Introduction

Over the last five years the importance ofgood soil management has slowly climbed up the political agenda. In 1999 a MAFF funded survey by SSLRC showed that 44% of arable land is at risk of water erosion, with erosion taking place on modrate slopes on heavy soils and gentle slopes on sandy soils with an estimated 2.3mt of top-soil lost anually. DEFRA and The Environment Agency both published documents in 2004 clearly showing the importance of soil management and protection of our water resources. EU efforts to control soil erosion and soil degradation have brought in a requirement for cross compliance - a tool to bring about environmental benefit from payment to farmers as opposed to production subsidy. From January 2005 farmers are obliged to meet new targets which include maintaining/building soil structure and organic matter and minimising soil erosion as part of their cross compliance terms within the new Single Farm Payment. The Environment Agency will be policing the new Water Framework Directive to minimise pollution of watercourses from land based operations. With the encouragement of economic drivers crop establishment methods are under-going radical change, with some 42% of arable land now under conservation tillage systems. So the need for best practice is never more vital to British farmers.

This book, produced by Vaderstad UK Ltd and The Soil Management Initiative (SMI), is designed to be both a working guide and a reference document. It provides information for understanding and informed decision making  by growers and agronomists, but is not intended to provide advice. The chapters are written by specialists in their field to be practical and informative, and each chapter ends with a table of actions and space to make notes of your learnings. Each author provides their own viewpoint within a framework of SMI collaboration. The book is focussed around a 'target' concept, carried from the start through each chapter to the conclusion. This is to focus attention on the importance of individual factors affecting soils and establishment, which are covered in each chapter, but also to help balance the management of these factors. Experience shows that this is the most successful overall, particularly when adopting conservation tillage systems. Bad management in one area can unbalance the whole system leading to poor performance of yield and profit, but could lead to bad erosion.

Using the target concept, fields can be scored 1-9 with respect to each factor and the scores plotted on the target. When the score dots are all joined up, the smaller the area in the centre, the more balanced your management and the more sustainable your system. These plots can be used to monitor performance and be reviewed in the future to check progress.

Chapter 1 - Policy

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