What farmers learnt from trialling living mulches on arable farms in the UK

Follow the research here: www.innovativefarmers.org/fie...
Find out what 6 farmers learnt when they teamed up with scientists at the Organic Research Centre to conduct farmer-led research into whether it's possible to grow a permanent bed of clover underneath their cash crops.
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We are grateful to AHDB and Organic Arable for supporting this field lab.

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Brilliant idea. I'm 71 and gardening for over 50 years. I have a residential lot with a house in the center so only small areas to plant a garden. I try to remain organic while my neighbors hire lawn companies to cut and spray their lawns. I love seeing you Big Guys turn your heads around. Perhaps in the coming seasons more residential homeowners will decide covercrops are better than pristine lawns. 👩‍🌾👍

[@releventhurt]

No kidding I just saw a lawn planted to morning glory vines it's an interesting look forsure!

[@fermewilmotsagriculturebio3434]

I have been doing this on my organic farm in Belgium for several years. Although I sow the white clover together with the wheat, it helps to make sure the clover doesn't compete with the wheat. After harvest the clover starts covering the field and I leave it in place until next spring before a spring crop. This adds up to 150 units of N.

[@farminidaho1653]

Glad to see others that are trying interseeding cereals and clover. It’s not practiced at all in my area so hard to bounce ideas off of. I’ve tried red and berseem but not sure how to proceed the 2nd year. Do you suppress/kill the clover with herbicides or plow them under and start with a fresh planting of cereal and clover? Unsure how to reduce competition the second year of cereals Red suppressed the weeds great, didn’t even use herbicides, but was hard to get rid of. Berseem winterkilled great but didn’t compete enough with the weeds to justify. I was able to chop the berseem 3 times when by itself

[@fermewilmotsagriculturebio3434]

@farminidaho1653 kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWSQaKWrrMpkhZosi=SdQLe9v6zn25hCIs here is a link to this years harvest, this clover was sown in the autumn mixed with the wheat seed. After the harvest the clover took over ( see end of video) and I was able to mow it 4 to 5 times by the end of september, the idea is to exhaust perennials. As I'm in organic there is no chemical intervention, just tine weeder and rotary harrow. Though in 23 it rained all spring and there was 0 intervention. I have collègues who seed their next crop directly in the clover, I dont have a direct seeder so i have tried ploughing or several Power harrow passes but for spring crops it takes many passes and dries the ground. I'm going to try scalping next spring, cutting the clover in several passes at 3 4 5 cm depth. I believe that direct seeding in clover with no chemical destruction reduces the yield.

[@andresamplonius315]

​​@@farminidaho1653 Why not graze the clover before sowing the wheat? Sheep, cows, ducks, chickens, whatever... Try some radish seeds when you sow the clover, for added diversity. They found it increased production when radish seed got sown with the wheat.

[@wlack2]

in the US they use Daikon radishes as a nitrogen store, it soaks up excess nitrogen - it then dies and slowly releases nitrogen - maybe a combination of both clover and daikon radish might work here too... it also has deep tap root allowing deep penetration into the soil

[@romanfavorskii6207]

As a beekeeper, I would like to point out that white clover is an excellent honey plant. Place hives near the field and you will receive additional profit.

[@rhysjaggar4677]

Experimentation is an iterative process. One of the 'non costed benefits' will be the knowledge base built up in this group of farmers in how to conduct trials, what the right questions to ask are and what nature feeds back during the process. If a group of farmers can keep experimenting in a focussed way for a decade, they will have engrained within their farming communities the culture of controlled innovation. In general, the more you innovate, the better ideas you will have about how to continue innovating.

[@leonardofaedo707]

Very good. Farming systems desperately need integrative concepts in agronomical design. This one is a very good example.

[@watchthe1369]

USA has had a crop rotation for years, farmers have run the spectrum from full plow tillage every year, to discing to break up crop waste and straw to compost on the field , others are trying a 3 tier scheme like sunflowers, wheat and clover/vetch mix (I am guessing at the tall crop, corn might fit there too) or based upon what is last to ripen with the "higher crops" ripening first and feeding the lower with nutrients as they decay.

