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UK vs US - No Till

snarling bee

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
So in one sentence you say farming methods need to be adapted to suit your climate and soils, and in the next you are telling us what to do.

PS we keep all our straw, although some goes through the pig unit. But we also have 3x the straw that you do, so it can be a problem, and probably chopped in the damp so not so good. Do you have slugs?
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Here's some of the straw we need to deal with @Farmer Roy Not exactly the same as your situation even if the principles are the same.
Claydon demo trashy sp barley.JPG
 

Dukes Fit

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
The BIG difference between the UK attempt at zero till & how we do it, is we aim for maximum stubble retention & ground cover. Ground cover IS KING !!!!
You NEED to retain that straw . . .

This being because you have a much hotter and drier climate than we do here, so your straw retention is vital to your moisture.

We generally don’t have that problem here
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Litter maintains the water cycle, though.
Not only conserve moisture, also helps balance out the N that's applied to growing crops.

1 unit N burns 30 units of C, so if you apply 100 units/ha you need 3000kg/ha of residue to stand still - otherwise you compact your soil (even if your tractor is on tracks/tramlines)
If you apply 180 units, you need 5400kg/ha of residue just for "maintenance" of your soil's water cycle

No-tillers here are rapidly learning that drills with narrow spacings just aren't fit for purpose
 

Pilatus

Member
Hi all,
I had a question from one of my friends and wanted to get a more educated answer than mine (only been in the industry a few years) Any help greatly appreciated.

In the US they do a lot of no-till farming compared to the UK. I wanted to know what the difference is here about the process or the soil and why you till so much and so deep here??

Thanks
May I suggest that you Google “Jim Halford Conserva Pak airseeder”. Jim invented one of the first zero till drills. You will learn the reasons why Jim invented his drill.
My good Canadian friend Keith Head is a personal friend of his and used to go to Australia as well as Canada and USA setting the Conserva Pak airseeders up for farmers.
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
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