DEAR SIR

As a retired tillage farmer, I still take a great interest in all things farming but I notice recently that min till seems to be shoved down the necks of farmers and your paper is no different. Nearly every article by Mr Potterton is taken up banging on about his min till and how great it is or his Fendt tractor. But I had to laugh when I saw a picture of Mr Potterton having to resort to the old reliable on the Irish Farmers Journal of 18 November, a picture of him sowing into ploughed ground which proves you can’t beat the plough.

And yes, like Mr Potterton I drive a jeep and used to get great pleasure in looking over the hedges of different farmers’ fields to look at the neat rows of recently drilled cereals but now, after min till, you wonder is it dirt growing in the fields or is it a cereal crop of some sort. For me, in my opinion, min till is a lazy way of farming and no point in asking what the yield was because you would not be told the truth. These farmers don’t want to admit that ploughing still produces the better crop. But the proof for me is that a lot of farmers that I know that tried min till have gone back to the plough. It takes a good man to admit when he got it wrong.