Farming in Amazement

Ewes Grazing Cover Crops

Farming never ceases to amaze me! This time last year we were gripped in the clutches of the 'Beast from the East' and this year, (at the moment) it feels like the 20th April not the 20th February. Soil conditions are lovely and the first doses of fertiliser are being applied on smooth dry fields. Under the surface the soil has benefited form the dry summer and dry winter, with increasingly good structure being observed every time we dig a hole. The ewes in mid pregnancy now are jumping about like spring lambs every time they are moved from cover crop to cover crop field.

Soil Structure After Sheep Grazing

The pressure is on the grazing girls to eat fast as spring crops need to be planted soon. With dry weather forecast hopefully we will start planting next week, almost 2 months earlier than last year and 3 weeks earlier than normal. First on the planting list will be spring barley, followed by the peas in a few weeks time.
The sheep have a done a great job grazing off the rye and vetch on the hill and soon they will be split up into their grazing groups ready for lambing and its back onto the grassland then. The use of cover crops has some many wider benefits as well as reducing costs in the farming system system. Under this stone on the headland I discovered a fantastic population of Carabid (Ground) Beetles all waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting prey. There are over 350 species in the UK, does anyone know what these ones are? The adults and larvae will feed on other invertebrates, slugs, snails and carrion. Some smaller species will also feed on aphids, so they could be a very helpful ally in the season ahead.

Carabid Beetles In Cover Crops

One slight worry that I have is that we are too dry. There is no water in the ditches and the springs are low as well. Could this be another very dry, drought year on the back of 2018? Time will tell but if we can get our crops established now into good conditions to allow roots to grow, develop and explore as much of the soil as possible we stand the best chance of making the most of the weather ahead.

Cover Crop Benefits

Catchment Sensitive Farmers Meeting

I had a really fascinating day in Dorset today, exploring the use of cover crops to capture nutrients, (mainly nitrates) and stop them being washed through the soil profile and into ground water. The day was organised by Wessex Water and the Catchment Sensitive Farming organisation. Fellow Nuffield Scholar Tim Stephens and his team have put together a matrix of different cover crop species and seeding rates to look at establishment, nutrient capture and suitability within the field. The catchment also has porous dotted around the fields and every 2 weeks from October to the end of January samples are taken and the levels of nitrate in the water assessed. These values are then turned in to a Kg/Ha of nitrogen to give farmers a vital guide as to where leaching is occurring in the farming rotation and how much is being lost and when leaching occurs.

It seems that the worst leaching occurs after Oilseed Rape and Wheat, probably due to the higher levels of fertiliser they receive but also due to the very inefficient way these plants use the applied nitrogen. Wheat for example is only about 60% efficient when looking at applied or synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Where cover crops are used the leached level of nitrogen is about 50% that of land farmed without cover crops. This has a significant impact when looking at the catchment as a whole. It is great credit to Wessex Water that they have decided to take this partnership approach to try and reduce diffuse pollution working together with the farmers in the catchment.

Beneficial and Pest Numbers in the Cover Crops

Also on hand were a team of entomologists who have been assessing the impact of cover crops on the insect population. The picture above shows the numbers of insects trapped over a 7 day period. The 2 trays on the left show the beneficial's and on the right are the pests. The top half shows the numbers and type captured in the cover crop field (oil radish and phacelia) and the bottom half shows what was captured from a control field i.e. no cover crop. This level of detail is very encouraging. This clearly demonstrates that cover crops are hosting higher insect levels all round but significantly more beneficial insects that will predate the pests. This is so important when looking at using an Integrated Farm Management approach to try and reduce the amount of pesticides we might want or need to use. There were lots of carabid beetles, who's larvae predate slugs which is also very positive. The benefits weren't just in this cover crop species mix. the photo below shows what was captured within a buckwheat, oil radish and phacelia mix. The predator list includes, carabid beetles, springtails, harvestman spiders (not really spiders at all), ants, spiders, and parasitic wasps. The pest list includes mites, flies, aphids, snails and a slug.

