Perhaps for the first time in the UK eight direct drills went head-to-head in a demonstration for members of the Controlled Traffic Farming farmer group.

Brought by manufacturers and local farmers to Andrew Manfield's Hessleskew Farm at Sancton, near York, the eight were put through their paces in front of an interested audience.

Wet weather left conditions far from ideal for any drill, yet all managed to work effectively, albeit on fairly forgiving soil. But Mr Manfield stressed that, given the conditions and lack of set up time, it would be unfair to draw any comparison of the merits or otherwise of the drills on their performance on the day.

FWi was there, armed with its video camera, to record each drill's performance and then ask each driver or manufacturer representative to explain the key features of each drill.

Click the links below to see and hear about each of the eight drills.

[Video] - Amazone Primera

[Video] John Deere 750A

[Video] Aitchison

[Video] Simba Horsch Sprinter 6

[Video] Vaderstad Seed Hawk

[Video] Cross Slot

[Video] John Dale All Till

[Video] Bertini

[Video] All eight drills in action together

• For more coverage from CTF Europe's conference click here
• To learn more about controlled traffic farming visit our CTF home page.