7 steps to healthy soils
7 steps to healthy soils
To meet the target for 20% more soil organic matter (SOM) in the next 20 years, the Soil Association has set out seven key areas .
To meet the target for 20% more soil organic matter (SOM) in the next 20 years, the Soil Association has set out seven key areas .
Increase the amount of plant and animal matter going back onto fields
Soil organic matter is an essential element to healthy soils – achieving high levels is the key to soil health.
Levels are low or declining on many UK farms so urgent work is needed to reverse this trend by ensuring farms are recycling more plant and animal matter back into soils.
What growers can do:
• Learn about the additional benefits of animal manure and certified composts and use it in place of nitrogen based fertiliser wherever possible.
• Bring livestock onto arable farm grass leys – utilise agri-environment payments to fund grassland reversion.
Improve soil health monitoring across the UK
Analysing soils is an essential first step to support effective decision making on soil health, but some farmers neglect to do this routinely.
What growers can do:
• Undertake routine soil analysis and take appropriate remedial action.
• Test and monitor soil organic matter levels. Definitely do this if you are an arable farmer as you may be most at risk. Apps include the ‘SOCiT App’ and ‘Farm Crap App’
Encourage soil organisms – both those that build up soil and those that release nutrients
Growers are now realising how important soil biology is to farming.
Better understanding is need on how best to support this life in order to improve their land's ability to cope with floods and droughts and boost crop productivity.
What can growers do:
• Increase understanding by finding out about innovative farmers carrying out farm trials or even consider taking part yourself. If there is nothing local to you, get in touch with the AHDB or Soil Association.
• Think about the unintended consequences of agrochemicals before making decisions on their use and consider ploughing less to reduce the physical impact on soil life.
• If nothing else, increasing soil organic matter can improve the soil biology.
• There is a huge lack of research on the importance of soil biology and how it can be improved to benefit farmers. Lobby the government to fill this gap.
Cover up bare soil with continuous plant cover
Plant roots hold soils together, reducing erosion and allowing air to penetrate in spaces around roots. They also encourage healthier soil communities through plant-fungal interactions.
But benefits spread beyond the farm – huge gains can be seen in terms of biodiversity, carbon storage, flood and drought control and water quality.
What can growers do:
• Bring vulnerable land into permanent grassland under Agri environment schemes or Ecological Focus Areas.
• Where appropriate use cover crops, green manures and under-sown crops, with the added benefit of improving soil fertility.
Reduce soil compaction from machinery and livestock
Soil compaction is a major problem in the UK – it can lead to increased surface run-off as well as drought stress, fewer grazing days, poor root growth and reduced yields overall.
What can growers do?
• Do routine visual assessments to identify levels of compaction on farm and take remedial action
• Use lighter machinery
• Adopt Controlled Traffic Farming
• Use correct tyre pressures
• Reduce the number of passes
• Try out min-till or no-till
• Avoid trafficking over and grazing wet land
Design crop rotations to improve soil health
Simple crop rotations, financial pressures and the increasing trend for short-term tenancies all put pressure on farmers to make short-term decisions.
The result is a drop in UK food diversity, weeds which we can no longer control and soils which are being stripped of their nutrients and organic matter.
More diverse, long-term crop rotations that help soils are needed.
What can growers do?
• Many high value crops can't be grown sustainably in a short rotation, such as potatoes and carrots. Design a longer crop rotation which avoids these problems. Focus on financial margins over the course of a whole rotation, not annual just margins.
• Carefully design a longer, more varied crop rotation. Put more emphasis on crops that help protect soils and that build soil organic matter such as legume catch crops.
• Grow crops with different rooting depths to take advantage of the soil’s varying nutrient profile.
• Where possible include temporary leys in your rotation, used for grazing livestock.