Beneficial Insects and Pests trapped from Cover Crops

The session continued in the local village hall with a great presentation on 'Making the Most of Cover Crops' by Ian from Oakbank. Ian talked about different cover crop mixes, how and when to establish them, and the merits of diverse mixes and the impact of this type of farming can have to the on the bottom line and the better environment. A great day of learning.

Grazing Ewes on Cover Crops

Ewes Grazing Cover Crops

Well the rams have really been doing their stuff in the last 4 weeks with almost all of the ewes now hopefully pregnant.  In the first week over 600 ewes were mated, as indicated by the chalk dye that the rams leave of the rumps of the ewes during mating.  The colour is changed every week so we have an idea of which ewes are likely to be lambing and when. The gestation period is about 5 months so we're on for a mid April lambing, which next year will be outside for the majority of the flock for the first time.

At the moment all of the ewes are out grazing the cover crops on the arable fields.  The cover crops are a mixture of forage rye and vetch or black oats and vetch with a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure.  These extras include phacelia, buckwheat and berseem clover.

The hard spell of weather recently, although it didn't last very long, has certainly knocked the cover crops down but it hasn't killed them and we are getting some regrowth on the rye fields.  This will hopefully continue over the winter and into the spring to enable another grazing before the ewes lamb and the fields are planted with spring cropping. The field below is due to be planted with Soya Beans in late April so we should get a second grazing before then.

Cover Crop After Ewe Grazing

The ewes are doing a great job of eating the majority of the green material. But it's not just the cover crops, volunteer wheat and some black grass as well, whilst trampling some of the material into the soil to feed the microbes and worms. This is a great news as the field/soil surface looks well protected from the heavy winter rainfall that we must surely get at some point.  We'll have to watch it on the heavy land fields so that we don't get too much surface compaction if it gets too wet, but we are not there yet.  The soil has restructured itself  beautifully on the clay soil part of the farm enough to carry stock, but it has taken 3-5 years of no till to reach this point. There is still a long way to go until the spring so we'll have to see how things progress.

Crimper Conundrum

There is so much public awareness of the perceived issues with Glyphostate at the moment even though 3300 studies have shown it to be a very benign chemical when used correctly in the field.  With any potential restriction on its use being enforced on us I wanted to have a look at an alternative method of killing a cover crop before we plant our harvestable, or cash crop, into the field.  To me a cover crop can only enhance the soil and the wider environment.  It shields the soil from rain, reducing runoff and erosion; it feeds the soil biology with carbohydrates and encourages the development of below ground microbial populations; provides winter feed for our sheep; increases soil organic matter to hold more nutrients and water-its a no brainier for the farm and the wider environment.

Black Oat and Vetch Covercrop

Without glyphosate the termination, or killing, of these crops could prove to be very tricky in our maritime climate.  The cover crop can grow rather large and I don't want to have endless passes with toppers or cultivators to kill the cover crops.  Doing this is expensive, uses fossil fuel and releases CO2, cultivations mean even more CO2 released from the organic matter held in the soil, as it is exposed to oxygen, it means more tractors on the land, causing compaction where they drive which can lead to poorer water infiltration and therefore soil erosion.  So what's an alternative?

With a loan of a crimper roller from Cotswold Grass Seeds (thank you) we had a little play in a large cover crop of black oats, vetch, phacelia and berceem clover.

The idea of the crimper roller is to lay the plants down and squash the stems with metal blades in the hope that this bends or cuts the stems stopping nutrients getting up the stem into the top of the plants, end result being the killing of the cover crop, and any nests or wildlife that gets in the way-but we'll gloss over that for now!

Crimper Roller

We tried the crimper roller on the back of a tractor at first and drove in reverse to make the chevrons point in the right direction but ended up going in round in circles!  So we unhitched the weights from the front linkage of another tractor and set off across the field at 10kph, with the crimper on the front with a bit more success!  The roller weighed in at 620Kg for a 2m machine so about 310kg/m.

