Moose
New Member
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Hi guys, I've been a wildlife lover all my life, and a farmer for none of it. It's fairly obvious to me when exploring the countryside, and researching online, that agriculture in the UK has had a lot of un-intentional harmful effects on the habitats outside of the farmed environment. Some of the main problems that come to mind are nutrients leaching into water courses and flooding caused by run-off. Through reading books, articles, websites and a lot of posts on here soil organic matter seems to be the answer, with nutrient retention, water infiltration and water storage increasing with soil organic matter. Other positive aspects of increasing soil OM could be reduced soil erosion (which would lead to reduced siltation of streams and rivers as well as reducing phosphate pollution), and possibly a reduction in fertiliser usage due to healthier soils, decreasing the Nitrous oxide emissions of UK agriculture as a whole.
My question to the forum is: what do you think would be the best way to encourage UK farmers to try and increase their soil organic matter? is education enough? are subsidies the answer? are current subsidies maybe supporting unsustainable practices that have reduced soil organic matter through history? I'm all ears!
Thanks in advance, Tom (18, currently studying countryside management)
My question to the forum is: what do you think would be the best way to encourage UK farmers to try and increase their soil organic matter? is education enough? are subsidies the answer? are current subsidies maybe supporting unsustainable practices that have reduced soil organic matter through history? I'm all ears!
Thanks in advance, Tom (18, currently studying countryside management)