SilliamWhale
Member
As a competition ploughmen with a degree in agriculture and a lifetime of experience in various agronomic capacities I can assure you that seagulls love earthworms but there are very few in arable land today. Despite the modern trend to incorporate green crops and organic matter in the form of straw, earthworms don`t like living in concrete. They prefer to move through the top eighteen inches of soil in order to satisfy their needs for moisture and organic material. The passage between the strata is now severely restricted. Not only are seagulls a bellweather but so also moles. How many moles do you see in arable land ? We are destroying our soils with minimal till and horrendously heavy machinery. 300hp and fifteen tonnes of tractor on a four leg subsoiler are not the answer or the salvation. Until the short termists can get this between their ears agriculture production is on a downward trend. We are running out of economical and eco friendly quick fixes so better wake up before it is too late.
I think competition ploughing is great. Is part of our heritage and its a form of landscape art.