Crimped Covercrop 7 Days Post Crimping

I came back to the plot 7 days later to see if it had actually worked and I am sorry to say that it didn't. The oats seems to still be alive and the vetch, which I though would have been totally animated, were still just about hanging on.  The concern for me is we need to find something that works consistently every year and as every season if different.  We need to grow significant levels amounts of green matter and these need killing-somehow.

Maybe we used the wrong machine, maybe at the wrong time  for the plants growth stage,or at the wrong speed or it wasn't heavy enough?  Maybe we need to graze some of the covers down first to weaken then plants?  Maybe it just doesn't work in our climate where we don't always have a frost to follow up and finish off the wounded crop?  Who knows and more work needs to be done, but for now I am not impressed.

Looking Underground for Long Term Solutions

I had a really nice comment, via a good friend, from a local retired farmer. "Bredon Hill is looking very green".  Now I am not sure it was meant as a complement or a statement but I shall take it as the former as that is what we are trying to achieve.  We need to cover up, indeed don't farm naked, to protector our biggest and most valuable asset, our soil.

Buckwheat Companion Crop with Oilseed Rape

We have had a really super summer and autumn, after the damp and cloudy June, we've had good sunlight, warm temperatures and periodic rain events.  It reminds me of the summers I can remember growing up as a child, endless days of sunshine.  Harvest ran like a dream, our new header performing very well and crops nice and dry, although the yields were disappointing they were on par with our neighbours, which with a completely new system is very encouraging indeed.

The cover crops we have planted have all grown very well indeed and are now producing many environmental benefits.  The most obvious to see is the huge array of flowers producing pollen and nectar for insects to feed on.  During the sunny afternoons these fields are filled with bees.  There is so much insect feed available that a local bee keeper has brought 6 hives down for his bees to feed on the flowering buckwheat.

Buckwheat Root, Root Hairs and Mycorrhizal Fungi

There is also a lot going on underground that we are unable to see, unable to really understand, but we are starting to explore the dark world of the plant and fungal interaction.  The fact that we have plants growing in our soils means that they are capturing every bit of sunshine and turning it into organic matter.  They are growing roots, root hairs, leaves, stems and even fruit.  All of this is capturing carbon from the atmosphere and locking it up in the soil.  The roots are pushing into the soil, helping to repair soil structure so that when we get heavy rains it will infiltrate the soil rather than run off.  The leaves will intercept rain droplets and stop them compacting the soil surface.  The roots are feeding the fungal and bacterial populations in the soil, helping to build a web of different colonies able to scavenge for nutrients as the plants need them.  As these populations grow, they excrete waste which the plants can use.  The waste has a high level of nitrogen in it, which is a key nutrient for our crops, so we can in time use less natural resources in the form of fertiliser.

Cross Slot Drill Planting Wheat into Buckwheat Covercrop

One of the key aspects of making this system work is by having a planting machine (drill) that can cut through these heavy crop and cover crop residues to get he seeds into the soil with good seed placement.  The fact that we can also add starter fertiliser and any slug control products at the same time makes this a very efficient system.  Its better for the environment, better for our productivity and our profitability.  In an uncertain; post Brexit world, where farm support will be reduced, reducing costs and reliance on purchased inputs will be essential to arable farming survival but I believe we are developing a system that will enable us to achieve this.

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.

The 5 Minute Fallow

The 5 Minute Fallow

Well after 2 years of trialling and testing, of calculating and studying our Cross Slot drill has finally arrived, imported all the way form New Zealand.  I say finally arrived, it actually arrived in July 2015 but shamefully I have neglected my blog, so here's an update on my latest thinking and plans.

