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[Music]
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your slaves your future and the future
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of all those relying on you managing and
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improving soil health has always been
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important but is now considered to be a
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priority both within the industry and at
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policy level the House of Commons vomit
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audit committee recently published
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information documenting that on average
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they're 2.2 million tons of soil
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corrosion from the UK on an annual basis
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with a costs estimated costs of forty
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five million pounds per year in terms of
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lost production potential and I think as
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we go forward you know in a post brexit
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world with a new domestic agricultural
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policy soil health and so quality and
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productivity and looking after ourselves
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is going to be Square and center in
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terms of Agriculture policy so as
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farmers it's really important that
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there's a better understanding of soil
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management and farmers are better able
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to step up to the challenge of managing
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the House of Commons environmental audit
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committee is advocating proactive
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incentives for landowners to restore and
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improve soil quality in order to ensure
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continued and long-term productive
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capacity and resilience however there
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still remains widespread uncertainty as
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to the most appropriate management
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practices to improve soil health and the
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best way to measure and monitor soil
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quality historically you know the three
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pillars of sort of soil health are so
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Balaji soul physics and so on with
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chemistry and the focus is very much
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being on understanding so physics and
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cultivations
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and very much about feeding plants and
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soil chemistry and so Balaji has been
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really the very the the poor cousin in
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the sort of three-legged stool and
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partly because actually biology is
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really difficult to understand and
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really difficult to measure but actually
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it's a fundamental part of good soil
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management
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and now there is you know with with
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advances in science there's there's
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easier ways to understand some of those
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complexities and interactions between
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chemistry biology and physics post-war
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farming practices have relied on
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artificial fertilizer and a movement
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away from traditional rotations and this
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in turn has led to a reduction in the
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amount of organic matter and carbon in
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the soil the reduction in organic matter
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has led to a breakdown in soil structure
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and we see increasing levels of erosion
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and compaction in our soils the loss of
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fertile arable soil is estimated at 2.2
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million tonnes per year
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compare this with a capacity to form
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soil at a rate of 1 mega grams per
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hectare per year with this level of loss
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concerns are growing over future food
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security sustainable agricultural
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production and predicted climate change
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expansion in farm size and
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ever-increasing machinery weight whilst
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achieving economies of scale can result
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in soil degradation from over
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cultivation compaction and untimely
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operations a good example being potatoes
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and other root vegetables often grown on
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marginal quality soils where de stoning
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and restructuring through bed forming is
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required to produce the appropriate soil
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environment but the consequence of this
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could be long-term loss of soil health
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and productive capacity unless
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mitigation is put in place the impact of
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fertilizers and chemicals applied for
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fertility and crop protection a well
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understood above ground but we know less
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about the impacts below ground the long
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term soil health often cultivations are
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used to rectify soil health and
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structural problems but they can cause
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as many issues as they resolve research
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from Harper Adams University suggests
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that 85% of cultivation activity is
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associated with repairing damage from
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previous activity as we strive to
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increase livestock production over
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grazing and poaching have also added to
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the degradation of our soil
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so what can we do to ensure our soils
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remain healthy with optimum structure
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and consistency for meeting our demands
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now and in the future
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Steven breaks discusses suitable
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management practices to improve our soil
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health if you're a farmer that had soda
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pounds on the farm would you turn them
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off
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for July August and September or would
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that be madness of course you wouldn't
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but that's part of what we do in many
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arable cropping systems we're not
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building harvesting sunlight and
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building carbon through the middle part
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of the year when there's maximum solar
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radiation so using cover crops to add
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diversity to the farm put in different
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routing structures but importantly to
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harvest more sunlight to build carbon to
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energize our farming systems has got to
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be a win-win for most farmers for many
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farmers cover cropping growing a going
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another non harvest will crop between
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your two cash crops it can be a sensible
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option to move it once up another net up
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another level actually companion
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planting growing a companion with your
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cash crop to edit to harvest more
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sunlight build carbon and actually in
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some instances take disease and pest
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pressure off the cash crop can be can be
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a way forward for some farmers so there
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are there are some farmers doing things
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like growing beans and cereals together
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in the same field that there are a few
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farmers in the UK now growing Peola
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which is also you drape and piece
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there's a leg Hume and a non legume and
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these all help in terms of diversity
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different routing structures and
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importantly if we're considering trying
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to improve soil health and mycorrhizal
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populations in the soil to harness the
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power of salt beneficial soil fungi
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recognizing that some of the brassicas
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we grow like all seed rape a non
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mycorrhizal hosts having a companion
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plant growing at the same time such as
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peas or veggies or phacelia actually
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that bridges the gap in terms of
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mycorrhizal
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micros or host gaps and keeps that
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mycorrhizae alive trying to include
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legumes as part of your your farming
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system can bring real benefits in terms
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of soil ecology if you want the right
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the riser fixing bacteria to actually
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fix nitrogen actually you need legumes
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as part of the system so what you can
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see from here is the nodules big fat
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nodules on the plant itself which are
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making a bacterial relationship we riser
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fixing bacteria to actually create
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nitrogen from that from the atmosphere
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what we're trying to achieve with good
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soil health is a good balance of air and
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water and structure an organic matter
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has a key component in that a key
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function so the organic matter then
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starts building up fungal relationships
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and bacterial relationships is that
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feeds on the organic carbon breaking
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that down and releasing plant foods in
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return than the earthworms then eat some
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of that that carbon as a source of
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protein and carbohydrate the
