#ourfield

[martian]

For those of you with long memories, I promised before Christmas to post about a new initiative we are running here this year. I'm posting it here, because one of the non-negotiable details was that we had to stick to no-till. It's called #ourfield and it's basically a collective of 40 or so investors who've each put £200 in to grow a field of a spring cereal. The collective will all decide what to grow and how to grow it. The idea came from a similar project called 'A field of wheat' run in Lincolnshire last year.

We've had a couple of meetings so far and we're gearing up for the big decision of what to grow and what level of inputs to use. It's a bit time-consuming, but, so far, completely fascinating as all the investors are such interesting and interested people.
http://www.ourfieldproject.org/

I can honestly say I've not thought that much about wheat as a product, beyond the protein or hagberg levels we 'achieve'; talking to the millers and bakers and consumers has been a real eye-opener already. If this works, they are hoping to roll the project out across the country.

 

[franklin]

Did you roundup the cover crop? I see there is a link to the old Sustainable Food Trust article about it.

 

[martian]

Not round-upped yet

 

[Daniel]

The huge problem with no-till evangelism is that it seems to have no place for carrots, spuds, parsnips, onions, leeks and all the root crops that make a plate of food so appealing.

Seriously, who wants to live on a diet of combinable crops?

So maybe do something with vegetables?

 

[Feldspar]

Heard about this from Richard. Sounds very interesting. Disconnect between public and food / farming is a problem indeed.

Before I've finished reading everything, I did note this under the 'What is no-till farming?' section: "No-tillage farming is a farming practice where the soil is minimally disturbed from planting to harvest. During the planting process, holes are drilled into the soil where the seed will be planted and then covered up."

Would you like me to turn up with my dibber / cordless drill when it comes round to planting? Let's hope you don't collectively decide for too high a seed rate, otherwise the planting and drilling of holes---a wonderful misunderstanding---may not have finished before you are in the field with the combine (which, incidentally combines combining and something else... possibly harvesting).

 

[Feldspar]

The huge problem with no-till evangelism is that it seems to have no place for carrots, spuds, parsnips, onions, leeks and all the root crops that make a plate of food so appealing.

Seriously, who wants to live on a diet of combinable crops?

So maybe do something with vegetables?

Did you not read about John's no-till potatoes?! Now he has a collective at his disposal the harvesting logistics may no longer need to involved forced child labour.

 

[martian]

Spot on James! Some of the collective are very hands on, so we're creating a bit of work. We're planning on having a few strips of no-till potatoes somewhere on the Groundswell site by way of added interest. Carrots, leeks and parsnips might be more of a challenge, onions should be ok, but it's not really root crop ground.

The huge problem with no-till evangelism is that it seems to have no place for carrots, spuds, parsnips, onions, leeks and all the root crops that make a plate of food so appealing.

Seriously, who wants to live on a diet of combinable crops?

So maybe do something with vegetables?

The project is about growing wheat, spelt or oats for human consumption. They are not necessarily bothered about no-till (though rest assured, like a proper zealot, I'm working on them). No-till is just the local house rules. You could do one next year: #ourfield of vegetables.

 

[martian]

Heard about this from Richard. Sounds very interesting. Disconnect between public and food / farming is a problem indeed.

Before I've finished reading everything, I did note this under the 'What is no-till farming?' section: "No-tillage farming is a farming practice where the soil is minimally disturbed from planting to harvest. During the planting process, holes are drilled into the soil where the seed will be planted and then covered up."

Would you like me to turn up with my dibber / cordless drill when it comes round to planting? Let's hope you don't collectively decide for too high a seed rate, otherwise the planting and drilling of holes---a wonderful misunderstanding---may not have finished before you are in the field with the combine (which, incidentally combines combining and something else... possibly harvesting).

Thanks for the offer, but luckily I didn't read that before buying a drill. Not sure where they found that priceless description.

 

[Daniel]

Spot on James! Some of the collective are very hands on, so we're creating a bit of work. We're planning on having a few strips of no-till potatoes somewhere on the Groundswell site by way of added interest. Carrots, leeks and parsnips might be more of a challenge, onions should be ok, but it's not really root crop ground.


The project is about growing wheat, spelt or oats for human consumption. They are not necessarily bothered about no-till (though rest assured, like a proper zealot, I'm working on them). No-till is just the local house rules. You could do one next year: #ourfield of vegetables.

It's a great idea, I'm watching with interest.

But no-till veg though, can it be done, can low disturbance harvesting machinery be developed?

 

[Howdenshire Farmer]

It's a great idea, I'm watching with interest.

But no-till veg though, can it be done, can low disturbance harvesting machinery be developed?

Of course it can be done. It's just that there hasn't been anything driving research into it so nobody has figured out how!

 

[britt]

The huge problem with no-till evangelism is that it seems to have no place for carrots, spuds, parsnips, onions, leeks and all the root crops that make a plate of food so appealing.

Seriously, who wants to live on a diet of combinable crops?

So maybe do something with vegetables?

Notill fodder beet works fine, as does fodder radish, so why wouldn't carrots and parsnips ? there would probably need to be some soil disturbance for harvest though.
I think that the no dig gardening we saw at Groundswell last year would not be practical on a field scale due to the shear quantity of compost needed.

 

[mikep]

The old armer salmon beet harvester was relatively low disturbance just ran a loosening share and pulled up by the tops.
Good luck @martian I don't have the patience for that must be a bit like herding cats mind I think your notill evangelism could be easily trumped by some of the 'mother nature' types insistence on the evils of inputs.

 

[David_A]

The huge problem with no-till evangelism is that it seems to have no place for carrots, spuds, parsnips, onions, leeks and all the root crops that make a plate of food so appealing.

Seriously, who wants to live on a diet of combinable crops?

So maybe do something with vegetables?

Daniel, my mind has been trying to solve this problem for a good while. The mechanisation of the job is the problem. Getting the house holder to accept dirty carrots that have grown in a bendy fashion around a small stone would help. Unfortunately our market seems to want straight clean carrots. Is the consumer right or wrong.
Getting our soil into as good a state as possible before the root crop is my short term answer. This should enable the soil to recover quicker after the punishment. It is a miracle how it ever produces a crop after some of the carnage that ensues with lifting strawed carrots.

 

[martian]

I've rather rashly given the investors an option to grow companion crops with the main crop of spelt, wheat or oats and they are keen to give it a go. Anybody got any suggestions for suitable companions for these? Spelt will, I think, swamp a companion of beans (which would be ok with spring wheat) or anything else come to that. Possibly a ground cover of white clover might work. Peas and oats? What do people think?

 

[Great In Grass]

I've rather rashly given the investors an option to grow companion crops with the main crop of spelt, wheat or oats and they are keen to give it a go. Anybody got any suggestions for suitable companions for these? Spelt will, I think, swamp a companion of beans (which would be ok with spring wheat) or anything else come to that. Possibly a ground cover of white clover might work. Peas and oats? What do people think?

Yellow Trefoil and White Clover for cereals and for anyone else reading suits brassica crops too.