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Practical farm management magazine

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The practical  magazine  for  practical  farmers

We've been sharing bright ideas from inventive farmers since 1992, the year after founder-editor and 1st gen dairy farmer Mike Donovan won the Bath&West medal for the Farmers' Brainwaves Competition. He thought farmers would be interested in sharing workshop projects such as the two he took to the show (a grassland aerator, and low cost adjustable cattle penning) and the multitude of ways the other farmers competing had designed and improved equipment to reduce time and effort and manage money better. He also thought they would be interested in getting away from the advertising laden farming press.     

* Published quarterly since 1992   * No advertising or sponsors   
* Focused on practical cost cutting    * 5,000 projects, 6,144 pages over 32 years

Take out a subscription, search for specific topics in the Indexes, buy a digital or paper back issue


This revised website means you can now get digital as well as mailed copies.


Find out our history, aims and objectives, ambitions


Every day a farmer new to Practical Farm Ideas says "I wish I had joined years ago"

A few comments from readers


"Mike, I hope you and the team are doing well. Thank you for your fantastic work in getting out this essential publication. Karl Broderick

"Looking forward to another issue. Great magazine thanks for all the effort in putting it together. Mark McCaughtley

"I really do believe that reading your editorials and financial pages has hugely contributed to our success. Best of luck — you can always call in if you are about anytime. Adrian Marsh, Craven Arms

"Mike and team - congrats and thanks for all the useful and interesting reading through the years - a good job well done... many, many thanks' says Greg McGovern from Co Cavan 

"Keep up the good work. PFI is the only farm mag out of about six we get that I read every word, cover to cover. Excellent" wrote Mr Knight of Minehead, Som.

"I find your magazine excellent with some terrific ideas, many of which I have used and/or adapted over these past few years. Keep up the good work. Best regards  John Gilgunn


Hello all!    It's encouraging to get these kind words, and yes, Practical Farm Ideas will continue to publish material that helps all readers. Of course we are always looking for those fantastic problem solvers, so, any help in unearthing them is much appreciated!

PFI News

Groundswell Festival 2025
The next is on 2 - 3 July 2025
    Groundswell is the UK’s only two-day on-farm regenerative agriculture conference. This year the event was a sell-out. With over 100 sessions involving 200 speakers it provided a powerful stage for all to share their expertise.
    To ensure the event was inclusive for everyone, sessions included “First Principles” for those at the start of their No-till journey, through to advanced sessions looking at integrated pest and disease management and enhancing underground communications.

    Practical Farm Ideas has been a supporter from year one, seeing attendance grow from around 400 to this year's 6,000. We suggest booking as early as you can.
Event Director, Alex Cherry  www.groundswellag.com

Lannock Manor Farm, Hertfordshire, SG4 7EE

Please mention Practical Farm Ideas when contacting Groundswell.  Thanks.

The current issue:

Farm Ideas issue #130 September - December 2024

The magazine cover shows a soil penetrometer, a machine to measure the hardness of the soil. The article suggests how to get the most from it. It’s easy to use; provides useful data; helps decide what remedial work (if any) is beneficial. The headline says “THIS could be the most valuable tool on your farm”. 

The left hand pic shows one of five ponds used to store irrigation water on an arable farm which is now growing high value herbs and roots for the retail trade. Their farming system has changed massively, and the article shows how this is done co-operatively. The business has moved with the times and has embraced and spearheaded technology in the grain store and in the field. 

The pic on the right is a modernised Fordson Major with six key modifications which make it more useful for regular work. There’s a place for some of these modifications in Africa and other developing areas of the world. 

This issue of Practical Farm Ideas explores a farm workshop which is in near constant use, as it takes in work from a number of local farms, including Land Rover Defender and earlier refurbs. 

A farm designed and built remotely controlled grain store with multiple sensors copied to actuator controlled vents saves electricity and grain damage. A similar system is used to regulate the herb crop irrigation which uses five ponds and a ring main around the 600 acres, with some five mobile pumps. 

The Financial Focus checks out the value of changing bank accounts and also doing the same with pensions — something often suggested by TV advisors.

SUBSCRIBE and get this issue now    

What is your major farming interest?

