Soil is one of our most valuable assets, and soil health can be a key element in the fight against climate change – so how can farmers maximise its potential?
UK country manager at UPL, Vaughn Stansfield, believes that when growing crops, soil health is at the start of everything:
“It’s the foundation upon everything we do and yet it can be the most limiting factor in the chain of crop production when neglected,” he said.
“That’s why day two of the Cereals seminars will focus exclusively on soils – covering everything from research into the microbiome, to drainage, regenerative farming, and carbon measurement tools,” explained event organiser Alli McEntyre.
“Healthy soils equate to healthy profits – both from crop production and the trading of natural capital.
We want to give visitors the latest information and practical tools from researchers, scientists and award-winning farmers.
Visitors will also be able to get beneath the ground to examine soil structure in the NIAB soil pit, and get the latest advice in the new drainage demonstration area.
As seminar sponsor at Cereals, UPL is putting sustainability high on the agenda.
“As an industry and globally, we are looking to move forward in a sustainable manner, but it needs to be done profitably, and these two things aren’t mutually exclusive,” explains Mr. Stansfield.
Focusing on soil health
Focusing on soil health isn’t just about growing better crops: With the changes to farm payments and the evolution of carbon offsetting schemes, it poses multiple opportunities to farmers.
Organisations like LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) have been working to deliver sustainability for over 30 years, Caroline Drummond, CEO at LEAF said:
We are increasingly seeing nature-based opportunities, where nature is core in driving improved soil health.
“We cannot just look at policy to drive this change – first and foremost there needs to be control of this from a business perspective,” she concluded.
