Guy Eckley moved to using cover crops and direct drilling to improve efficiency on his Kent arable farm in case the price of wheat suddenly plummeted.That was five years ago. So with wheat prices at rock bottom, he is glad he made his prescient move, which helped bring renewed life to his cold, wet Weald clays at Saynden Farm on the edge of Staple-hurst, six miles south of Maidstone.Wheat yields are now rising, while troublesome blackgrass levels are falling as cover crops - grazed off by sheep -boost the organic matter content of his hungry soils.
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