Written by cpm
Download PDF Reducing soil disturbance and increasing its organic matter underline a quest to improve the resilience and potential of the crops for a Fenland farm. CPM visits to review progress. I’ll always take opportunities as they come to make environmental gains, but our first priority is to make money. By Tom Allen-Stevens What you notice about Nigel Harrison’s oilseed rape are the strong, thick stems. It’s the beginning of March, and like most crops in the area, this has sat in saturated soils for much of the winter. So as a spade goes into the Fenland, silty clay loam you wouldn’t expect much in the way of life and vibrancy from what it unearths, especially following a weekend of heavy rainfall. But what the spade reveals is a healthy structure with good evidence of exploratory roots, and there’s no trouble finding the odd worm. While the health of his soil is important for Nigel, though, he’s clear on its purpose. “I’ll always take opportunities as they come to make environmental gains, but our first priority is to make money,” he says. This has been the driver behind the changes he’s made to the farming business, MW Harrison, which farms…
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