For Tony Reynolds and his son-in-law Clive Patrick, this autumn's sowing conditions have proved a severe test on the mixed soils they farm near Bourne, Lincolnshire, and their mainly heavier land at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. "We consider that the yields we achieved this year are sufficiently encouraging to continue full-blooded with our no-till system," says Mr Reynolds, Fanners Weekly's Midlands Barometer grower. "Nonetheless we're still looking for the perfect no-till drill, and I'm very interested in seeing every offer that's on the market." The main spur for their move from more conventional establishment methods was not so much to reduce costs as to revive their soils. On much of the land these were becoming increasingly lifeless and losing fertility.
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