Archive Article: 1997/10/04
PLOUGH and cultivator manufacturers did their best to put on a good show, but it was the drills that grabbed the attention of farmers and contractors at this autumns round of cultivation demonstrations.
The roadshows started with the East of England Agricultural Associations Cultivations 97 event in Beds, then Power in Action staged by the Suffolk Farm Machinery Club and on to the Tillage series in Oxon, Yorks and Fife – organised by AEA and ADAS.
The common focus at all events was cutting the cost of turning this years field of stubble into next years corn. By reducing the number of individual operations required in preparing for the drill; and by using more power and bigger implements to increase the productivity of farm staff.
The former can be achieved in two ways – by using combination cultivators that do more work in a single pass than simpler implements; and by using drills that throw traditional concepts out of the window and emphasise an ability to work on ploughed and pressed land with no intermediary cultivation or, directly on lightly busted (even untouched) stubbles.
Increasing productivity also stems from these two approaches; otherwise, its a case of spending more cash on bigger tractors and the kit that goes with them.