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Know How / Cultivation and drilling

News and user views on the latest cultivation techniques to optimise crop establishment, minimise environmental impact, improve soils and reduce costs through direct drilling, minimum tillage, conservation tillage – as well as traditional ploughing and drilling techniques.

Latest cultivation and drilling articles

PLOUGHS

First impressions: Kuhn Multi-Master L six-furrow plough

For risk-averse, geologically challenged or weather-beaten farms, few implements match the reliability and consistency of a plough. Sales of these time-honoured implements have now flatlined following a near decade-long drop…

CULTIVATORS

How strip-cultivating power tillers can offer cost savings

Does it really make sense to cultivate where only weeds are going to grow? Or create a soil structure vulnerable to a period of heavy rain just as the field…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a trailed combination drill 2025

There are just a few changes to our Ultimate Guide to versatile trailed drills that deploy discs, tines or a power harrow to complete seed-bed preparation ahead of a bank…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct tine drill 2025

New drills, and all-new drill ranges, are among the headlines for this year’s Ultimate Guide to direct drills sporting tine coulters. Bramleys Seed Establishment and Grange Machinery feature as seeder…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct disc drill 2025

The most noticeable absentee in this year’s Ultimate Guide to direct drills with disc coulters is surely the Cross Slot seeder, built in the UK in recent years using original…

CEREAL DRILLS

Lemken revamps Solitair MR piggy-back seed drill

The complexity of different cropping practices – such as undersowing, companion cropping, cover crops, and so on – is catered for by the latest version of Lemken’s Solitair MR piggy-back…

Cultivation and drilling reviews and tests

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MACHINERY

Fertiliser drills: What are the options?

Why seed & fert? Power harrow drills Solo drills Disc & tine cultivation The technique of placing fertiliser at drilling time is moving out of its traditional stronghold in Scotland…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver's View: Weaving GD drill

Henry Muntz reveals how his Weaving GD no-till drill has performed across his farm of Warwickshire clay loam. What drill are you using? We’ve got a 4.8m trailed Weaving GD…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: 6m Sly/Horizon Boss

Swithin Waterer was one of the first UK growers to purchase a Sly (now Horizon) Boss angled disc drill and he’s still using it six years on. The 6m Australian-inspired…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver’s View: Jean-Baptiste Bady’s Claydon Hybrid 3m

Estate manager Jean-Baptiste Bady and farm manager Callum Orr, who run an arable operation at the world’s most northerly castle on the small central island of Shapinsay, Orkney, have picked…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver's view: Simon and David Fellows' Dale Eco XL drill

Worcestershire farmers Simon and David Fellows explain why they opted for Dale’s 10m Eco XL drill and how it fits into their controlled-traffic system. What drill are you using? We’ve…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: 6m Virkar Dynamic DC

Two years on from its arrival at Ralph Castle’s 170ha Oxfordshire arable farm, the 6m Virkar Dynamic DC looks as if it could play a prominent role in finally getting…

PLOUGHS

On test: Kverneland's new five-furrow 2300S plough

Decades pass with little change to the humble plough, so a raft of major updates to Kverneland's mid-range models was big news for buyers keen to turn a more consistent…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: Sumo swapped for versatile Weaving

There have been some changes since Farmers Weekly last checked in at Chestnut Tree Farm, with Tom Hounsfield previously running day-to-day operations and drilling done with a custom 4m linkage-mounted…

PLOUGHS

First impressions: Kuhn Multi-Master L six-furrow plough

For risk-averse, geologically challenged or weather-beaten farms, few implements match the reliability and consistency of a plough. Sales of these time-honoured implements have now flatlined following a near decade-long drop…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver's view: John Mair's Ma/Ag SSP drill

John Mair from March, Cambridgeshire, gives us the low down on his Ma/Ag no-till drill. He reveals the benefits to soil and cost, tells us how it has performed, and…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver's view: Robert Hinchcliffe’s Triton drill

We asked Yorkshire farmer Robert Hinchcliffe to run through the good points and bad points of his 3m-wide Triton drill and explain why he picked it.  What drill are you…

MACHINERY

Maize drills - what's on the market

The tediously slow job that used to be drilling maize is being transformed by a new generation of machines that work with precision at much faster speeds. Peter Hill reports…

