Let’s stop the spread (of topsoil) The constant push for agricultural production puts pressure on primary producers, who often have little time to restore, repair and prepare the ground between crops.
Typically, during the summer
Large, fast, heavy farm equipment is a great time saver, but can damage valuable soil structure leaving it compacted, stripped of organic matter and with reduced water infiltration capacity.
closure; this leaves topsoil
season,
there
is
exposed
ground as vegetable crops are
at
various
stages
growth
without
full
of row
vulnerable. The recent ~100 mm rainfall event in early February caught many by surprise, and highlighted the issue.
Onion crop a few weeks away from harvest – February 2021.
p.14
One solution is planting a short-term Autumn cover crop to provide protection from erosion between cash crops. Above ground, cover crop plants reduce rain splash impact, and this increases with increasing plant height. Below ground, the roots bind the soil, reducing the potential for erosion.
