Less fuel and more cash - DIY for cereal growers

Improving the efficiency of field cultivations doesn’t have to be about big investment - as you will well know there are often simple solutions sitting right under your nose. A simple leveling board on your ‘combination drill’ can do wonders for your soil and your fuel bills through enabling faster and less environmentally damaging cultivations.

Preparing and planting cereal crops takes energy - diesel to prepare the soil, and more diesel to plant the seed. Cereal farmers in the UK plant around 6.5 million acres each year, and many now use a combination drill which does two jobs at the same time. It has a power harrow, typically 3 or 4 metres wide, to break up the ploughed ground, and an air powered seed drill that plants the seed.

This combination drill uses a Rabe power harrow (blue) with an Accord drill (red) mounted on it - a reliable unit with a high performance.

Combination drills are efficient machines which work in a wide variety of soil types and conditions from dry and hard baked to wet and heavy. Not only do they save the farmer going over the field twice, first with the harrow and then again with the drill, they retain soil moisture which helps seed germination.

The depth of the harrow is set so it breaks up all the ground covered. As the land is never even, some parts of the field are worked deeper than necessary so that the other parts are worked sufficiently well. The deeper the harrow is set, the more work it has to do, and the more diesel is used. Setting the harrow too high means that patches can be missed, so inevitably the depth is set to work the lowest dips in the soil level.

Paul Nixon has adapted his combination drill so that the soil broken up by the harrow is leveled out in front of the compaction roller which is in front of the drill. The adjustable leveling bar moves soil from high places to low, and this means he can set the machine an inch or two higher than other farmers can manage. It doesn't sound much, but one inch is 14% of the 7in working depth, and 14% is a significant figure! Setting a shallower depth has actually improved performance by allowing seeds to be planted in a bed more level than normal and without compromising other aspects of work quality.

The added leveling board, painted in darker blue, improves work quality and speed, and also reduces fuel consumption.

Here is a practical innovation that is ecologically sound, with the potential of saving farmers both cash and carbon. Many farmers come up with ideas to save fuel, time, and recycle waste and resources (Paul used scrap steel to make this leveling bar). These innovations are unsurprising as it is the farmer who is using the machine, and the farmer who is paying the bill, so innovative ways to reduce waste are a perfectly natural part of the typical farming day.

Mike Donovan is an agricultural economist with a degree from Reading University in Agricultural Economics, who edits and publishes the magazine Practical Farm Ideas.

If you would like to find out more about Paul’s innovation and how to copy it visit www.farmideas.co.uk