New Puritan
Member
- Location
- East Sussex
Sorry if this is a bit convoluted...
My farm is organic and all arable. By and large I would not sell hay or straw off the farm as I want to keep the organic matter here. The straw all gets chopped, and the grass / clover part of the rotation just gets mown and reincorporated.
However, I've just entered into mid-tier Countryside Stewardship, and one of the options I went for was a 4m margin around most of the fields.
Can I cut that and make it into bales under the mid tier rules (after 15 July)? How much would it deplete the soil of nutrients - a bit of searching hasn't found any kind of 'ready reckoners' for this type of thing. And what do organic conventional bales sell for (give or take)?
My farm is organic and all arable. By and large I would not sell hay or straw off the farm as I want to keep the organic matter here. The straw all gets chopped, and the grass / clover part of the rotation just gets mown and reincorporated.
However, I've just entered into mid-tier Countryside Stewardship, and one of the options I went for was a 4m margin around most of the fields.
Can I cut that and make it into bales under the mid tier rules (after 15 July)? How much would it deplete the soil of nutrients - a bit of searching hasn't found any kind of 'ready reckoners' for this type of thing. And what do organic conventional bales sell for (give or take)?