Keep it clean and help reduce pollution (From Gazette & Herald)

Keep it clean and help reduce pollution

IT IS claimed is that farmers in England and Wales are losing 2.2 million tonnes of arable topsoil each year due to erosion.

The equivalent of 1cm of soil is removed each year, together with the pesticides and nutrients it contains - and it all ends up in the watercourses.

When in comes to reducing pollution, farmers are being urged to look to their cultivation practices as much as their sprayers this autumn.

Through the Voluntary Initiative, farmers have made great strides in cutting the pollution which can result from spraying pesticides, but soil erosion is a major contributor which offers scope for further improvement.

Cultivation technique is important in that soil compaction and surface capping will dramatically increase erosion.

The creation of very fine seedbeds, which can cap and allow the soil structure to collapse following heavy rainfall, should be avoided. A liberal covering of trash and rapid crop establishment are an effective means of reducing the impact of raindrops on soil crumbs which can result in erosion.

Bare ground over the winter is most at risk and six metre grass buffer strips can be useful in slowing water movement to watercourses on sloping land.

The field should be ploughed away from the buffer strip to leave a shallow furrow - but not a watercourse! Tramlines can soon become streams following heavy rain and the advice is to ensure that they are positioned across slopes and certainly not down slopes leading to watercourses.

Following the unusually dry September we have just experienced, heavy cracking can occur in clay soils which may allow rapid infiltration of pesticides.

In these situations it is best to delay spraying until there has been sufficient rain to close the cracks. Soil Management Plans provide a useful opportunity to review cultivation and cropping practices on soils and slopes prone to erosion.

Further guidance is available from the Voluntary Initiative website: www.voluntaryinitiative.org.uk.

Updated: 14:34 Wednesday, October 12, 2005