LEAF-related research
Research priorities
- to understand how arable farming can provide multiple 'services' - a stable and resilient ecological infrastructure, supporting high yield and quality of products, within an attractive landscape that people feel a part of and are proud of,
- to achieve this through improving and stabilising soil structure and function, the efficient use and conservation of nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser, the beneficial cohabitation between crops and other arable vegetation, and regulating pests without reliance on chemical pesticides,
- to demonstrate through on-farm trials and the Centre for Sustainable Cropping that sustainable crop production is achievable and that we are getting there.
The Institute's research on LEAF-related topics will be presented here as occasional short articles or pdf files.
Beneficial insects in furrowed field margins
In 2015, a student from AgroParisTech, Benjamin Lepers, spent some time over the summer here learning about vegetation and insect life. His first task was to complete a survey of plant species in different types of vegetation, including land under cereal crops, grassy field margins, furrowed margins, taller mixed vegetation and hedges. The furrowed margins supported 35-40 plant species along a 100 m stretch. Furrowed margins – an idea developed on this farm – are called ‘Magic Margins’ and recently won awards (see LEAF News on this site).
The next aim was to look within recently formed furrowed margins to record how the vegetation varied on a small scale (e.g. over a few metres) and whether the proportions of plant species influenced the insects that live there. The types, number and mass of insects within these different patches in the furrowed margins and adjacent barley crop were sampled by vortis suction (an instrument like a large vacuum cleaner). The mass of insects - which is an indication of their contribution to the food web - was smallest in the barley crops and grass patches but twice a large in the margins' mixed broadleaf patches.
The findings as a whole demonstrate the value of diversity of vegetation across the farm and diversity at much smaller scales that allow different plant and insect groups to coexist. Notably, the mixed broadleaf patches had by far the highest density of natural enemies (especially parasitic wasps) that feed on herbivore pests of the crop next door.
Benjamin’s supervisor, Geoff Squire, writes: "This was a highly successful, short-term, undergraduate project. The student learned about biodiversity, food webs, field sampling and analysis while the Hutton gained some early pointers to the value of Magic Margins for food web biodiversity. The project was an example of the opportunities provided by research, teaching and farming working together across the Institute".
Thwe following PDF gives a summary of the project: Beneficial insects in furrowed field margins
Contact: geoff.squire@hutton.ac.uk
See also Ed Baxter's commentary on Conservation at the crop edge at LEAF/Comment.
2014-16 Field Campaign - East of Scotland
A major series of field studies began 31 March 2014 to measure and record aspects of crops, weeds and other pests, biodiversity, soils, agronomy and other factors on fields in the East of Scotland from north of Inverness through Moray, Aberdeen, Angus, Fife and south to the Borders. There are two main aims to the work: to revisit fields sampled in the 2007 survey in order to compare change in the intervening period, and to define what makes a sustainable system in which the inputs, outputs in terms of yield and other products are balanced with the in-field environment and the wider impact of farming.
LEAF farmers contribute to the set of >100 fields that make up the study. This major investigation is part of a long term, definitive programme of work on the Atlantic Maritime Croplands around Scotland's coasts. Since sampling and seedbank identification ended in 2015, we have been processing samples and analysing the large datasets that have arisen from the work. The scientists involved have been summarising aspects of the work in various talks and intend to submit a set of papers to refereed journal in 2016/17.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Field based soil analysis - portable FTIR and XRF
SOCiT - new app for soil carbon
Centre for Sustainable Cropping