Focus on Soil Management

Mindful of the threat of NVZ (nitrate vulnerable zone) restrictions being imposed, Welsh farmers are being urged to make soil management a cornerstone of their farming systems: arable fields left bare over the winter can pollute watercourses, but planting cover crops and ensuring drains and ditches are fully functioning can help farmers protect their soils and avoid possible prosecution.

During a recent Farming Connect event, farmers were advised to be proactive. Precision farming advisor Ian Beecher-Jones tells me there are several measures farmers can take to keep soil in fields and manage nutrient applications.

“The soil is a farm’s crown jewels,’’ he insisted.

Cover crops sown after harvest, before spring crops are planted, provide winter cover and also act as a ‘water pump’, with the plant drawing moisture up from the soil and into the air, where it evaporates.

These cover crops prevent valuable nutrients leaching from the soil.

“It is an environmentally friendly approach to modern farming,” says Ian. “When the ground is bare there is a poor water infiltration rate so water will pond on the surface.”

Cover crops also provide green manure to improve soil structure and composition.

If the field is fenced and the crop can be grazed by sheep, either on tack or for home production, the income from those sources can cover the growing costs of the crop.

Poor management of water, such as drains not working correctly, will also result in nutrient loss.

He reminded: “If drainage is wrong, crops won’t grow and there will be more run off.”

Many drains were established in the 1970s with grant funding, but four decades later and some are failing, leading to fields becoming waterlogged.

Ian goes on to suggest pipe jetting drains to clear blockages.

“It is an expense but you are going to be in a better situation if you clean drains because you will have better fields for growing crops,” he told farmers at the Farming Connect event.

“Study old drainage plans, walk ditch drains, install short term mole, ditch or furrow drains if appropriate. Map damaged areas for repair later in the season.”

If soil is compacted, it cannot absorb water and it is the first pass of a machine when a field is being worked that causes damage and reduces the water infiltration rate.

“If we can keep soil trafficking to controlled tramlines, regardless of almost anything else we do, our soils are going to be in better shape,” he said.

Pembrokeshire farmer Dr. Delana Davies, arable and horticulture technical officer at Farming Connect, said responsible and informed use of nutrients and proactive management of soils can reduce water pollution risks significantly.

“Use of Farming Connect nutrient management planning and infrastructure advisory services can help all types of farms ensure best environmental practice while also delivering cost benefits to their business as well,” she said.

Specific benefits on offer

Farmers throughout Wales are being urged to again examine closely their business performance and find out how they can tackle the critical issue of reducing production costs further.

This has been the message from Farming Connect meetings which have taken place around the counties when various tips have been offered by some of Wales’ top-performing farmers.

Also high on the agenda was promotion of the third application window for the Welsh Government’s Farm Business Grant (FBG) investment scheme, which runs from January 29 to March 16.

The scheme, which has already received more than 850 funding applications, provides a contribution of between £3,000 and £12,000 for eligible farmers. The funding can be used towards the capital outlay for around 70 specified items linked to animal health, genetics and performance, crop management, energy efficiency, resource efficiency and ICT.

Attending one of the meetings was a pre-requisite of any individual considering applying for the grant. Farmers who have already attended a ‘Farming for the Future’ event, do not need to attend again, but are encouraged to do so in order to learn more about benchmarking and how it can support business performance.

“Equally significant to the number of applications for funding following the first two application windows, was the sharp increase in demand for Farming Connect services which followed each roadshow event,” I’m told by services manager Elliw Hughes.

Elliw added: “We saw a significant spike in applications for fully or part-funded business and technical support and the many ways in which Farming Connect can support this, in particular, through the Advisory Service, which provides eligible businesses with up to four instances of advice over a four year period.”

For more information, call the Farming Connect Service Centre on 08456 000 813.

Over a pint

As, obviously, I overheard in the bar it became as clear as mud that voters are in the dark when it comes to the big three parties’ views on Brexit.

While Labour have come under fire in recent weeks for lacking clarity on Brexit, it seems the other parties are faring little better, with a majority of those with a view believing the Tories’ and Lib Dems’ stances on the issue.

This poll suggests parties need to get their messages straight when it comes to our departure from the EU. Leaders are understandably fudging the issue in the face of the negotiations - but sooner or later Labour and the Conservatives will need to open up to the public.

That’s a tough one for Labour in the face of growing calls to back staying in the Single Market and Customs Union - and for the Tories trying to negotiate a deal while hardline Brexiteers push for recklessly severing all ties.

Voters are going to get restless at some point. It’s anyone’s guess where that frustration might go.

When ‘Don’t Knows’ are excluded, two thirds (66 per cent) of people believe Labour’s position is unclear (to 34 per cent who believe it’s clear), 65 per cent say the Lib Dems’ stance on Brexit is unclear, while 56 per cent believe the Tories’ stance is unclear.

Hindsight

“If I met my seven-year-old self today,

What would I tell her?

What would I say?

Would I warn her of the future,

Of the bad things yet to come?

Or would I let her be naïve

To keep having fun?

Because my seven-year-old self,

Believed the world a perfect place,

Would she recognise herself

When she looked into my face?

Even though I’ve learned so much more

And 10 years have passed since then

I would give up everything I have

To view life through her eyes again.”

(contributed).

Checking the scales

As we get older, we realise it becomes less important to have a ton of friends and more important to have real ones.

Good thinking

Show respect, even to people who don’t deserve it; not a reflection of their character, but of yours.

Lessons to be learned

Life isn’t meant to be easy, it’s meant to be lived - sometimes happy, other times tough but with every up and down you learn lessons that make you strong.

No argument

It’s never too late to be what you might have been.