Loosing Our Biggest Asset-or not?

LiDAR Image of the Carrent Catchment - source Environment Agency

Every day is a school day and so we have to keep learning about our environment and how we interact with our natural surroundings.  We are just starting to develop a local group of farmers, with help from Gloucestershire FWAG called the 'Carrant Catchment Restoration Project', with the aim of increasing water quality and biodiversity in the local stream that originates around Bredon Hill.  One of the most staggering bits of information came from our local Environment Agency and uses LiDAR information to look at the erosion risk from farmland.  At first glance this sea of red shows high risk areas all over he top of the hill!  Quite alarming.  We then have to start looking at land use, and some of the red areas are taken out of the equation with woodland and the grassland.  We mustn't ignore the grassland-as significant soil erosion can stem from overgrazed or compacted grassland, but it's the arable area of the hill that is by far and above the largest proportion and so poses the largest risk of erosion.

Surface runoff is caused when the field is at water capacity or when compaction is present, both cause the next rainfall to run downhill taking soil particles with it.  These particles are potentially carrying fertiliser and pesticides off down into the nearest water coarse, causing the very typical brown water often seen after heavy rainfall events.

Winter Barley Rooting Structure on Bredon Hill

Our new system of zero tillage (no till) crop farming is the best way to stop erosion from happening on our fields.  The system means that the soil is not disturbed so it can structure itself to allow more water to enter it, reducing runoff.  By leaving crop residue or by growing cover crops the soil surface is protected form rain droplets, stopping surface compaction from happening.  By not cultivating the land we are not burning the organic content of the fields, reducing green house gas emissions.  From a water storage position the organic matter acts like a sponge so the more we have, the more water we can store before it runs off through the soil profile into the groundwater.  The picture above is from a field that has been in zero tillage for 4 years and is really starting to come to life in many ways.  The crop residue is present and under that a crumbly mixture of roots and soil particles attached to the roots of the plants.  This is just the start of what I hope our soils will turn into over time.

Zerotill Barley

I have to say that I am really pleased with the way the winter barley has emerged this autumn. Drilling started on the top of Bredon Hill on the 22nd September and continues down in the Vale a couple of days later.  This field is down behind Beckford and is following spring barley, which is normal in the rotation.  Oilseed rape will follow this crop.  The barley is destined to be harvested in July 2017 and will hopefully make the grade for Molson Coors Growers group and Carling.  The planting machine (or drill) planted these fields with a target of placing 350 seeds/m2.  We have been using variable rate seeding depending on soil type.  This system uses GPS technology to locate the tractor and change the seed rate depending on the prescription that it has been loaded onto the on board computer. 

With the crop having established so well it will certainly be able to fend off any slugs that might try and eat the leaves.  We did apply one application to the surface after the crop had been planted to protect the seedlings.  Now it's a case of watching and waiting to see what weeds appear through the straw mulch, in an ideal world there won't be any that are too expensive to control.  We will have to wait and see. 

There are so many benefits to the environment in farming this way; the soil is covered and therefore protected from erosion, the straw acts as a mulch reducing weed competition and the residue (previous straw and leaves)breakdown acts as a brilliant source of food for the arm of worms growing under the soil surface.  

Planting Peas Into Cover Crops

The cool spring has certainly held up planting progress on the farm this  year.  The weather felt warmer in December than it did in April which is crazy.  The maximum air temperature for example in December was 13.9 degrees and in April the maximum was only 14.9!  The minimum air temperature in December was 2.1 and April the minimum was lower at -0.9.  

As a result of the cooler temperatures and a wetter start to the year;  Every month since January has been 30% wetter than our 25 year average.  As a result we have 

had to be very patient to wait for the right ground conditions before we could start planting our spring crops.

Barley started on the 23rd March when soil temperatures were rising but the peas really had to wait until we had a constant 10 degrees soil temperature so that they could be planted and emerge very quickly.  This field was planted on the 25th April, on light sandy soil, into brilliant conditions.  The cover crop was a mixture of oil radish and oats which survived the winter and really had started to grow.  The peas germinated within 5 days and this picture was taken at that point and shows the young root just emerging from the seed.  The pink colour is a fungicide to stop disease slowing the growth of the plant in the very early stages.  As you can see from the photograph the cover crop and the use of zero tillage (or direct drilling) has really helped the survival of earthworms in the soil partly through not disturbing their habitat, through cultivations, but also through providing them with a food source through the winter.

So the crop is off to a good start so we will see how the season goes and how many tonnes of mushy peas will be harvested later in the year.

