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Know How / Ploughing and cultivation

Advice on choosing the best cultivation system for your soil for soil health, cost control and crop establishment. See the pros and cons of the various tillage systems, including no-till, min-till or ploughing and help on how to prepare for switching systems without losing yield.

Advice and tips

SOILS

Why soil assessment should come before cultivations

Arable farmers face significant cultivation choices this autumn about how much - or indeed whether - to cultivate soils. The dry conditions of 2025 mean that over-working soils could lead…

DRILLING

7 steps for late drilling wheat success

Farmers with winter wheat still to drill this autumn need to be patient and do all they can to ensure crop establishment and soil health are not compromised following recent…

SOILS

Expert advice to improve soil fertility post-harvest

As harvest wraps up across the country, farmers are turning their attention to autumn crop nutrition and soil organic matter levels, where the use of a soil conditioner could help…

PLOUGHING AND CULTIVATION

How to introduce the SFI no-till action into cropping

The expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer for 2024 includes a no-till action which pays £73/ha for each of the three years of an agreement. Known as SOH1, the static…

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Case studies

PLOUGHING AND CULTIVATION

Long-term direct driller reveals yield impact of ploughing

A wheat crop established under the plough yielded 1.7t/ha more than the long-term direct drilled part of the field, more than paying for the extra costs associated with ploughing. But…

DRILLING

Suffolk farm shifts cultivations to improve soil health

A Suffolk grower’s approach to soil management and cultivation has evolved significantly in recent years, driven largely by cost-saving measures and a commitment to improving soil health and soil sustainability.…

SOILS

Norfolk grower aims to cut soil compaction in root crops

Mark Means’ aim this spring is to ensure that soils in his sugar beet and potato fields don’t exceed 1 megapascal (MPa) on the penetrometer during establishment. While he has…

PLOUGHING AND CULTIVATION

Why a long-term no-tiller is ploughing again on heavy soils

For more than 20 years, a bare brown field has not been seen on Motts Farm on the Dengie peninsula in Essex, with crops established using zero tillage. But that…

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Insights

ESTABLISHMENT

Why good straw management is key to crop establishment

For regenerative farmers, straw provides a valuable source of organic matter for improving soil health, but it can also bring crop establishment problems if not managed correctly. Straw holds important…

SOILS

How trial is cracking calcite problem in high-calcium soils

A trial is looking at how to break up the hardened calcite layer which is being increasingly seen in some high-calcium soils. Independent soil consultant David Purdy highlights that the…

MACHINERY

Buyer's guide: 7 UK-made mole plough options and prices

Even the fanciest field drainage system relies on a periodic pass with a mole plough to keep it performing at its best. Never is this more apparent than a wet…

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News

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

SFI trials show ditching plough improves bird numbers

Fields established using conservation agriculture systems have higher bird numbers than those cultivated using a more conventional plough-based approach, according to research. Researchers believe this is due to improved soil…

CROP WATCH

Crop Watch: Stale seed-beds need more time for weed kill

As we head further into October, pressure is rising on farmers to start drilling their wheat in bad blackgrass fields, especially if the neighbours have already made a start. However,…

ARABLE

Spud Watch: Avoid planting wet areas of fields

Planting finally got under way in Yorkshire and the Borders once it stopped raining and the sun came out for a day or two. Conditions are variable, to say the…

SUGAR BEET

Video: Sugar beet drilling starts as growers play catch-up

Sugar beet drilling is racing ahead between the rain showers on light land with one Suffolk Brecklands estate looking to catch up from its latest start in more than a…

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Video

SUGAR BEET

Video: Sugar beet drilling starts as growers play catch-up

Sugar beet drilling is racing ahead between the rain showers on light land with one Suffolk Brecklands estate looking to catch up from its latest start in more than a…

COVER CROPS

Video: No-till wins over grower to direct-drilling

New to no-till grower Richard Boldan is driving forward his plans to convert to a reduced cultivation system for a more sustainable future, with ambitions to grow more spring crops and establish…

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