It may not look pretty, especially over winter, but direct drilling has plenty going for it, according to Tony Reynolds and son-in-law Clive Patrick.

With just one full-time tractor driver, Derek Twaite, they farm 247ha (610 acres) at Thurlby Grange near Bourne, and 1000ha (2500 acres) at Burton Lazars near Melton Mowbray.

“If a field looks scruffy it’s probably ours,” says Mr Patrick.

The decision to abandon what Mr Reynolds describes as “classic agriculture” based on the plough was taken four years ago. It was driven mainly by concern over the damage traditional cultivations were doing to the soil.

“I believe the power harrow is the most dangerous machine for the soil ever invented.”

The Thurlby land, ranging from black fen peat to heavy clay, had become lifeless and low in organic matter despite straw being incorporated, he explains.

“We were just ploughing it back up from the previous year. Something was clearly wrong.”

Minimum tillage, in many cases a misnomer because of the number of passes, can cause shallow compaction so wasn’t the answer, he stresses. “There’s terrible confusion about what constitutes min-till. And on most of our land when it rains you can end up with two inches of sludge for a seed-bed.”

That left zero-tillage, ie true direct drilling, as the other option. And having been to France to see various machines in action where the practice is widely adopted, he chose two drills – a John Deere 750A for the Melton Mowbray unit and a 4m Argentinian-built Bertini 22,000 for Thurlby.

Both men admit there is plenty still to learn, not least in dealing with slug-encouraging straw. But oilseed rape established directly into standing wheat harvested by a new stripper header this season looks promising, and even second wheat sown into chopped straw has emerged surprisingly uniformly.

Mr Reynolds calculates that the new system has slashed establishment costs by about 80%.

The other noticeable change is how quickly the soils’ structure and carbon/organic matter content has improved, the latter confirmed by Rothamsted’s GYA Associates.

Yields dipped initially, but are nearly back to previous levels with wheat close to 10t/ha (4t/acre) on the better land, although last year’s dry April meant second wheats outyielded firsts.

The aim is to have 50% first wheats – soft milling varieties that suit drilling early. The land must be dry for direct-drilling to work well, says Mr Patrick.

This year’s varieties are Alchemy, Ambrosia, Glasgow and Humber.

The main break is oilseed rape –conventional varieties Kommando and NK Bravour. Mr Reynolds believes hybrids’ low seed rate makes them too vulnerable to slugs, one of the acknowledged downsides of direct drilling.

“We originally ordered 20t of pellets for this season, but we’ve had to buy another 10t.”

The new system has trimmed the machinery at Thurlby to the drill, a new 24m Knight trailed sprayer, an Amazone twin-disc spreader and a Lexion 460 22ft cut combine – now with both conventional and stripper headers.

“We need the normal header for the oilseed rape and our beans,” explains Mr Patrick. The latter, all spring variety Fuego, replace sugar beet dropped following recent factory closures and uncertainty over the crop’s future.

“They did really well last year at nearly 2t/acre, though I don’t know why. Our target is nearer 30cwt.”

About 60% of all seed is farm-saved, the rest and other inputs being obtained from various sources.

Blackgrass seems to be gradually succumbing to the combination of direct drilling and herbicides. “Post-ems seem to work particularly well.” But new weed problems have arisen.

“Mother Nature always seems to have something up her sleeve. Now we are getting rosebay willow herb – and Roundup won’t touch it.”

Drying and storage facilities, all on-floor, are adequate, though Mr Reynolds believes that with set-aside gone and yields rising again, re-investment may be soon required.

Thurlby was an Entry Level Stewardship pilot farm. “So we were hoping to renew our application at the end of the five years. But now without management plans qualifying, the big question is can we? We need to find another 2000 points out of our original 7000.”

On the plus side for the environment, direct drilling, especially that into stripped wheat, has clearly been encouraging wildlife.

“We’re getting plenty of birds that we haven’t seen here before. I reckon it’s because we’re effectively providing over-wintered stubbles across most of the farm.”

andrew.blake@rbi.co.uk