JOHN Ferrier reckons if you can’t read a book by its cover, you can’t always judge a paddock by its topsoil either.

Which is why the Mallee farmer has been steadily working his way across his family farm’s 5000ha, starting with the vetch and having already completed the canola and the barley is expected to be done by the weekend.

When he will turn his attention to the lentils.

But with a ...