The 5 minute fallow is the first place to start.  The picture above shows the drill planting a cover crop mix directly behind the combine.  Why are we doing this, I hear you ask?  The cover crop plants will stay in the ground after the oilseed rape has been harvested and before we plant wheat in the same field.  The job of the cover crop is to:

Cover Crop at 4 weeks old

1. Intercept the sunlight during the period of maximum radiation and turn that sunlight into roots, shoots and leaves.  This plant material will have several benefits to the new zero tillage farming system we are adopting.  The roots will penetrate down in to the soil breaking up soil compaction, create drainage channels (when they die) and release sugars in the soil to feed the soil fungi and bacteria, which in turn feed earthworms.
2. The leaves and stems of the plants will store nutrients that might otherwise leak or escape from the soil which could create pollution.  Things like sulphate and nitrate are very soluble in water  but non-mobile when part of a plant.
3. Create soil armour.  August has always been the farms wettest month, with heavy thundery summer storms hammering down on the soil surface.  By having a protective shield on the surface, in the form of leaves, the rainfall is intercepted and can infiltrate at a faster rate, with reduced micro compaction on the surface.
4. When the cover crop is destroyed the dead material will slowly turn into organic matter (OM) which can hold greater amounts of nutrients and water than mineral particles.  OM can potentially hold 10x more water than the mineral soil alone.  Few arable soils in the UK or around the world have OM levels greater than 5%, which is where it needs to be as a minimum.  The OM will help to feed the soil bacteria and fungi which in turn will help to feed our crops.
5. Reduce weeds in the seed bank, as some of the seeds will be germinated when the cover crop is planted which will be destroyed with the cover crop.

After the cover crop comes the main crop in the case of the field below, wheat. This picture was taken at the end of October when the crop was about 4 weeks old and shows good even plant establishment with little sign of pest (slug) activity.  The crop, if anything, is a little too thick.  

Wheat Planted after Cover Crop

A cover crop is not a "fix all problems in the field from a bag, rather than a chemical container" but it does have a lot of advantages when it comes to improving the soil health and workability of the soil.  It will contribute to increasing OM levels and it will create drainage channels to improve water infiltration into the soil, key when reducing soil erosion and storing more water in the fields, and can help reduce flooding down-stream.  We use cover crops to reduce the exposure of our soils to the elements of wind, sun and water; all of which have massive long term benefits.  I will be back with a follow up blog on dealing with cover crops and getting the next crop established through increased levels of crop residue.

Cross Slot And Cover Crops Farm Walk

Basking in the first real sunshine of the spring, and on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far; in conduction with Agrii we hosted a fan walk looking at direct drilling and the use of cover crops on the farm.  We had farmers from as far a field as Kent (Tom Sewell and Guy Eckley) and Lincolnshire (Jono Dixon) and Wiltshire (George Hosier) as well as many closer to home.  The interest shown and the discussions started really made for a very interesting and educational day. 

We talked about drilling techniques and could direct drilling have an effect on weed populations and what about slugs with more crop residue (not trash) on the crop surface?  Can we control these issues more effectively with better, longer crop rotations, direct drilling and with less reliance on pesticides?  We talked about subsoiling and should we be doing it or whether we could use cover crops, as demonstrated by Jono (below) to do the subsoiling for us?

The roots of the cover crops can easily go down to 1m over an autumn and winter if planted early enough; the ideal time is when the combine is still in the field, when moisture is usually available to get the crop off to the perfect start, or even spun into the crop pre-harvest.

We also talked about the blend, or the mix of the cover crops and what purpose they are being grown for.  Are they there to protect the soil surface, or to remove compaction or to increase organic matter or to provide a winter forage supply for the livestock?  We also talked about nitrogen fertiliser and should we be investing in fertiliser to maximise the benefits of the crop and the financial investment of the seed?  It really was a great morning of very thought provoking idea sharing.  We ended up in the Yew Tree pub for chips and sandwiches before everyone headed home.  Thanks to everyone who turned up and contributed, and to Agrii for supplying the bacon rolls and the lunch!

Cover Up or Laid Bare?

