Soil

Cover crops can play as important a role in Scotland as they do further south but there are some management differences.

New study highlights that UK farmers want to establish more sustainable practices.

There are many drivers of abiotic stress, which makes crops vulnerable to disease. Some, such as flooding or drought, cannot be controlled, but others can.

An EU-funded project is scouting for 20 UK farmers to participate in trials researching cereal-legume intercropping, focusing on yield, quality, reducing inputs and knowledge transfer. 

Enhancing soil health and structure not only benefits crop growth, but it also has the potential to improve water quality.

An early opportunity to drill spring crops in February has been presented to farmers due to a mild and dry winter with ‘unprecedented’ ground conditions reported across England.

Farmers will need to gain a better understanding of their soils to meet the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ‘arable soils’ standard.