Click to get the Index with article titles of greatest interest to you. Many back issues are still available in paper, and more as digital. Other Indexes such as Workshop,  Grass, Muck and Slurry, Farm Workshop made Toys, and General Farming ideas


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Finance

Financial Focus Index

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Livestock

Livestock Index

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Soil+ Cover Crops

Environment Index

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Arable farming

Arable Index


Practical Farm Ideas provides a means for farmers to share time and money-saving tips, workshop innovations; management ideas, and a whole lot more. From simple tips to complex projects, all are published in a 48 page paper magazine which is also in digital format. Each issue is 100 per cent editorial, which means no adverts or sponsored articles. Digital issues are inexpensive and available for many back copies. 

               There are many ideas and methods you won't have seen before, all from cost conscious farmers.. Much of this material comes from personal visits.  We look to the future rather than the past and over the 30 years we have been publishing have been in front of many trends.  A one year subscription (4 issues) is £18.50 + p&p.

               I invite you to join one of the most effective farm ideas clubs going. We currently have subscribers in Ireland, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Falklands, France, Finland, Turkey.


Soil+ Cover Cropping International

We started the Soil+Cover Crops section in 2013 - Vol 22-2. Readers found previous soil articles vaulable, so we made it a special category. Practical Farm Ideas remains the only general UK farming publication with 'Soil' in its title. Articles are wide ranging, are not repetitive or highly technical. Editor Mike Donovan says "If I can't understand it, it doesn't go in" Articles describe hands-on ways to convert to no-till;  to select cover crops; to improve soil structure and fertility.

     NB  Mike has been editor of Direct Driller magazine since it's inception in 2018 

  • 3m direct drill built in farm workshop

    'Made it Myself' 3m direct drill

    Built on strong Bamford cultivator frame with liquid fert, pellets, rape distributor all for £10k. Drills over 1,000 ac / year

    See issue 26-1

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Subscription management

Subscriptions are managed by SimpleCirc.com who manage 2,400 magazine titles. Your order is confidentially processed by SimpleCirc who also send reminders and other emails from ourselves in Ross-on-Wye. 

Payment system - how it works

Click subscribe and the page moves from farmideas.co.uk to the practical-farm-ideas account on SimpleCirc. Your selection of subscription options is done on their site. Your order details and delivery address are stored on a sales ledger and when you click to pay the order is transferred to Stripe.com, the on-line banking portal which connects with your bank. So your bank details are known only by Stripe, and your personal details by SimpleCirc and by ourselves, needed so we can send the order to you.   

Subscribe and Renew

Practical Farm Ideas -farming skills cut farm work and farming costs

 Today, Practical Farm Ideas is helping thousands of farmers through difficult times, as it has done for the past 32 years. Low cost farm workshop projects to reduce the time and effort taken for routine farm work; ways to manage farm crops and farm livestock better; comments (bad as well as good) from machinery users; taking a hard look at farming futures and diversification ideas. Farming skills , farming costs , farming methods , farm income , farm profit , farm commodities , farming forecasts , farm futures are all benefitted by a subscription.The magazine is unique in carrying no advertising which provides the editorial with the single purpose of helping readers cut their farming costs in a wide variety of ways. The farming futures for today are confused and a source of concern for many. Farmers are encouraged to modernise and upgrade equipment, but this is often in the shadow of reducing value of many farm commodities. The farming forecasts for gross returns provide little surplus after the forecast farming costs are incorporated. Improving farming skills is just one way to improve farm income and farm profit. Farm workshop projects should never be seen as tinkering and a waste of time. Very many we see and report on have a huge return on capital - a grain cleaner with building costs £1,000 reduced the stoppages for poor quality by £3,000. A home designed and built log processor is the centre of a new business. Farm income is improved each time costs are reduced. Many consultants, advisors and bankers encourage their clients to read through Practical Farm Ideas for ideas which will cut their future farming costs. To conclude: this is a farming magazine designed to provide useful help to farmers on every page. The no advertising policy might reduce the publisher's returns but with every page focussed on helping to cut farming costs the project has been well worth while. Subscribers find they can commnicate positively with the editor and others, can contribute and become part of a loosely formed family of farmers who see their way forward by raising farm income through cutting farming costs.

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