Promoting diverse colonies of soil biology to improve plant health is something most regenerative farming systems are based around. And while biology cannot offer consistent control of pests or disease like an agrochemical might, its use is an important piece of the integrated crop management puzzle.

Alex and Joanna Wilcox live and farm with their three sons at Hill Farm near Downham Market on the Norfolk County Council Stow Estate. Covering 240 hectares of Fen silty clay loam, they grow winter milling wheat, winter feed barley, spring malting barley, spring beans and sugar beet.

Collaboration was a key theme of this year’s National Organic Conference. Alice Dyer went along.

Rob farms on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border with his parents and young family, growing combinable and forage crops with a mix of owned, tenanted and contracted land. An agronomist for Edaphos, Rob also hosts AHDB Monitor Farm events.

Developing chickpeas as a novel source of homegrown protein is the focus of a new research project, which will explore the potential for domestic chickpea production and boost the UK’s first chickpea breeding programme.

Simon Nelson advises farmers on a wide range of arable and forage crops across Cumbria, north Lancashire and into south west Scotland. He has worked for Agrovista for 23 years.

With variety decisions for the coming season at the forefront of minds, Alice Dyer attended an AHDB and ADAS Recommended List variety demo in Herefordshire, to find out which varieties are best suited to the West.

A Hertfordshire farmer and former National Farmers' Union deputy president Stuart Roberts has shared how he transformed his farm's safety record in just 30 days, at a cost of less than £750.

With cover crop drilling set to closely follow the combines, Alice Dyer explores what the perfect species mix might look like.