Cultivation and drilling buying advice

Cultivation and drilling insights and practical advice

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ARABLE

Many UK growers missing out on the benefits of zero tillage

Only 3% of the UK arable area is farmed using Conservation Agriculture (zero tillage), much lower than other parts of the world. Anthony Pope argues why more farmers should consider…

CULTIVATORS

Tips for picking the best cultivator wearing metal

Replacing cultivator legs, wings and points can be a depressingly regular and ruinously expensive pastime for those working in the nation’s most abrasive soils. But instead of hunting around for…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

How to crack down on costly soil compaction

Improved on-farm understanding and use of tillage equipment combined with better use of tyre technology could be key to cutting costly soil compaction. Damaged soils are estimated to cost UK…

MACHINERY

John Deere 750A comes top in Cambridgeshire drill trial

Earlier this year we published an article about a trial being conducted by Cambridgeshire farmer David Walston, comparing three different drills to sow wheat direct into stubble – a Cross…

ARABLE

Effect of cultivation method on crop yields

There are many ways to cultivate a field, ranging from deep ploughing to no-till farming, and choosing the right variety and cultivation technique combination is the key to getting the…

TECHNOLOGY

Aqua Till waterjets offer ingenious alternative to coulters

Just when you thought variable rate, variable depth, turn compensation and limitless fertiliser combinations had taken drilling technology to its limit, the rule book has been blasted open once again.…

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…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct disc drill 2023

With the Agriseeder drill from Erth Engineering listed for the first time, this year’s Ultimate Guide to disc coulter seed drills reflects an even bigger choice of machines for single-pass…

PLOUGHING AND CULTIVATION

Plough, min-till and no-till compared: year one

A major trial has been set up to find the most profitable and sustainable way to grow arable crops by comparing three different establishment systems over five years. Establishment systems…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct tine drill 2025

New drills, and all-new drill ranges, are among the headlines for this year’s Ultimate Guide to direct drills sporting tine coulters. Bramleys Seed Establishment and Grange Machinery feature as seeder…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a trailed combination drill 2024

Consolidation is the theme for this year’s Ultimate Guide to trailed combination cultivator drills – not in the soil-firming sense, but rather in the way manufacturers are sticking to tried-and-tested…

ARABLE

Top stubble management tips to kill slugs

Cultural methods of controlling slugs have a key role to play in reducing the risk of metaldehyde slug pellets reaching water, as well as helping to cut the costs of…

Cultivation and drilling technology

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TECHNOLOGY

Opico to sell FarmDroid drilling and weeding robot

Opico has branched into uncharted waters by taking on the distribution of Danish-made autonomous tool carriers. Carbon neutral and powered by sunshine alone, the so-called FarmDroid is the brainchild of…

Farmer embraces data to improve crop management

After dipping his toe into precision farming just over three years ago, James Porter is now embracing the latest technology that can help optimise crop inputs and ultimately increase his…

CULTIVATORS

Topcon launches Norac-designed tillage depth control

Norac is well known in spraying circles for its boom levelling technology and now parent company Topcon has used the same principals to dive underground and develop a tillage depth…

TECHNOLOGY

Aqua Till waterjets offer ingenious alternative to coulters

Just when you thought variable rate, variable depth, turn compensation and limitless fertiliser combinations had taken drilling technology to its limit, the rule book has been blasted open once again.…

Video

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CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Video: Horsch reveal drilling innovations and tillage tweaks

German implement maker Horsch is experiencing strong UK sales from its tillage and crop protection machines. However, with the uncertainty surrounding glyphosate regulation and Brexit, the company thinks that exploring…

CEREALS

Video: Machinery highlights from Cereals 2018

The Farmers Weekly machinery team headed to the southern site for the annual Cereals show, this year at Chrishall Grange in Cambridgeshire. Although several machinery manufacturers scaled back their stands,…

MACHINERY

Video: Autumn drilling season captured from the skies

After the success of last year’s harvest drone video we have been out with the cameras again, capturing autumn work in all its glory, from above. Our drones have flown over…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Video: Grower builds cover crop broadcaster for £3,000

A farm-built broadcaster costing less than £3,000 has given James Hopkinson the opportunity introduce cover cropping as part of a "regenerative" approach to the arable enterprises he manages. The tractor-mounted…