When do we expect the new magazine issue 2 through the post ?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Direct Driller Magazine
Direct Driller is a new farming magazine, designed by farmers for farmers to educate and inform the industry about no-till techniques
Written by Jerry Alford from the Soil Association
There has recently been a lot of interest in the potential of organic no-till and it has been described by some as the holy grail of organic arable farming. It is also something that is of interest to non-organic farms because of the potential to reduce inputs, particularly on less profitable break crops.
Organic arable farming systems have always been built around the use of cover crops, diverse rotations and animals. Building fertility...
Editor Mike Donovan interprets a vital study on soil run-off from Finland
Nutrient and soil run-off to water courses is a major concern in Finland, with land in the southwest of major concern. For more than 20 years farmers in the region have been involved in many efforts to reduce the problem. These have included the use of buffer strips which will physically hold back run-off and encourage the water to soak away.
Fertiliser restrictions have been another measure, but all have not been...
Thank you once again to the people who put this together.
May I ask a couple of questions?
In Issue 10, why does it say "Anger & Frustration" on the cover?
And in issue 11, I'd love to have some more detail on Tim Parton's Johnson-Su Bioreactor. What's the "tea bag" made out of, and how does he apply the liquid?
Many thanks,
NP.
Farming What Needs To Change
Mike Donovan reviews the seminal Hugh Bunting Memorial Lecture given by Professor Amir Kassam titled The Future of Farming: What needs to Change?
The audience learned that, in the opinion of the professor at any rate, it was quite a lot. His concern is that agriculture has moved dangerously off course onto a path of declining productivity, and at the same time has negative impacts both ecologically and socially.
His concern reached tipping point in 2011 when...
MIKE DONOVAN
Welcome to Direct Driller, the UK’s first magazine devoted to no-till. Farmers worldwide are learning and taking up the techniques of direct drilling and no-till, and I am delighted to asked to edit this knowledge based publication focussed on techniques and practice.
My fascination in direct drilling was cemented in 2012 by a YouTube video ‘Undercover Farmers’, 28 inspirational minutes. It shows how regular farmers have changed to natural soil regeneration through cover...
Benchmarking Costs in Rural Businesses
Land Family Business were invited by Groundswell and Procam to benchmark a group of farmers who have been practicing no-till crop establishment for several years as part of conservation agriculture. Using our own client benchmarking process, it gives the opportunity to assess the financial performance of no-till conservation agriculture – against other no tillers and also against conventional crop establishment farming businesses. The results have...
Creating a Smarter Water Catchment in the Evenlode - Thames Water No Till & Cover Crop trial
Thames Water has recently started a No Till and Cover Crop trial in the Evenlode river catchment as part of its ‘Smarter Water Catchments’ initiative. The company’s work, alongside colleagues from Atkins and Natural England, is helping to encourage water sensitive farming across the Evenlode catchment and to reduce run-off of phosphorus from farms and fields into local watercourses. The project has...
THE USE OF BENEFICIAL MICRO-ORGANISMS IN AGRICULTURE. A TAILORED METHOD FOR IMPROVED PLANT PRODUCTIVITY
By Jamie Stotzka, Consultant Bioagronomist
Healthy soils contain billions of bacteria from thousands of species. A special group of these bacteria, collectively known as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria or PGPR are known to promote plant health, growth and productivity. PGPR are unlike the nodulating rhizobia only found associating with leguminous plants, as they are free-living...
18 years ago, we bought our first self-propelled sprayer and it revolutionized access to land, it was light and well balanced and made fertilizer and crop protection applications easy. Our timeliness and the ruts we used to leave in tramlines all but disappeared.
Back then If you had told me I would ever consider running a trailed sprayer on my farm again I would have thought you were mad. I was once told the difference between a good farmer and a bad one was “a week” so I have always...
Written by Denise Attaway, College of Agriculture, Clemson University, South Carolina
South Carolina soils are old and weathered, and Clemson University researchers are working with the Richland Soil and Water District and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service to teach the public how growing cover crops can help rejuvenate and put some life back into the state’s soils.
