Soil is not just dirt; it is a dynamic living matrix that acts as the foundation for plant growth, serving as a reservoir for essential nutrients, water, and providing a habitat for a myriad of diverse microorganisms. The …
Exploring Soil Biology’s Pivotal Role in Agriculture and Sustainability Read More »
April 2023 As this magazine is entitled Direct Driller I’ll start off with a couple of drill comments. The CO4 has had a set of replacement Dutch 2” tips fitted as the first set had worn very thin in places and changing the odd failed one resulted in uneven depth across the drill. I’d deliberated …
Written by Jeff Claydon April 2023 Issue Spring is the ideal time to check your soils and consider how to improve them, says Jeff Claydon, Suffolk arable farmer and inventor of the Claydon Opti-Till® direct strip seeding system. Spring is an excellent time to focus on soil health and how to improve it, because regardless …
Growing from a single 150 acre farm to 1400 owned hectares in 12 units across north Wiltshire and south Gloucestershire over the past seven years, Malmesbury-basedCP Farming is taking a fully-integrated, three-pronged approach to sustainability. Under the guidance of innovative young manager and NFU Student and Young Farmer Ambassador, Mike Wilkins, the current 900ha of …
Fully-integrated Wiltshire approach to sustainable farming Read More »
Written by Rosalind Platt, managing director of UK leaders in crop nutrition, BFS Fertiliser Services. BFS is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Foliar nitrogen fertiliser treatments later in the season can dramatically reduce the total amount of nitrogen needed while maintaining or increasing crop yields. The recent turmoil in the fertiliser market has …
Steve Holloway puts the case for biology and foliar KSM – potassium solubilising microbes – for a more natural supply of phosphate and a way of reducing the fertiliser bill. For a generation, farmers have taken their most valuable resource for granted, often considering it to be simple dirt. The focus has been on force-feeding …
In the final part of our series on sap analysis, Mike Abram talks to a farming business that’s incorporated sap analysis into a wide range of cropping Extensive sap analysis, first in trials, but increasingly in commercial practice is starting to change the way Cambs Farms Growers, part of G’s Growers, is managing its wide …
Sap analysis proving valuable for large, diverse farming business Read More »
Home-made compost, massively reduced tillage and determined cover cropping have been central to the single-minded drive to improve the arable sustainability of the Green Horizons Network farm at Salford Lodge, Pitchill just outside Evesham over the past decade. A combination of challenging silty clay land contract-farmed with heavy kit for many years and lighter sandy …
Soil-Centred Worcestershire Sustainability Drive Read More »
