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<blockquote data-quote="Princess Pooper" data-source="post: 7989738" data-attributes="member: 971"><p>There is much more than a small proportion!!!! Agricultural land is graded by its capability, which is assessed by rating its soils, rockiness, slope, climate, how often it floods.</p><p></p><p>Anything poorer than Grade 3b is generally not suitable for cropping. It might be fantastic soil, but agriculture is about much more than just soil. There is some lovely soil across the river from us and 25 years ago was used to grow potatoes and onions - but it floods several times a year so all the topsoil washes into the river - which is completely unsustainable. It was grassed down into a no-input diverse sward and is now used for extensive beef cattle grazing which is much more sustainable and the river is much better for it.</p><p></p><p>Nearly ALL of our land in lowland Midlands is Grade 3b or Grade 4. We are not half way up a rocky mountain, in our case the main disadvantages are soils and flooding. Grass is much more resilient to flooding than most other crops. Some farmers locally do crop some 3b land with cereals, beans etc (for animal feed) but the soils SUFFER and there is run-off in winter (off heavy clay) which is BAD. Spring cropping is very difficult on heavy soils and an awful lot of 'human food' crops are spring cropping.</p><p></p><p>Life is so simple for those who don't really understand farming. Yes it is POSSIBLE to grow something other than grass on some of these fields but it is not economic and in many cases, BAD FARMING. By using them for animal agriculture we are able to convert non-edible plant material (often in a diverse sward which is great for biodiversity - you should see the bees and other insects in our clover and our hay meadows) into EDIBLE animal protein.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Princess Pooper, post: 7989738, member: 971"] There is much more than a small proportion!!!! Agricultural land is graded by its capability, which is assessed by rating its soils, rockiness, slope, climate, how often it floods. Anything poorer than Grade 3b is generally not suitable for cropping. It might be fantastic soil, but agriculture is about much more than just soil. There is some lovely soil across the river from us and 25 years ago was used to grow potatoes and onions - but it floods several times a year so all the topsoil washes into the river - which is completely unsustainable. It was grassed down into a no-input diverse sward and is now used for extensive beef cattle grazing which is much more sustainable and the river is much better for it. Nearly ALL of our land in lowland Midlands is Grade 3b or Grade 4. We are not half way up a rocky mountain, in our case the main disadvantages are soils and flooding. Grass is much more resilient to flooding than most other crops. Some farmers locally do crop some 3b land with cereals, beans etc (for animal feed) but the soils SUFFER and there is run-off in winter (off heavy clay) which is BAD. Spring cropping is very difficult on heavy soils and an awful lot of 'human food' crops are spring cropping. Life is so simple for those who don't really understand farming. Yes it is POSSIBLE to grow something other than grass on some of these fields but it is not economic and in many cases, BAD FARMING. By using them for animal agriculture we are able to convert non-edible plant material (often in a diverse sward which is great for biodiversity - you should see the bees and other insects in our clover and our hay meadows) into EDIBLE animal protein. [/QUOTE]
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