Is British arable farm land ruined?

[OLD]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10 ... intensive/

What do the arable farmers on here make of this article, true or scare-mongering?

[JM]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10 ... intensive/

What do the arable farmers on here make of this article, true or scare-mongering?

I think that quite a lot of that is true, unfortunately the people who wrote that speech are probably the last ones we want to be driving ag policy in the uk.

[Coltheox]

Absolute crap! He speaks of 'drenching' the soils in chemicals. He obviously has no idea whatsoever about how little chemical is applied these days, and how much safer they are. Perhaps he would like to turn the clock back to DDT and Dimethoate?

His knowledge of farm machinery is also well out of date. The large machines cause less compacting than the older ones used to, and the amount of soil cultivated in one pass is now much more than before, leading to less compaction.

Sounds like his speech was written by someone like that useless tosser Chris Packham!!

[Lord Muck]

Absolute crap! He speaks of 'drenching' the soils in chemicals. He obviously has no idea whatsoever about how little chemical is applied these days, and how much safer they are. Perhaps he would like to turn the clock back to DDT and Dimethoate?

His knowledge of farm machinery is also well out of date. The large machines cause less compacting than the older ones used to, and the amount of soil cultivated in one pass is now much more than before, leading to less compaction.

Sounds like his speech was written by someone like that useless tosser Chris Packham!!

To be fair Col, a lot of recent research is showing that modern machinery is knocking the fuck out of the soil structure.
A set of 710's on a 9 ton tractor are not going to make it lighter than a fairys fart.

[JM]

Absolute crap! He speaks of 'drenching' the soils in chemicals. He obviously has no idea whatsoever about how little chemical is applied these days, and how much safer they are. Perhaps he would like to turn the clock back to DDT and Dimethoate?

His knowledge of farm machinery is also well out of date. The large machines cause less compacting than the older ones used to, and the amount of soil cultivated in one pass is now much more than before, leading to less compaction.

Sounds like his speech was written by someone like that useless tosser Chris Packham!!

To be fair Col, a lot of recent research is showing that modern machinery is knocking the fuck out of the soil structure.
A set of 710's on a 9 ton tractor are not going to make it lighter than a fairys fart.

Wheel drive on potato harvesters means that we can harvest when conditions are marginal to say the least, ground gets pushed down tighter than a tight thing.

[defender]

There are improvements being made with tracked combines ,trailers kept to headlands but when you see the damage being caused up here on a year like this in some places its unreal ,3 tractors pulling a tattie box cart
desperation but still has a cost

[Tel]

Root crops are an exception but there is a fair movement towards ctf and doing less cultivation changing rotations and those wonderful cover crops.
Soil is ffuked but it can be recovered if it’s treated right.

[rogerm]

Gove is a cunt
He thought you could unblock a toilet with a Hoover FFS

He is now pandering to Brian May about TB - listen to Matthew you twat

However

If you are an all arable farm with no FYM or sludge going back into the ground then I think you are in trouble

[Coltheox]

Gove is a cunt
He thought you could unblock a toilet with a Hoover FFS

He is now pandering to Brian May about TB - listen to Matthew you twat

However

If you are an all arable farm with no FYM or sludge going back into the ground then I think you are in trouble

I'd like to see anyone unblock my toilet with a hoover after the mud out I've just had!

Hello Rog, how goes it????

[Lord Muck]

Gove is a cunt
He thought you could unblock a toilet with a Hoover FFS

He is now pandering to Brian May about TB - listen to Matthew you twat

However

If you are an all arable farm with no FYM or sludge going back into the ground then I think you are in trouble

I'd like to see anyone unblock my toilet with a hoover after the mud out I've just had!

Hello Rog, how goes it????

He's been extremely busy cleaning his carpets with a plunger.

[essexpete]

Root crops are an exception but there is a fair movement towards ctf and doing less cultivation changing rotations and those wonderful cover crops.
Soil is ffuked but it can be recovered if it’s treated right.

I to look up ctf Are you sceptical of cover crops? A friend of mine in Kent is sold on them and seems to be having good results. Quite a few old college friends have seriously reduced or stopped cultivating when deemed possible. One particular Essex fiend was still ploughing quite a lot on a fairly large area and has gone completely the other way (all with out Clive's help).
One sharp old fiend in Suffolk believes flexibility is the approach he helped by large lumps of muck from a beef herd and still grows beet. He has mostly steered away from black grass but had a patch come in , he thinks from harvest equipment. He planned to plough deep and then for the next few years just scratch.

[RGSP]

I note that my neighbour's field which had rape in it this year is absolutely stuffed with parasol mushrooms right now - i.e. things that require a high level of organic matter over some years.

I have no doubt that some fields on some farms are seriously low on organic matter - humus if you like - but many are doing quite nicely thank you, and are much better than they were 30 years ago.