Farmers, advisors and researchers met for the first time to discuss farmer led ideas to investigate alternative techniques for terminating cover crops.
The meeting was set up as part of the Innovative Farmers network and run by Anglia Farmers. Innovative Farmers is a not-for-profit network funded by the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation and supported by Waitrose through sales of Duchy Organic products.
This first meeting to look at cover crop termination was a coming together of some of the most forward thinking arable farmers in the country including several Nuffield Scholars. The group shared concerns about the possible withdrawal of glyphosate and increasing herbicide resistance in arable farming, as well as comparing methods for cover crop termination. Discussion focused around creating a new on-farm ‘field lab’ to investigate how farmers can destroy cover crops to enable successful establishment of a cash crop afterwards.
A cover crop is a crop planted primarily to protect and enrich the soil. In an arable situation it is usually a fast growing brassica that will establish quickly.
John Pawsey of Shimpling Park Farms in Suffolk hosted the Innovative Farmers meeting. He said; “Many of the farmers here have different methods for making their farms viable. Whether organic or conventional, this is about us learning from each other and sharing ideas.”
All of the attendees were asked to share their experience of using cover crops. Paul Wortley farm manager at OW Wortley & Sons of Methwold, South Norfolk said; “I want to avoid working the soil in the winter months. This year we started to desiccate a few fields with glyphosate but I’m concerned about its residual levels and the soil health. I’m also grazing more this year. Normally I would leave the crop over winter after lightly chopping with a disk and leaving as a green manure.
“I’m very excited to join Innovative Farmers and this field lab to run a trial on my farm. I’m interested in finding out about other techniques and the different challenges with different cover crops.”
Liz Bowles, head of farming at the Soil Association said; “Following the meeting, everybody who wants to be involved in the group will be linked via the Innovative Farmers portal and we will be able to physically plan the next step for creating a robust field lab. These discussions were the first step towards all farmers working together to find techniques that will work for them, and enable them to maintain and improve viability on their farm. The level of interest in this topic was just fantastic and we’re hoping that more farmers will be able to learn from this pioneering on farm research.”
