"The countryside will look very different in 20 years time, as farmers change their present methods of cultivation to a technique called cover cropping," says the editor of Practical Farm Ideas magazine.
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There's going to be less bare soil during the winter. Farmers will be growing a mixture of plants including vetches, radish, clovers, sunflowers and others that draw up goodness for their next crop. This cover crop is squashed down before the cash crop is planted, and the mulch created helps the wheat, oil seed rape, or maize to grow, as moisture is retained and the biology of the soil improved. It means the cash crop will thrive with less fertiliser and spraying.
The system means there are plants growing throughout the year, which prevents bare soil being washed and blown away. The benefits of better...