With wetter harvests and drilling times, compaction is continuing to play a big part in establishment strategies.

The Soil Compaction Tester from US company Dickey-john, supplied by UK-firm Farm-Tec, is the techie farmer’s alternative to the spade. The rugged probe has a liquid-filled stainless-steel dial that shows compaction on a lbs/sq in scale and there are depth gauges of between 3in and 18in, enabling users to identify how compact the soil is at exact depths. It costs £215.