Above: Cody Bishop, farm manager for Clemson’s Sandhill REC, explains cover...
Not wishing to blow smoke up any arses , issue 5 is the best yet , proper old school magazine , keep it up guys ,
Written by James Warne from Soil First Farming
A word of warning to all of you who buy bulk lime products. There appears to be nobody in the supply chain fighting your corner to ensure the quality of the lime you buy meets the legal requirements as laid down in the Fertiliser Regulations 1991. 100% of the bulk lime products we see tipped on farm does not meet these specifications in terms of particle size. Even if it’s being sold as screened lime it fails to make the specification. This...
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Modern Wheat Varieties
Procam have been working with a number of no-till farmers to look at ways of maximising crop yields whilst reducing inputs. One of the key areas which Procam have been looking at is the use of growth promoting bacteria and fungi to help stimulate root development and increase nutrient and water uptake by the crop. One such trial now in its second year, has been looking at the potential of modern varieties of wheat to be colonised by...
Mycorrhizal Fungi And Cultural Diversity and Their Significant Increase in No-Till Systems
Originally written by Claudia Maurer et al. and published in TCS in February 2015
The Swiss trial site at “Oberacker” has been comparing tillage and ploughing systems for over 20 years and continually assess the quantity and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi in various different establishment types. The results reveal significantly increased species richness and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi in plots...
Written by Natallia Gulbis BSc(Hons), MSc, Technical and Arable Farming Lead, PlantWorks Ltd
Let’s get straight to it and ask a simple question: ‘Is there a monetary return to be had from managing the biology of your soil?’
With every major agronomy company now having expanding soils programs and Government, post Brexit, replacing the common agricultural policy subsidises with payments in part based on environmental empathy, what is the strategy that underpins this?
In the spirit of...
Become a Direct Driller Patron, Pay it Forward
Knowledge is power and it’s exchange is valuable. When I first considered changing the way we farmed I quickly began to realise and understand I didn’t really know how to, I needed to learn, fast.
I sought out others that had the experience and skill set I knew I needed to have any chance of success. I was extremely fortunate that without exception everyone I spoke to was happy to help me and share knowledge often passed to them previously by...
THIRD ANNUAL GROUNDSWELL SHOW ILLUSTRATES THE PARADIGM SHIFT TOWARDS MORE CONSERVATIONMINDED FARMING PRACTICES
The third annual Groundswell No-Till Show and Conference took place at Lannock Manor Farm on 27th and 28th June at Lannock Manor Farm attended by over 1,200 farmers, landowners and other delegates with a shared interest in soil health. The theme of the conference was health, the idea being that health is fundamental for soil, plants and the humans and animals that survive off the...
Welcome to the fifth instalment of our Know your Soils series sharing practical tips for monitoring the soil health on your land. Keep an eye out for our bitesize videos and fact sheets on simple tests you can do yourself on farm.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”
Can your soil hold nutrients effectively?
A video from the ‘Learning from the Land’ series created by Catchment Sensitive Farming &Innovation for Agriculture
Earlier in the series, we discussed how rainwater can...
The Albrecht Method
Written by Steve Townsend
Think you have your soil fertility mastered? Well-read on about possibly the most misunderstood soil scientist Dr William Albrecht, skip this article and you could be missing something.
I don’t think there is anybody in agriculture more misunderstood or misquoted than Dr William Albrecht, who was emeritus professor of soils at the University of Missouri from 1919 – 1959. He began his work in medicine but soon switched to agriculture when he...
Forum statistics
Tractor Chat #01
Feb
20
- 7,725
- 5
Tractor Chat #01 - with Direct Driller Magazine Farmer Focus writer Phil Rowbottom
Discussing direct drilling wheat, Oil seed rape growing in the UK, Fendt 724 tractor and his Sky Easy Drill.
Discussing direct drilling wheat, Oil seed rape growing in the UK, Fendt 724 tractor and his Sky Easy Drill.