Practical Farm Ideas

Last updated

Practical Farm Ideas is a printed magazine covering all aspects of agriculture. [1] [2] Published four times a year by MIDO Publications, the content features agricultural machinery devised and built by farmers in their workshops. [3] Many of these one-off innovations have wide application in the industry. The purpose of the magazine is to disseminate these ideas so that all farmers can learn about them and benefit. [4] [5]

Contents

The magazine also has articles about innovative commercial farm equipment [6] and other articles of general interest to farmers. [7]

History

The first issue of Practical Farm Ideas was published in May 1992, and carried the slogan "For the brightest ideas in Farming". The magazine is all editorial, with no advertising or sponsored articles. [8]

Practical Farm Ideas is available globally, directly from the publisher but also through national newsagents and national subscription agents. The magazine is used as a school resource and has been found useful in holding the attention of aspiring farmers whose interest is focused on tractors and harvesters. It provides inspiration for farmers who use their workshop to adapt and improve manufactured machinery as well as making equipment to their own design. The magazine supports farming events run by the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs such as their 2012 challenge on how to enhance the farmed environment. The publication contributed to Tomorrow, Today, a major exhibition featuring farm innovation at the [Royal Welsh Show] 2013. It works with those agricultural shows the Bath & West show being the initial seed corn for the magazine's creation. The editor is judging farm machinery inventions in the 2022 Norfolk Show.

The Agri-Web Award scheme is a valued accolade for farmers, companies and organisations whose website and internet presence is of importance to the farming community. The magazine also provides prizes to young farmers' organizations. [9]

In 2014 the editor is Mike Donovan, a long-standing member of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community-supported agriculture</span> Type of sharing system for food production and distribution

Community-supported agriculture or cropsharing is a system that connects producers and consumers within the food system closer by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution that allows the producer and consumer to share the risks of farming. The model is a subcategory of civic agriculture that has an overarching goal of strengthening a sense of community through local markets.

A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree of self-sufficiency, autonomy, and local community than found in a prevailing industrial or postindustrial way of life. There have been a variety of motives behind such movements, such as social reform, land reform, and civilian war efforts. Groups involved have included political reformers, counterculture hippies, and religious separatists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanised agriculture</span> Agriculture using powered machinery

Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm task formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural cooperative</span> Autonomous association of farmers and food producers

An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a producer cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Agricultural Society of England</span> Society; promotes the scientific development of agriculture

The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) promotes the scientific development of English agriculture. It was established in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science" and was known as the English Agricultural Society until it received its Royal Charter and present name from Queen Victoria in 1840.

The National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs (NFYFC) is a rural youth organisation and in the United Kingdom. The Federation covers various Young Farmers' Clubs (YFCs) throughout England and Wales, helping support young people in agriculture and the countryside. It does not include YFCs from Scotland or Ireland.

RFD-TV is an American pay television channel owned by Rural Media Group, Inc. The channel features programming devoted to rural issues, concerns and interests. The channel's name is a reference to Rural Free Delivery, the name for the United States Postal Service's system of delivering mail directly to rural patrons. Production and uplinking facilities for RFD-TV are located at 49 Music Square West, Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. RFD-TV's sister radio channel is Rural Radio on Sirius XM. RFD-TV formerly owned a theater in Branson, Missouri where some variety shows that air on RFD-TV were filmed, as well as the Imus Ranch in Ribera, New Mexico.

New Holland is a global full-line agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in New Holland, Pennsylvania, and now based in Turin, Italy. New Holland's products include tractors, combine harvesters, balers, forage harvesters, self-propelled sprayers, haying tools, seeding equipment, hobby tractors, utility vehicles and implements, and grape harvesters. Originally formed as the New Holland Machine Company in 1895, the company is now owned by CNH Industrial N. V., a company incorporated in the Netherlands.

Booker T. Whatley was an agriculture professor at Tuskegee University, Alabama, and a pioneer of sustainable agriculture in the post-World War II era. He also aimed to "generate an agrarian black middle class".

<i>Farmers Guide</i>

Farmers Guide is the UK's leading monthly farming magazine, providing the English agricultural industry with advertising both for its readers and their suppliers. Farmers Guide is a family-owned publishing business. Founded in 1979 Farmers Guide was initially mailed free and direct to farmers and agricultural contractors in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambs. It is now national and is mailed free and direct to 30,000+ farmers, decision-makers, contractors and suppliers across the UK. With a huge, growing digital presence and providing free FarmAds for every agricultural reader.

Belt Pulley was a U.S.-based magazine dedicated to antique farm tractors of all brands and makes. It published successfully for over 2 decades and was one of the best known titles in the category. It was a family business run first by the Aumann family and then by the Elmore family. In 2009 it was sold, and the new owner eventually changed the name of the publication to Vintage Tractor Digest. This ended its publication under the Belt Pulley title.