One of the key messages I have learnt from my Nuffield travels this year has been the need to look after  and feed the soil whenever possible.  This is fundamental to the farming system here in the UK.  If we look back 10,000 years the country was covered in trees and grasses; fields weren't created and there was no bare land.  It had something growing on it all of the time and this is what I feel we have to recreate now.  The soil is alive, or at least it should be.  It should be alive with bacteria, fungi and worms constantly re-cycling dead and decaying matter to release nutrients that we can then recycle.  With this in mind, the area of land going into spring cropping that doesn't not have a cover crop on it is down to the bare minimum 30Ha that we have as part of our Stewardship Agreement.

The picture below shows a field that has been split with two scenarios.  Half is in cover crops and half has been left as over winter stubble; although we had to do a light cultivation to get anything to green up.  Modern combines do not leave much grain behind.  The field will be direct drilled with spring barley next year and I can't wait to see what difference the cover crop will have made to the soil health, friability and structure.  Will it warm and dry faster with a crop on it?

The mix contains mustard, to produce organic matter, peas to fix a little nitrogen; oats, forage rye and volunteer wheat to mop up residual nitrogen, fodder radish to push tap roots into the soil and reduce compaction and turnips, just in case we run some sheep over the field.  I have a few observations so far that I would like to share.  The crop needs to be established as soon as the combine leaves the field to maximise the moisture left in the soil.  Any soil surface exposure to sunlight and no crop cover and vital moisture is rapidly lost.  This was a lesson learnt in Oklahoma where a second crop of sesame was being planted directly into wheat stubble in 45 degree heat!  Where the soil is moved we are getting a nice germination of weed seeds as well, so there is a nice flush of black grass and brome, all adds to reducing the seed bank in the top few inches of soil.  The field also walks well, it's hard to describe but it appears to have a cushioned effect, that can only be the organic matter that later will be returned to the soil.  Did you know that a 1% increase in organic matter in the top 6" of top soil means an additional 27,000 gallons/acre can be stored?  Well it's true, meaning that periods of dry weather will have less impact on our potential yields, especially on lighter, thinner soils.  I'm not expecting a fix in a year but over a rotation we should start to see a difference.  A more volatile climate is something that we should expect more often and we need to make plans to have a more resilient farming system. Prof Sir Brian Hoskins only mentioned last night at the Sainsbury's and Grantham Imperial College Lecture that temperatures could rise between 2-4 degrees by the end of the century, this will only cause more volatility in the climate, causing more weather extremes.  Last year for example 3,200 of the 5,000 weather stations in the United States recorded a record weather event  e.g. highest temperature, lowest rainfall, highest rainfall etc.

Another key benefit is the stabilisation of the soil.  All of the roots actively growing through the periods of heavy rainfall and the canopy above, shielding the soil surface will reduce water run-off and increase filtration rates.  Reducing run-off keeps soil particles in the field where they belong but also keeps phosphate fertiliser and any residual pesticides in the field rather than in the local stream.  I haven't even mentioned the amount of carbon that is being sucked out of the atmosphere and stored in the soil,  hopefully helping to turn around the recent losses of organic matter levels in the soil. Which ever way you look at it there are many positives.  But what are the negatives?  Well I guess there is the cost of the seed and establishment which when added together could be in the region of £80/Ha.  There is also the requirement for extra labour, and potentially machinery, at an already busy time of year when everyone is focused on the harvest. Do the positives out way the negatives?  Well it's early days but I would have to say that so far they do.  Are we creating a longer period for slugs to breed and feed?  Are we continuing the 'green bridge' and providing habitat for aphids transmitting BYDV (Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus) or too many brassica's potentially increasing the risk of club root?  Time will tell but as always with farming it's a long term game and there are many obstacles in the way before the results will be shown.  What I am certain of is that building soil carbon and reducing the level of tillage (cultivation) will, overtime increase the crop yields and reduce the variability of production and that can only be beneficial.