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carbohydrate being the actual organic
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material itself and the protein coming
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from the bacteria and the fungi which
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they're consuming as well in return they
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leave structures as you can see here as
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an earthworm burrow and actually helps
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restructure our soils earthworms
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themselves are nutrient multipliers and
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what goes in the front end of an
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earthworm and comes out the back as a
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worm cast is greatly enhanced in terms
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of nitrogen phosphate potash magnesium
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etc so what we're after is a nice crumb
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structure sores that fall apart easily
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that have nice porous holes to allow
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water and air to interface with and
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allow our roots to explore through the
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soil profile to access those nutrients
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and water so you can see where the
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earthworm has gone through the soil here
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and created a nice burrow
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where they've been been moving up and
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down through the soil in return the
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biology will then feed around that and
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that'll leave nice channels for new
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roots to explore the soil for water to
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infiltrate for air and air and water to
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exchange in the soil many farms have
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changed their rotations over the last
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3040 years in the drive for efficiency
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and simplicity
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perhaps historically having had three
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four or five or more crops the Norfolk
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for coarse rotation as an example
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perhaps getting rid of livestock beef
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and sheep from the farm simplifying it
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to an all arable system perhaps contract
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farming it whilst that sport productive
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benefits and cash benefits to the
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business long term it has an impact on
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soil health so finding ways to add in
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more diversity back into your farming
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system by having a wider range of crops
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by embedding cover crops with companion
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planting with your in your rotation or
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perhaps even reintroducing livestock as
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a first step for grazers cover crops or
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introduce grass grass clover grass they
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brakes to help combat things like black
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grass actually are going to be the the
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the way long-term way forward in
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solutions for for some farms for many
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arable farms who don't necessarily have
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the skills or infrastructure for
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livestock any longer the reintroduction
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of livestock is a big hurdle and a big
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challenge a small or sensible first step
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would be to perhaps bring somebody in to
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to graze cover crops then perhaps
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building that capacity and skills with
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other neighboring farmers or grazers to
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graze land in partnership with the
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arable business I think is a really
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sensible way forward it isn't easy to
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put an economic figure on perhaps
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bringing a livestock into the farm on
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honest or a grazing basis but if you
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consider that if you're not having to
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terminate your cover crops with either
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herbicides or cultivations that you can
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allow the livestock to do that there's a
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cost saving and equally some of
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urinating and dunking from that
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livestock is bringing fertility back
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into back into the farm and there's been
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quite a bit of research to show that the
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golden hoof does bring some benefits in
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terms of imparting fertility back to the
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farm for many farmers cover cropping
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growing a growing another non
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harvestable crop between your two cash
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crops can be a sensible option to move
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it once up another net up another level
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actually companion planting growing a
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companion with your cash crop and to
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edit to harvest more sunlight build
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carbon and actually in some instances
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take disease and pest pressure off the
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cash crop can be can be a way forward
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for some farmers for grass and farmers
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either in permanent pasture or grass
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lays actually increasing diversity can
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be just as important moving away from a
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few species of shallow rooting perennial
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ryegrass to have HAP to perhaps
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including herbs and legumes to create
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herbal rich lays which then build soil
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in a vertical direction by putting
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greater route down through the soil
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which in turn improves its drought
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resistance improves soil structure and
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death and its ability to hold livestock
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numbers above ground has proven to be
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quite quite a successful way of farming
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for quite a number of farmers whilst
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there's a necessity for some farmers to
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till intensively especially for things I
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read crops there there should be a
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desire for many farmers to actually only
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do the tillage that you need to do and
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not not do more than you need to do
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there there are some farmers now
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developing all with with long term
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experience of no-till systems
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integrating those with cover crops and
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we're seeing some really good
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improvements in soil health as a result
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of having ground covered all the time
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with it with a green growing plant
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whether that be cash crop
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cover crop what that means for many
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farmers is they've got to spend time
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learning new skills and getting to grips
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with new equipment in terms of direct
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sowing and perhaps changing their
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management and their agronomy to match
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with those of the no-till situations but
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there are farms in the north and the
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south and the east and the west of the
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country that have been doing it now for
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five to ten years with not without its
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challenges but with with enough success
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to say that actually it can work really
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well here in England I guess one of the
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biggest challenges in Agriculture's is
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the saying that we've always done it
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this way and the biggest challenges is
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to open your mind to perhaps new ideas
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of trying things differently and and all
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farming businesses clearly don't want to
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take risks so with any of these new
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practices I would never recommend that
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anyone does half the farm in one go what
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you want to do is try a practice on
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perhaps just a few acres and build up
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your experience and your confidence and
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secondly go and surround yourself with
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other farmers that are that are also
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been trying practices and learn from
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what they're doing and part of what
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we're trying to do in innovation for
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agriculture is to link up those farmers
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together so they can share their
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experiences and their challenges in
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terms of developing these new new ways
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of farming so what do we say about soil
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I mean it is the most fundamental
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resource that we have on the farm if we
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don't have soil available what can grow
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it's our most precious resource and it's
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our most valuable resource so caring for
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it for the long term productive capacity
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of the farm
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there's got to be going to be a high
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priority so as you can see there's lots
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to be learned from farmer experiences
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from those doing conservation
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agriculture organic and innovative
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practices your soils your future
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innovation for agriculture is a
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consortium of English agricultural
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societies we help farmers make the best
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use of existing and emerging science to
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better enable them to meet the challenge
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of feeding the growing population whilst
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optimizing productivity and improving
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