Cover crops and soil management were the main themes at a recent farm walk and workshop held at the Morley study farm.
On Thursday 22nd October around 40 farmers, advisers and local stakeholders met for a SIP event hosted by NIAB in conjunction with The Morley Agricultural Foundation and Morley Farms.
The walk included stops to look at field scale cover crop evaluations on the farm and some of the detailed replicated experimentation.
The long term New Farming Systems studies at the site provided an opportunity for Ron Stobart (Head of Farming Systems Research, NIAB) to both demonstrate different cover cropping approaches, but also to talk through aspects of best practice and the particular challenges of the season.
Nathan Morris (NIAB Soil Specialist) also discussed establishment systems and provided some practical demonstration of soil structural assessments.
Following the farm walk Stuart Knight (Deputy Director, NIAB and SIP Project 1 lead) hosted an interactive discussion and workshop on the use of cover crops. This session highlighted that while research has shown positive soil and yield impacts from cover crops, there are still outstanding questions around selecting the right options, best practice integration strategies and how to improve the uptake of these choices within our farming systems.