Planting Time is Here Again

The start of the new farming year has begun.  It's a time of optimism when the seeds from last years harvest are planted again to multiply up for harvest in about 11 months time.  We usually start planting, or drilling, up on the hill as the soil temperature there cools down faster in the autumn so the crops need to get established before this happens to optimise their yield potential.  Then we move down the hill to the heavy land, lias clay, to get those fields planted before the weather breaks.  We have to delay drilling in some fields to get a weed called black grass to germinate so that we can spray them off with glyphosate before we plant the crop.  This is needed as these weeds are resistant to many of the herbicides we can use in the crop.  The more we can remove, before planting, the better.  One of the things we have been trailing this year is a Cross Slot drill.  The idea of this drill, developed in New Zealand, is to cut a slot in the soil and plant the seed just under the surface on a little ledge and then fold back down the little flap of soil sealing the seed just under the surface. The drill is shown above planting directly into a standing crop of mustard.  That's another part of the story.

Our soil is a living organism and using this planting technique helps to keep the soil in the best health that we can get it.  Think of it as a natural environment.  Our landscape was once covered in trees.  Seeds fell from the mother tree and were not really cultivated in but rather mulched in with falling leaves.  That is what the drill is trying to mimic.  Low disturbance, slotting the seed under the surface.  This should in time reduce the amount of herbicides needed because the soil surface is not being disturbed so weed seeds will not germinate.  It also helps feed the worms in the soil by not mineralising soil carbon.  It also saves a lot of diesel in establishing the crop, all good for the environment, and the bank balance! In the picture above a worm hole can definitely be seen.  These worms take the organic matter from the surface down into the soil profile redistributing the nutrients to the rooting zone.  These worm holes have been known to go down 6'.  I've been watching out for these much more recently. The small piles of give away crop residue, hide the entrance to the underground world of these 'night crawlers'.   These channels provide fantastic drainage for surface water, stopping runoff keeping nutrients and pesticides in the field, we just need more of them and that will come with less disturbance and more time.  Did you know that ploughing kills 50% of the worms in that plough zone and every cultivation afterwards can potentially kill off a further 25%.

This is our current drill direct drilling into another cover crop mixture.  This mix was of mustard, phacelia and fodder radish.  The soil structure is fantastic with fabulous roots creating a fine tilth that should hold moisture and encourage a very good establishment of the winter wheat we have just planted.  The experiment continues!

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.

Dakota Lakes Research Farm

After breakfast Tom Sewell (no-till Tom) and myself headed out to the Dakota Lakes Research Farm to meet Dwayne Beck.  Dwayne is the Farm Manager, Chief Scientist and Tour Guide at the farmer owned and run research centre.  We hopped into the car on arrival and headed out to a field meeting about combinable peas hosted by the County Extension Officer, Ruth Beck (Dwayne's Wife).  The State used to grow more than 40,000 acres of combinable peas but now the total stands at 4,000 acres, but the area is growing.  A pea/lentil/chickpeas splitting, processing and bagging plant has just organised funding, (backed by the Federal Government) to build a facility in the local town of Harrold.

We drove over to Harrold to look at further development in the Agricultural Industries with a look around a huge grain/corn storage facility.  There is space to load trains with 120 rail cars, each capable of carrying 80 tonnes each.  A possible 9,600T could be shipped out on each train. Dwayne has concerns that it's a good way of shipping nutrients out of the state, which I would have to agree with. Utilising the railway was a Monsanto distribution hub where Roundup is delivered, also by the rail car load.  Each of these held 78,000L and there was at least 8 of them!  Agriculture is huge in America.

