Farmer Focus: Comparing arable soil to ancient hedgerows
Jon Pawsey © Phil Weedon The first few days of March have been a joy at Shimpling Park Farm as the sun makes a welcome appearance. Feeling those early spring rays changes everything. Everyone’s mood lifts.
The acres of spring drilling we have to do on the farm now looks like a possibility rather than a daunting task.
Ploughed land is a blessing, offering its exposed frosted back to the sunshine, half the work having been done by the winter.
See also: Crop Watch: First dry spell sees early nitrogen on hungry crops
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Land in this state usually only needs a single pass by a light cultivator on our Hanslope clay soils. We started this on 3 March.
So far, I have been happy with the seed-beds. We try very hard not to overdo our spring soils, working just enough tilth to cover the seed.
In the middle of February we had an excellent morning on the farm with regenerative farming specialist Niels Corfield for our Wool Towns farmer cluster group, looking at the potential of our soils.
When I was at agricultural college in the mid 1980s, soil science was a subject definitely to be avoided. No one could work out what it had to do with farming.
Soil was either wet or dry. When it was wet, that was when you sat in the office staring at the fax machine or playing Owzthat! (if you know, you know).
If it was dry, you were out plastering the countryside with artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Brilliant!
Niels, however, has made it far more complicated. He made us dig a spadeful of soil from the middle of our field to compare it with an equal spit from the bottom of one of our ancient hedgerows.
The former could be made into a jolly decent pot, the latter you could eat. I find this particular test annoying because in a farmed situation the boundary offering is unachievable.
This is a good reminder of what a healthy living soil looks like. We’ve still got plenty of work to do at Shimpling Park Farm.
