PO12 - More sustainable agriculture and forestry

Swales are broad, shallow, linear vegetated channels which can store or convey surface water (reducing the rate and volume of runoff) and remove pollutants. They can be used as conveyance features to pass the runoff to the next stage of the SuDS treatment train and can be designed to promote infiltration where soil and groundwater conditions...

Buffer strips and hedges are natural or semi-natural vegetated features integrated into agricultural and semi-urban landscapes to enhance ecological and hydrological functions.

Buffer strips are areas of natural vegetation cover (grass, bushes or trees) at the margin of fields, arable land, transport infrastructures and water courses. They can feature various combinations of vegetation, from simple grass to mixtures of grass, trees,...

The optimal sowing date is one of the most important and cost-effective field management practices that affect crop development, nutrient uptake, grain yield, technical quality, and nutritional value. Although it does not require additional inputs, adjusting the sowing date can serve as an efficient and affordable strategy to improve yields under different climatic conditions.

Early sowing refers to sowing up to six weeks before the...

Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is an agricultural system which confines all machinery loads to the least possible area of permanent traffic lanes. Current farming systems allow machines  to randomly traverses the field, compacting around 75% of the area within one season and at least the whole area by the second season. Soils don’t recover quickly, taking as much as a few years. A proper CTF system on the other hand can reduce...

Strip cropping is a farming method used when a slope is too steep or too long, or otherwise, when one does not have an alternative method of preventing soil erosion. It alternates strips of closely sown crops which cover fully the soil when growing such as hay, wheat, or other small grains with strips of row crops, such as corn, soybeans, cotton, or sugar beets. This technique helps to stop soil...

Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops’ species simultaneously in the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources that would otherwise not be utilised by a single crop. Examples of intercropping strategies are planting a deep-rooted crop with a shallow-rooted crop, or planting a tall crop with a shorter crop that requires partial shade...

More than 30% of agricultural areas in the EU – some 50 million hectares – is covered by permanent grasslands. Meadows are areas or fields whose main vegetation is grass, or other non-woody plants, used for mowing and haying.  Pastures are grassed or wooded areas, moorland or heathland, generally used for grazing. Due to their rooted soils and their permanent cover, meadows and pastures create ideal conditions for water uptake and...

Livestock, particularly heavy species such as cattle, can have a number of damaging impacts on soil including compaction, destruction of soil structure (poaching) and loss of vegetation. The literature suggests that treading by livestock increases soil strength and bulk density and...

Basins are areas for storage of surface runoff that are free from water under dry weather flow conditions.  Basins are bodies of water designed to store surface runoff. They play a critical role in stormwater management by reducing flood risk and improving water quality. The performance of basins is highly site-dependent and often requires upstream source control to function effectively. There are three main types of basins: retention,...

Green cover, cover crops or catch crops refers to crops planted in late summer or autumn, usually on arable land, to protect the soil, which would otherwise lie bare during the winter, against wind and water erosion.  Green cover crops also improve the structure of the soil, diversify the cropping system, and mitigate the loss of soluble nutrients. Green cover crops are good...