24th May 2026
Smith’s Soapbox: Unholy trinity
I’ll confess to having had a field or two of crops in the past that have come to very little, to the point you’d have wondered if I’d bothered to actually farm them. But, I’ve…
Advertisement
Opinion
-
-
23rd April 2026
Last Word: Close to home
If I may say so myself, I’m rather proud of the content that’s in our beloved tome this month. It can be hard to feel positive when life is as chaotic as it’s been of…
-
23rd April 2026
Talking Taties: Ploughing on
Well, I’ve done it – I’ve sold a well thought of classic tractor, on with selling another, and bought a youngster. We’ve taken 39 years and 15,000 hours out of our fleet and taken a…
-
23rd April 2026
Nature Natters: Spring into action
Just as spring comes along and work starts in earnest, another global event challenges farming. As war spills over into more countries, key trade routes are being held to ransom and our input costs have…
-
23rd April 2026
Smith’s Soapbox: Little white prills and big red bills
It’s a well-worn observation that you don’t appreciate things until you don’t have them. When it comes to global food supplies, that’s most certainly true of fertiliser at the moment.
-
20th March 2026
Last Word: Jumping on that trend
Well I must say, I didn’t expect to receive anywhere near as much feedback on last month’s column as I have – it would appear my fellow stegosauruses (stegosauri?) and I are not yet extinct!…
-
20th March 2026
Talking Taties: Managing frustrations
Frustration in farming can take many forms – weather and politics are a given on that score. As I write this, we’ve just heard the next tranche of SFI is to have lower rewards. All we can hope is…
-
20th March 2026
Nature Natters: Using our senses
In last month’s issue, editor Janine Adamson in her Last Word talked about the move towards digitisation, rather than reading a physical copy of this magazine.
-
20th March 2026
Smith’s Soapbox: Spinning the wheel
As the first spring flowers poke their noses into the air, we can be assured the winter conference season has come to an end. Hopefully we’ve emerged from those darkened auditoriums with a refreshed sense of…
-
12th February 2026
Last Word: Fighting my corner
Prior to Christmas, I yet again found myself in a heated discussion regarding the merits of this vessel – the humble printed magazine. I did my best to articulate the benefits of our beloved tome,…
-
12th February 2026
Talking Taties: Never a dull day
A year ago I was lamenting light yields, late movement and bad weather…nowt changes! Our potato harvest for 2025 wasn’t quite as grim as it was in 2024, but storage is much more of a challenge than 12…
