EA New advice for farmers – Green crops & Cambridge

Successful cover crops scheme expanded  Cambridge and Affinity Water are pleased to announce that our novel cover crops scheme has been a success again this year. The joint initiative, launched last summer, captured 40 tonnes of nitrogen over 800 hectares which may otherwise have leached into the groundwater and rivers in the designated areas. The scheme is now to be repeated for a third successive year.

‘All farmers involved in our 2020/21 cover crop scheme have successfully grown their cover crops, which have done a great job at protecting soils from erosion, reducing nitrate leaching and capturing carbon. This follows on from the success of the 2019 cover crop scheme.

“With species such as oil radish, Italian ryegrass, barley and oats being grown widely in addition to other species such as linseed, buckwheat and mustard providing colour, many of the fields across our catchments looked at bit different to normal this year.

“As well as providing aesthetic interest these cover crops can also benefit farmland birds and other species over winter by providing cover and diversity in the landscape.’