Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Could closed system end grassweed infiltration?Last May, I was fortunate to attend the International Herbage Seed Conference in Corvallis, Oregon. The key take-home message was the effect grassweeds and the inevitable herbicide resistance are having… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: I’ve lost 130ha of rented land after 30 yearsOur farming business is in for a big shake-up. Two blocks of land that we have been renting for 30 years have recently been sold, and we will no longer… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Life on the border after BrexitI woke up on 1 Feb and nervously turned on the news. Amazingly, there was no mention of earthquakes, tsunamis, plagues of locusts or planes falling out of the sky.… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Cows are automatic mobile compost machinesWouldn’t it be nice if we could have a solar powered machine that could convert low-quality plant material into high quantity protein? Well there is one, it is called a… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: On the hunt for a spring cover crop mixWe are out of the EU! Three and a half years after the referendum, and when it came down to the day, it did not even make the top news… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Time to get serious with cost of productionWell, it has happened. We have been cut free from the shackles of the European Union. Now what? Our future, as always, is in our hands. Other than the security… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Farming looks easy when your plough is a pencilThe new year has brought fresh hope to some of us in the North. In Ryedale, the weather has been kinder, some root crops have actually been harvested and even… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: How much are cover crops giving back?I was apprehensive to walk our winter cereals last week to complete plant and tiller counts in order to start planning our next interventions. As expected, the results followed drilling… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: A new cultivator should solve soil slumpingFirstly, I would like to thank everyone who emailed me in support after I mentioned some trolling following a previous month’s entry being published on social media. I received more… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: The rats have rewired my JCBA new decade has begun. Despite the autumn drenching and an ongoing media battering, I sense a welcome hint of optimism and positivity from farmers at this pivotal time. Anxiety… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Considering an organic pop-up golf courseThe wet weather continues, and without a frost. Thus means that to date, we have not been able to pull through any of our min-tilled land that is waiting for… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: It was a different farming world in 1968At the beginning of 2019 I hoped for a drier, warmer spring, more rain in early summer and a dry harvest. The first six months actually were almost ideal, but… More articles