Day 26 - Eye Opener in North Dakota

Well what a day Friday turned out to be!  Two great hosts showing very detailed knowledge and appreciation for the farming systems they are using and how it interacts with the environment.  Farming holistically with nature and mimicking the natural methods used by mother nature to produce density rich quality food.   We started of at Brown's Ranch where we met Gabe Brown.  Gabe farms about 5,000 acres with his son Paul, and some hired help.  The system is split into two main areas, cropping on out lying fields where there is no water and high intensity short periods of grazing on permanent but improved grasslands.  The groups of cows are moved twice a day into tall pasture, they graze the nutrient and carbohydrate rich seed heads and trample the rest back into the soil.  This is not wasted but consumed by the billions of mycorrrhizae and soil bacteria that feed on this carbon.  It is a great system that complements the cow and calf system.  Not fertiliser is used on these fields.  The grass gets grazed once a season, mimicking the grazing patterns of the migrating Bison.  A herd of about 400 cows range these pastures and all of the beef is finished from grass into a premium market.

We also looked and dug around in very different soils.  Some from neighbouring farms with very standard practice.  We looked a soils that just grew spring wheat one year and flax (linseed) the next, and that was very poor.  A little better was a corn, spring barley, sunflower rotation all with zero tillage.  Then we moved on to Gabe's soils which integrated zero tillage, diverse rotation, cover crops and livestock and the soil was incredible. Gabe has not used inorganic fertiliser, insecticides or fungicides for a number of years.  He rarely uses a herbicide, but will do in certain situations, hence he is not organic he's better than that!

The soil fractured so well, was alive with roots, and smelt almost sweet.  It really was a terrific visit, standing in a winter triticale field with grasshoppers leaping every where. There is very little cost to this farming system which Gabe developed after 4 years of drought in the 1990's with no crops to sell and therefore little money to invest.  It was truly inspirational.

We met up with Jay Fuhrer over lunch and afterwards to his office.  Jay in the County NRCS advisor, funded through the USDA.  Jay also looks after the Menoken Demonstartion Farm.  At the office we performed an inflitration and slake test on two soils.  On the left was Gabe Brown soil and on the right was soil from another farm.  The soil in dried out and then crumbled a little before being put into the large centre plastic jars.  The water is then poured into the top yogurt poy with holes and drains through the soil profile and out of the bottom into the silver tray.  Gabes soils passed this water in a minute or so showing fantastiv infiltration.  Just what you need during periods of high intensity rain fall.  The soil on the right took almost 10 minutes to start to drip.  Had this been on a slope the soil erosion would have been incredible, taking soil, attached pesticides and fertilisers into the nearest road or ditch.  Why is it so better? It's all due to soil structure and the airspaces within the soil.  The spaces between the soil particles allow water to pass safely through.  Yes the water did run through the soil but due to the way the nitrogen is stored in the soil only a small percentage was leached.  In fact the poor soil leached twice as much nitrate.  The slake test also clearly demonstrated the ability of Gabe's soil to stick together.  This is due to the root exudates, simple sugars given off by roots, binding the soil together making it more stable and able to withstand traffic and heavy rain fall.  

In order to keep the soil healthy it needs to be fed carbon and protein.  THis is added into Jay's system at the research farm by using cover crops.  The one shown below contains; peas, oats, phacelia, wheat, radish, canola, turnips and clover.  The insect life it was supporting was incredible, honey bees everywhere.  This cool season cover crop is just grown through the early part of the summer but it would be great to try this at home after harvest and before a spring crop.  All of these roots are releasing sugars, moving nutrients around and making locked up nutrients available to the plants.  N fertiliser has been applied since 2009 on this plot.

Another interesting idea was a type of companion cropping.  IN the picture below, the crop is sunflowers, planted at 30" spacings and inter-seeded between them, so at 15" was a cover crop.  This broadleaved cover crop had buckwheat, flax, soybeans, cow peas, peas, radish and turnip.  The idea was that the cover crop would grow along side the main 'cash crop' and they would provide make available nutrients the nutrients required.  For instance the buckwheat would release Phosphate from the soil and the legumes would provide a proportion the nitrogen required.  THis is an experimental farm so no extra inorganic fertiliser is applied but in a commercial scenario it is thought that fertilser's could be reduced by 50%.  Are we mining these soil by getting the bugs to harvest the locked up nutrients?  An interesting thought so an inclusion of compost, manure or sewage cake might be a good inclusion.

The whole day was a real eye opener to look at what can be achieved.  Should be be aiming slightly lower, taking the cost out of the system and making us more resilient to future changes in or climate?  I don't know but this has mad me look at things a different way.  In conclusion, the best most sustainable farming system would be, zero tillage, diverse cropping, cover crops, manure applications and livestock.  So not much research there then!  North Dakota was definitely worth including on the tour and a huge thanks must go out to Gabe Brown and Jay Fuhrer.