<i>Hobby Farms</i> (magazine)

Hobby Farms is a bimonthly magazine, devoted to the life of hobby farmers, homesteaders and small producers. Its editorial offices are based in Lexington, Kentucky. Hobby Farms magazine's tagline is "Rural Living for Pleasure and Profit". The magazine is known for its award-winning design and photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural engineering</span> Application of engineering for agricultural purposes

Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, environmental, software, and chemical engineering to improve the efficiency of farms and agribusiness enterprises as well as to ensure sustainability of natural and renewable resources.

Agriculture in the United Arab Emirates, including fishing, was a minor part of the UAE economy in the early 1990s, contributing less than 4 percent of GDP. Since the formation of the UAE, the availability of capital and the demand for fresh produce have encouraged agricultural development. The main farming areas are Digdaga in Ras al-Khaimah. Falaj al Mualla in Umm al Qawain, Wadi adh Dhayd in Sharjah, Al Awir in Dubai and the coastal area of Al Fujairah. Total cultivable land was around 70,000 hectares as of the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural machinery</span> Machinery used in farming or other agriculture

Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. Machinery is used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed.

The Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) was founded in 1929 by W.S. Armour in Limavady, Northern Ireland. Since its creation, YFCU has grown into an association of 52 local self-governing and youth-led clubs, with a headquarters in Belfast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Driverless tractor</span> Autonomous farm vehicle

A driverless tractor is an autonomous farm vehicle that delivers a high tractive effort at slow speeds for the purposes of tillage and other agricultural tasks. It is considered driverless because it operates without the presence of a human inside the tractor itself. Like other unmanned ground vehicles, they are programmed to independently observe their position, decide speed, and avoid obstacles such as people, animals, or objects in the field while performing their task. The various driverless tractors are split into full autonomous technology and supervised autonomy. The idea of the driverless tractor appears as early as 1940, but the concept has significantly evolved in the last few years. The tractors use GPS and other wireless technologies to farm land without requiring a driver. They operate simply with the aid of a supervisor monitoring the progress at a control station or with a manned tractor in lead.

Contract farming involves agricultural production being carried out on the basis of an agreement between the buyer and farm producers. Sometimes it involves the buyer specifying the quality required and the price, with the farmer agreeing to deliver at a future date. More commonly, however, contracts outline conditions for the production of farm products and for their delivery to the buyer's premises. The farmer undertakes to supply agreed quantities of a crop or livestock product, based on the quality standards and delivery requirements of the purchaser. In return, the buyer, usually a company, agrees to buy the product, often at a price that is established in advance. The company often also agrees to support the farmer through, e.g., supplying inputs, assisting with land preparation, providing production advice and transporting produce to its premises. The term "outgrower scheme" is sometimes used synonymously with contract farming, most commonly in Eastern and Southern Africa. Contract farming can be used for many agricultural products, although in developing countries it is less common for staple crops such as rice and maize.

<i>Modern Farmer</i> (magazine) American quarterly magazine

Modern Farmer is a quarterly American magazine devoted to agriculture and food, founded in April 2013. The magazine is unique in that it attempts to have equally rural and urban readers, and to "appeal to the person who wants to romanticize farming and the person who is knee deep in turkey droppings", according to The New York Times. In 2014, the publication won the National Magazine Awards for the Magazine Section.

<i>Farm Debt Mediation Act</i>

The Farm Debt Mediation Act ("FDMA") is an act of the Parliament of Canada that enables a debt advisory service to insolvent farmers by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as well as certain protective provisions available to help facilitate mediation with creditors while allowing such farmers to continue their operations.

References

  1. ↑ walesonline Administrator. "Spreading new ideas to help harvest the profits". walesonline.
  2. ↑ HighBeam [ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "FarmingWatch: New inventions wanted". Western Mail. Cardiff, Wales: MGN Ltd. 14 January 2003. Retrieved 24 October 2023– via TheFreeLibrary.
  4. ↑ Richard Swift. "Year of living dangerously -- New Internationalist". newint.org.
  5. ↑ "Farmers to shun GM and turn to new techniques, says magazine" Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine . Sustainable Review.
  6. ↑ "FARM SHOW - Bale Trailer Cage Holds Big Loads In Place". farmshow.com.
  7. ↑ walesonline Administrator (12 January 2010). "Calls for a review on old rules of farm safety". walesonline.
  8. ↑ "Mike Donovan". Linkedin. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  9. ↑ NFYFC (5 April 2015). "NFYFC-Latest News". nfyfc.org.uk.
  10. ↑ Mole Valley Farmers Newsletter Archived 7 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine (subscription required)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.