Ploughing futile in regularly cold, distant area of farm (8)
I believe the answer is:
outfield
'distant area of farm' is the definition.
'ploughing futile in regularly cold' is the wordplay.
'ploughing' indicates anagramming the letters (to plough is to break up or disrupt).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'regularly' indicates alternate letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
The alternating letters of 'cold' are 'od'.
'futile' is an anagram of 'utfiel'.
'utfiel' going inside 'od' is 'OUTFIELD'.
(Other definitions for outfield that I've seen before include "Part of pitch furthest from wicket" , "Area furthest from the stumps" , "Distant region of cricket ground" , "Area away from the wicket" .)