- Location
- somerset
next door farmer, and us, were commenting on the increase of hares, and how nice it is to see them.
Any change in our farming practices, causes a reaction, that reaction can be quite dramatic, in way's that could be either good, or bad, depending on what we actually do. My cousin farms a lot of land, we used to farm together, and is all arable, some of the worst arable fields, have been left, for the 'greening' element, that has now stopped, and he has cropped most of them this year, most of which have been uncropped, or fallowed, for five years, or more. The s barley in them, is a totally different colour, to the rest, it's still green, and a lot has gone flat.
In my thinking, that rest, must have done marvels to the ground, 5 years of letting it 'sort' itself out, has returned those fields to a better position, they would have done well in wheat, but he only grows s barley here, as the ground is 'poor'. So that flat, late s barley will be classed as rubbish, and not worth doing, he doesn't need the money. Try and rent some, it's the best soil in the UK !
What it tells me, is give the soil the help/time it needs, nature can do wondrous things, for free. Not all of us are able to leave land in long term fallow, but l think leaving grass in long term, unploughed grass, can help the soil fauna to grow/improve, again for free, that can be helped by growing grass varieties that are naturally suited to that soil.
Farming is being torn apart, on one hand, we have to produce cheap bulk food, the other, we are the cause of global climate change, and must stop using those methods, that allow us to produce cheap bulk food.
We have to find a compromise somewhere between the two. The obvious answer, is not politically possible, reduce population by 50%. Those imputs, that allow us to produce the cheap bulk food, are the opposite of what the green brigade want/demand. Those imputs will become increasingly more 'controlled' and expensive, or banned outright. We have to find ways to mitigate those imputs, which bring us straight back to this thread !
What the public has to realise, is, they cannot have what they demand, food wise, it's simply not possible to produce cheap bulk food, without those imputs. Ask them to pay more, and suddenly, those 'killing' imputs, are not that bad.
Any change in our farming practices, causes a reaction, that reaction can be quite dramatic, in way's that could be either good, or bad, depending on what we actually do. My cousin farms a lot of land, we used to farm together, and is all arable, some of the worst arable fields, have been left, for the 'greening' element, that has now stopped, and he has cropped most of them this year, most of which have been uncropped, or fallowed, for five years, or more. The s barley in them, is a totally different colour, to the rest, it's still green, and a lot has gone flat.
In my thinking, that rest, must have done marvels to the ground, 5 years of letting it 'sort' itself out, has returned those fields to a better position, they would have done well in wheat, but he only grows s barley here, as the ground is 'poor'. So that flat, late s barley will be classed as rubbish, and not worth doing, he doesn't need the money. Try and rent some, it's the best soil in the UK !
What it tells me, is give the soil the help/time it needs, nature can do wondrous things, for free. Not all of us are able to leave land in long term fallow, but l think leaving grass in long term, unploughed grass, can help the soil fauna to grow/improve, again for free, that can be helped by growing grass varieties that are naturally suited to that soil.
Farming is being torn apart, on one hand, we have to produce cheap bulk food, the other, we are the cause of global climate change, and must stop using those methods, that allow us to produce cheap bulk food.
We have to find a compromise somewhere between the two. The obvious answer, is not politically possible, reduce population by 50%. Those imputs, that allow us to produce the cheap bulk food, are the opposite of what the green brigade want/demand. Those imputs will become increasingly more 'controlled' and expensive, or banned outright. We have to find ways to mitigate those imputs, which bring us straight back to this thread !
What the public has to realise, is, they cannot have what they demand, food wise, it's simply not possible to produce cheap bulk food, without those imputs. Ask them to pay more, and suddenly, those 'killing' imputs, are not that bad.