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Main article – Soil Health and its Management
Soil health and its management is increasingly important as soils have key roles in planetary challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and nutrient pollution. Healthy soils also produce bigger crop and pasture yields than unhealthy soils so increasing profit. However, the concept of soil health and its management often comes across as highly complex, and often expensive with a wide range of products sold with the claim of boosting soil health. Meanwhile there has been a scientific revolution around the formation of organic matter and thus soil health. It was thought organic materials like crop residues, manure and compost were the main source of organic matter but its now clear that some 80% of organic matter is derived from plant root exudates. All of this adds up to a new understanding of what it means to manage soils to maximise health and surprisingly it is pretty straightforward to understand and implement.
Download report. View short (10 min) overview presentation of the report on YouTube. Watch full (1 hr 40 mins) presentation of the full report on YouTube.
The BHU has a YouTube channel
The BHU has started a YouTube channel, for both the Organic College and FFC. We are building up a range of content including on-farm activities, student farm work and webinars, including Bulletin reports. Don’t forget to like and subscribe!
FFC short report on wheat and barley grain hot air treatment temperatures and durations and Fusarium control on barley.
With the ongoing challenge of seed and grain borne pathogens (diseases) coupled with reducing synthetic fungicide treatments non-chemical options for their management are needed. The FFC undertook a simple pilot study to test high temperature short duration hot air treatment of wheat and barley grains, and then tested the potential to control Fusarium on barley. High temperature short duration hot air treatment looks unsuitable for use on grains, probably due to the lack of a hard seed coat found in the dicots, and it negatively impacted germination and growth of Fusarium infected barley. Low temperature, long duration hot air treatments therefore need to be tested.
New agroforestry and agroecology resources
With the ongoing growth of agroecology and agroforestry there are an increasing range of new resources available.
Agroecology for Europe Hub (AE4EU). Facilitating exchanges in agroecology sciences, movements and practices.
Operational guide on agroecology. Publication by the European Union
Agricology agroforestry hub. A navigational guide on integrating trees into farming systems
DigitAF. A consortium of 26 European and international partners committed to provide digital tools to boost Agroforestry in Europe in order to meet climate, biodiversity and farming sustainability goals.
The Agroforestry Handbook, Second Edition. From the Organic Research Centre, UK.