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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

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…

CEREAL DRILLS

One-pass Alien System combi pairs air drill with plough

Growers wedded to ploughing light land before setting in with a seed drill to establish the next crop could tap into a one-pass approach using a new furrow press seeder…

CEREAL DRILLS

Seed drills: Where are they made?

As with most agricultural machine categories, overseas manufacturers hold sway in terms of volume when it comes to the myriad seed drill types offered to growers. Global giants such as…

Cultivation and drilling reviews and tests

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MACHINERY

Combination drill buyer's guide

Combination drills Host implements Buyer's Guide Min-till, strip-till and no-till may be all the rage but the once ubiquitous combination of power harrow and piggy-back seeder still retains a place…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: 3m Triton aids blackgrass fight

Wet weather was halting harvest progress when we caught up with Robert Hinchcliffe to see how he was getting on with his 3m Triton direct drill. While adverse conditions can…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver’s view: Tom Hounsfield's Sumo DD drill

Lincolnshire farmer Tom Hounsfield gives us his verdict on the adapted Sumo DD no-till drill he bought in 2015. He tells us why he switched to no-till, his likes and…

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: Sky Easy Drill

Cambridgeshire grower Edward Davison picks out the best and worst points of his Sky Easy Drill, which he bought in 2016 when his crop yields were hammered by a high…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Driver's view: Jack Tooley's McConnel Seedaerator

McConnel’s Seedaerator is a single-pass strip-till dril that cultivates and seeds the crop in bands. Nottinghamshire farmer Jack Tooley talks us though the highs and lows of his machine. What…

PLOUGHS

Six-furrow plough round-up: Specs and prices

If you thought the UK plough market was limited to a handful of well-known brands, think again. We suss out six-furrow offerings from 11 makers. For an implement that took…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: 10m Dale Eco XL

This year marked a decade of Dale Drills at Whiting Ash Farms in Malvern, Worcestershire, and David Fellows sees no prospect of that changing in the future. His latest model,…

CEREAL DRILLS

Driver’s view: Andrew Tucker’s Novag T-ForcePlus 440 drill

We get the lowdown on the 4m Novag T-ForcePlus 440 drill owned by Monkton Farleigh Farms near Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, which is driven by farm manager Andrew Tucker. See also: What's in…

PLOUGHS

Video: On test - Hubert's seven-furrow plough

Late last year, Suffolk firm Agri-Hire agreed a deal to take on Dowdeswell’s engineering operation with a commitment to restarting plough production on a national scale. Dowdeswell folded last summer,…

CEREAL DRILLS

Direct drills revisited: 3m Simtech T-Sem

When John Hawkins abandoned his intensive arable rotation for a low-input farming system, a 3m Simtech T-Sem Pneumatic was his new drill of choice. His aim was to use it…

CEREAL DRILLS

Contractor rates his simple Yorkshire-built combi disc drill

Armed with a row of soil-loosening legs, a power harrow and a set of Vaderstad disc coulters, the Combi-Plus drill from Bramleys Seed Establishment offers plenty of options for getting…

Cultivation and drilling buying advice

Cultivation and drilling insights and practical advice

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CEREAL DRILLS

12 power-harrow combi drill options with 3m working width

Its ability to create a decent seed-bed in almost any soil conditions and cultivation regime has helped keep the venerable combination drill at the sharp end of manufacturers’ sales charts.…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct disc drill

For growers who prefer disc coulters for establishing new crops straight into arable stubbles or a green cover, there are plenty of options – including several newcomers – as this…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Cover crop destruction machinery options compared

Heading out with a set of Cambridge rolls after a heavy frost can be an effective way of bringing cover crop growth to an end, as the time to establish…

CULTIVATORS

6 ways to improve autumn soil cultivation regimes

Many operators can be guilty of pulling the cultivator out the shed, heading to the field and cracking on with ground work, with the only parameter of success the sight…

ARABLE

Growers highlight soil and cost advantages of using no-till

There’s no silver bullet when it comes to putting no-tillage cultivation techniques into practice, but there is a basic recipe that everyone can follow. Minimal soil disturbance, diverse rotations and…

CULTIVATORS

How, why and when to mole drain

Soggy fields, ruts deeper than your wellies and bubbling water from broken drains are all telltale signs your field drainage could do with a boost. It’s only in a wet…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct tine drill 2023

In the Ultimate Guide listing for direct drills using tine coulters, Claydon has the most changes from the previous edition thanks to the changeover from the Hybrid to Evolution design.…

DRILLING

Direct-drilling: Main findings from major five-year trial

Farming on heavy land in Leicestershire, Joe Stanley was skeptical that reducing cultivations by adopting a direct-drilling system would increase farm profitability and improve the environment. But after seeing the…

CULTIVATORS

Side-shift linkage options deliver pinpoint crop weeding

Razor-sharp RTK guidance systems have nailed the art of driving tractors in arrow-straight lines, but they can’t deal with the inevitable wandering of implements on undulating ground and in changeable…

ROLLS

12m Cambridge rolls buyers guide: Options and prices

Crop establishment trends might come and go, but whatever the cultivation or drilling regime, there’s almost always a role for the humble Cambridge roll. Beyond the usual seed-bed consolidation tasks,…

CEREAL DRILLS

Ultimate Guide to buying a direct tine drill 2022

There are a good few changes for this year’s Ultimate Guide to direct drills that use tine coulters to establish crops straight into stubbles. McConnel has dropped out of the…

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…

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PEST MANAGEMENT

How a grower uses cultivations and tech to kill slugs

Slugs have been a major headache for North Yorkshire grower Graham Potter since he switched from a plough-based crop establishment system to direct drilling. But with proactive implementation of integrated…

CEREAL DRILLS

6m disc drill ticks the boxes for contractor’s CTF system

While striving to limit the travel of machinery across arable acreages is a very worthy cause, it’s not always that practical. True controlled traffic farming (CTF) zealots will tell you…

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…

TECHNOLOGY

Autonomous robots drill a 50ha maize crop

Controlled by an app, a French technology company has built three highly accurate robots that are cultivating, drilling and caring for a 50ha crop of maize, completely autonomously. The project…

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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,…

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…

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…

PLOUGHS

Video: On test - Hubert's seven-furrow plough

Late last year, Suffolk firm Agri-Hire agreed a deal to take on Dowdeswell’s engineering operation with a commitment to restarting plough production on a national scale. Dowdeswell folded last summer,…