[@duncanross5809]

While harvesting my in conversion wheat this year I noticed the crimson clover that had set seed (accidentally) from the preseeding cover crop was fully dead by combining and actually cut very well even producing a good quantity of threshed seed in the sample. This year I have sown 3kg/ha of crimson clover in with my winter wheat and oats. I noticed the clover started dying at grainfill and the area that was worryingly thick with crimson clover read 6t/ha on the combine whereas the rest of the field was about 4.2t/ha. Hopefully I can achieve a clean enough crop that I can then reuse the seed

[@theoroth3669]

intresting but too much background music. what for?

[@tommybreen9677]

Keep the soil covered and she’s alright

[@jacobdurant9117]

Have you considered grazing right before germination to stunt the living mulch?

[@johnroydelacruz1433]

Inspiring

[@peterclark6290]

You need to take the step up the Regenerative Agriculture. a. Weeds can flourish in early transition soil. Building/stabilising the soil's bacterial/fungal presence deals with that problem. Use compost sprays (Drs. Johnson-Su, Ingham, etc.) b. Companion planting is not an experiment, it's what Nature does. In between cash crops sew other species for specific reasons, future forage, compaction break up, etc. Farming is primarily ALL about the soil's life, making it dynamic, busy, self-problem-solving. It needs a permanent cover (humus/armour) so you never see it again.

[@vivalaleta]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@peterclark6290]

@@vivalaleta That's nice, miles away from your bailiwick too, so appreciated even more. ♥ Thanks

[@sustainablefoodproduction3213]

Great video. Really key topic for benefitting soil structure and function, and biodiversity. It would be really interesting to understand what the yield penalty is, especially important for farmers without access to livestock. Are you planning any trials with maize? I am aware of undersowing grass between maize rows, but could clover work - would it survive under the maize and would it be too competitive if not sown in rows in the way that grass undersowing is undertaken? ££ from carbon sequestration? eg Gentle Farming?

[@velimircuvrk1640]

These are the questions I am wondering as well. I don't have livestock and I am planting wheat and corn in rotation. This type of regenerative farming looks promising, considering fertilizer and fuel prices.

[@releventhurt]

Wow if all the farms did this in the US the Mississippi River would be clear again

[@willbass2869]

Mississippi was never clear. The Missouri ('Big Muddy') always carried a very heavy sediment load into it.

[@releventhurt]

@@willbass2869 cool didnt realize thanks

[@urbanbengtsson2500]

Farmers always complained about Mississippi. To muddy to fish in and to wet for seeding.😂 I Think it's M.Twain

[@vivalaleta]

Regenerative ag all the way. It's a win for the farmer, the land, the creatures and everything else.

[@Bennie32831]

It works in Australia ✌️👏👍

[@craiglaplante9822]

How about using Birdsfoot trefoil, great nitrogen producer, and stays short, and using a stripper header vs, the conventional straight header?

[@Ifarmers]

Thanks for your comment. We were working with what the farmers had available and needed to keep it simple and consistent for the trial. All farms used conventional headers on combines. We did discuss other species other than clover but also looked at different varieties. There isn’t a one size fits all approach to living mulches and so BFT and a stripper header is something that could be looked at.

[@johnm7899]

How are these crops doing with the drought in Europe?

[@toffeebluenose7331]

People been doing this for thousands of years..food forest concept..in Morocco the is a 2000 year old permaculture food forest.the rain forests were grown by man.bio char techniques.

[@orsoncart1021]

The Cotswolds must have the highest number of hobby farmers in the world. 😅😅😅😅😅

[@Pentagathusosaurus]

Haha yeah look at these dumb wankers trying to do something new instead of farming the way their daddies did on the land their daddies gave them and crying that the government isn't giving them enough money to support their failing business, the way a good old british farmer's meant to.