Sound soil management
SOIL EROSION is a phrase UK growers will need to get used to as cross-compliance to guard single farm payments becomes the norm, according to ADAS”s Sheila Royle.
Erosion is perceived mainly as a foreign problem, but a 1999 survey suggests water washes away 2.3m tonnes of soil each year from nearly half the arable land in England and Wales.
While most of this season”s crops are in the ground, some potato growers may still have time to adjust their practices to counter erosion, and everyone should be thinking about what they can do to minimise it, advises Ms Royle.
Ultimately a “head in the sand” attitude over the requirement to keep soils in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition could threaten subsidies, she warns.
“If you can show that you have taken reasonable steps to look after your soil and avoid erosion, there should be no problem. But if you blatantly go outside the guidelines, you could jeopardise your single farm payment.”
Ms Royle is part of the team working on the 3m DEFRA- funded Environment Sensitive Farming initiative offering free practical advice to help farmers and growers look after their land.
Doing so makes a lot of sense, she says. “Good soil management scores both ways. It allows you to grow crops cost-effectively and to protect the environment at the same time.
“In just five years, it has climbed the political agenda and now features in cross-compliance, ELS and HLS.
“All farmers should have a copy of the Cross Compliance Guidance for Soil Management.” Under SFP rules, they are required to use this to help draw up a simple soil management plan in 2006 and follow it in 2007.
Soils most at risk of erosion are the sandy and light, silty ones, especially if left bare.
“Try to keep the surface protected as long as possible with a well- established crop or crop residues,” says Ms Royle. Other practices which help include:
Avoiding/removing compaction. Controlling run-off water and maintaining drainage ditches which break up slopes. No overworking the soil. Avoiding late-harvested varieties on vulnerable land. Using bulky organic manures/grass leys to raise organic matter.
“If you can”t avoid late-maturing varieties, think about putting them on your less erosion-prone fields.”
Having potatoes with long runs of baulks on sloping ground is asking for trouble, the furrows between them acting as mini-streams when it rains and during irrigation. “Divide long slopes into smaller units,” she says.
“Why not consider putting in beetle banks – funded with Entry Level Stewardship – to break up long slopes?
“Cultivate headlands and gateways to remove compaction after planting, and where possible use tied ridges and dykes in furrow bottoms to improve water filtration.”
Strive to irrigate uniformly, avoiding excessive rates, she adds. “Time your operations to minimise the risk of compaction. Don”t stone or clod separate when it is wet.
“Growers on flood plains should establish grass strips beside rivers and choose varieties suitable for planting later.”
Sugar beet producers should leave ploughed seed-beds as rough as possible to counter capping and run-off. “Where possible, drill directly into a furrow-pressed surface.
“After harvest, cultivate as soon as conditions are suitable to remove wheelings and compaction.”
For both root crops, consider planting across slopes where they are even and if it is safe and practicable, says Ms Royle.
“I”m sure manufacturers could do more with hydraulic adjustments to allow growers to do this; for example, to make it easier to steer across the slope.”
