The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has teamed up with Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) to form a two-year Soils Partnership, which will feature at some 70 events across the country. The aim is to make sure potato growers and other farmers getting the best in soil and nutrient knowledge.
The programme of workshops, focus groups and conferences is backed by a series of management guides and information sheets, plus a dedicated soils management web portal on the AHDB website.
AHDB chief scientist Ian Crute sees a special place for improving soil quality in all areas of horticulture. He said: “The health and fertility of soils has always been a priority for crop and pasture-based agriculture but even greater attention now needs to be paid to good soil management because of the inter-relationship between productivity and environmental impact.
“Initiatives such as the Soils Partnership will help ensure we make the most of a vital asset for increasing yields, as well as tackle issues of nutrient losses to water and emissions of nitrous oxide. In this context, attention to such things as drainage and cultivation practices can contribute significantly to reducing farming’s environmental impact.”
Technical workshops for potato growers are planned in east, north and north-east England in late August and early September.
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