After lunch we headed back to the farm.  The farm has about 480mm of rain per year with 1/3 of that coming in the form of snow during the winter.  Moisture capture and conservation are key reasons for the no-till system.  No cultivation, other than seeding, means the macro-pores the 'night crawlers' create are not disturbed, so drainage into the soil profile is fast and efficient.  The water seeps down these tubes in the soil until they find a dry area and then move over soaking the soil at depth, rather than running off.  This was well demonstrated when 37.5mm of rain is applied in 6 minutes and you can walk on the field in your shoes.  I know because I did it!  Cover crops especially Linseed (Flax) also play a roll in providing little snow fences stopping snow blow across the Northern Great Plains during the winter.  The crop residue also plays a vital role in recirculating the soil nutrients, keeping the soil cool, actually fairly damp, and by protecting the soil surface from wind erosion.  The trash will disappear in a relatively short space of time.  These issues have created many problems for the area in the past but now with this method of crop establishment, yields are increasing, the environment in improving and farmers are actually making money.

The soybeans above have been direct drilled into corn (maize) stubble's after a cover crop of fox tail millet and oats and looked great.  

A similar story for the maize shown above.  Direct drilled as a second crop of maize.  These will be followed by two years of wheat (potentially one winter and one spring) and then a broad leaved crop of soybean, flax or peas.  The rotation is key and is one of the main reasons for the success of the system.  We just need to work out a way to use some of these techniques in the UK, with the crops we are able to grow.  There should be space for a perennial crop in the UK system that will occupy the soil for more than a year, draw up deeper nutrients and create organic matter.  Just need to work out which one it is!

Many thanks to Dwayne and the Dakota Lakes Research Farm for organising the day for Tom and myself.  We really enjoyed it and have come away, as normal, asking more questions than finding answers!

Day 15 of my Nuffield Study, Oklahoma State University

What a great day and so eye opening to new opportunities and to conform some of my thoughts are not complete rubbish.  If you want to make things happen they will, even if they are considered outside the box.  Also you don't know unless you try.  The morning started with an office meeting with Dr Brian Arnall, Bob Hunger and my host for the day Dr Jason Warren.  We talked about Precision Farming techniques employed here in Oklahoma, namely the Green seeker device for monitoring chlorophyll level in the leaves, before talking wheat breeding traits, drought tolerance and rainfall patterns.  Jason and I then headed out for a 12 hour road trip around the trial sites and local farms.  We started off with stripper headed harvested wheat, originally drilled at 10"spacings and then soybeans planted between the rows.  It looked really odd seeing the stubble standing up missing the ear of wheat but the soybean stand was very good.

Next Jason and I headed to Lahoma, one of the Oklahoma State University trial sites.  Here Jason is with the cover crop species trials that he and the team are growing.  It was a very interesting comparison to see establishment rates and how the different crops competed with the weeds.

The soil in this part of Oklahoma is actually very good and over a 12 month period this area will have over 30 inches of rain which is more than we get at home.  The difference is that the evaporation rate from the soil and the crop is immense.  With low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds these fields can loose over 21 inches of moisture.  Cover crops would still use up a proportion of this moisture but that moisture would disappear anyway and by using these cover crops, at least nutrients are being locked up and organic matter in the form of root, stems and leaves are being formed to recycle the nutrients.   It's a big dilemma for farmers in this area, especially considering the extra cost to the rotation of the seeds.

One man Matt, shown here in his Sorghum Sudan Grass and Cow Peas mix (a row of each planted with a John Deere air seeder) has taken on the cover crop challenge and is doing a great job.  The tall stubble protecting the crop from wind (evapo-transpiration) are the grazed remains of forage rye and triticale used to fatten 'stocker' cattle over the winter.  Incidentally Matt manages to stock at twice the density of others, due to cover cropping.  Matt puts this down to extra moisture retention at planting (August) due to the amount of organic matter covering the soil.  When 4" of rain falls in an afternoon it is important that it goes through the soil profile and is protected without washing off or being blown away from bare soil.

Here is another example of the Cow Pea nad Sorghum Sudan Grass which looked equally as well.  By the way this was only planted 20 days ago and was already 15" tall!  Many thanks to Jason for taking a full day out to show me around and demonstrate the great work that OSU is doing.