Cover, catch or companion crops - what's the difference?

Farmers, particularly those in the local catchment, are invited to this free meeting focusing on the ins and outs of growing fertility building crops with some first hand on-farm experience.

As spaces are limited, priority will be given to farmers in this catchment who can provide their CPH number.  

9.30  Coffee/tea

10.00 Catchment Sensitive Farming

Rachel Webster, CSFO

10.15 Introduction - the farmer experience of using cover crops

Robert Atkinson, Doncaster

10.25 Cross compliance aspects of soil erosion

Brendan O'Connor, (FAS)

 11.10  Cover, Catch and Companion crops

Brendan Paul, Agrii

• What is the difference?
• Cost:benefits of cover crops
• Benefits in the rotation for pest, disease and weed management (including slugs and blackgrass)
• Reduction in nitrogen losses
• Green manures: increasing soil organic matter and fertility
• Types of cover crops – short and long term
• Companion cropping
  
• Discussion

 12.00 Lunch

 13.00 Management of cover crops

Brendan Paul

• Species, mixtures, suitability for soil type/situations
• Agronomy of different species of cover crops
• • Management in the rotation
• • • spraying off, preparing for next crop, pest/weed management
  • Costs and savings in cover crop and rotation
• • Cover crop problems and how to avoid/overcome them
  • Discussion

14.10 A farmer's experience of growing cover crops on a range of soil types

Robert Atkinson

• How cover crops have helped:
• • control my blackgrass
  • recycle my organic nitrogen and phosphate
  • build up my soil health and organic matter
• The implications on my rotation and machinery
• • my cover crop choice to suit my needs
  • burn down timings and sowing a following crop
  • my machinery choice and settings
  • costings

15.00 Close