SOIL SCANNING AND SAMPLING SPECIALISTS

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• Ultimate Soil Scanning

– High definition in-field scanning of major field properties including pH, Organic Matter, Electrical Conductivity and Topography

• Precision Soil Sampling and Mapping

• Biomass Imagery

• Standard Soil Sampling

– P, K, Mg and pH

• Deep Core Nitrogen Sampling

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Cloud Agro Ltd are specialists in soil health and crop nutrition. They work with scientific and agricultural institutions to develop laboratory protocols and farm products that are rigorously tested and proven in field trials. Founder Ross Barclay-Beuthin explained: “Cloud Agro’s services and products make it possible for producers, for the first time, to accurately measure and effectively treat the ‘burn rate of nutrients’ exported during harvest, together with the ‘burn rate of humus’ expended during mineralisation.”

One of the products they supply is Smart Feed, a 100% natural organic fertiliser and soil conditioner, under the brand name FutureGro. It comes from the process of organic nutrient recycling, an upgrade to the traditional practice of manure and green waste application. It is six times stronger than FYM and 50 times more effective than green waste. FutureGro encourages plants to grow stronger with enhanced nutrition and more balanced soils. The repeated application of the product helps nutrients become more available as the soil becomes more fertile, meaning that, over time, less chemical fertiliser is needed.

Tillage and Glysophate

“When it comes to improving soil health, physical soil management must play a part too,” said agronomist Julian Searle. “Travelling the ground frequently means deep cultivations are important.” Breaking up the soil to depth promotes better air infiltration and drainage reducing compaction or by adding deep rooted green manure into the soil.

There are arguments against practices like tilling which break up the soil surface since it can lead to erosion or indeed compaction. There is also a danger of vine damage when the process is badly managed and runs too close to the trunks of the vines. The topography and soil type of a vineyard will inform whether or not these sorts of practices offer a net benefit in specific cases.

“Cultivation for weed control has become very popular following the perception that glyphosate is dangerous,” Julian explained. “The arable sector is following a ‘minimum tillage’ model allowing the soil macro and micro fauna to create a naturally fertile soil profile with significantly reduced work to the soil; it seems to me the frequent cultivation model to remove weed under perennial fruit crops works against regenerative practice in so many ways. If glyphosate can be proven benign to the eco-system, its use, say twice a year, will fit very well with modern regenerative practice. The possibility of infrequent ‘shallow’ cultivation integrated with ‘safe’ herbicide use is perhaps the ideal.”

Ham Street Wines

“Soil health is at the heart of what we do and is an essential part of our management practices, especially as we are organic certified,” said self-confessed ‘soil geek’ Jules Phillips of Ham Street Wines in Kent. “We do this through the use of cover crops to increase plant diversity and soil structure, the use of inoculant composts such as a Johnson Su or BD500 to increase life in the soil and other composts such as PAS100 or woodchip to add carbon and organic matter to the soil.

“Paradoxically we also focus on plant health too (to improve soil health), as healthy plants will release root exudates feeding the life in the soil and boosting the soil food web, we do this through a nutrition programme informed by plant sap analysis.”

Jules and his wife Lucie are also conscious of other activities that limit soil health, such as the use of copper or compaction from machinery. They continually strive to reduce these activities wherever possible. Copper can disrupt soil structure, leading to compaction and reduced aeration which will limit root growth and nutrient intake. It can also be toxic to beneficial microorganisms in the soil and bind with nutrients, making them less available to plants. Finally, repeated use of copper can also make the soil more acidic, which may affect the balance of its chemistry.

For this reason, copper-based fungicides should be used judiciously, and in some cases, alternative fungicides or non-chemical management practices may be more appropriate. Improving vineyard hygiene, employing integrated pest management strategies and using fungus-resistant grape varieties like Solaris, Rondo or Seyval Blanc may all mitigate the need to use copper regularly.

“If we can improve our soil health enough,” Jules said, “we will increase the health of the vines, quality of the fruit and mitigate the impacts of climate change, a win-win!”

Making friends in your soil

Reducing chemical inputs into the soil generally has the additional benefit of creating an environment that welcomes a diverse population of soil microorganisms.

◆ Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with plant roots that improve nutrient uptake and the efficiency of water use. They can also help to suppress plant pathogens and improve soil structure. Adding organic matter to the soil and reducing the use of chemical fertilisers can help to promote their development.

◆ Nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use as well as suppress pathogens and