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Soil Management

There are five sets of Practical Practical Guide Guides covering : Use energy and fuels efficiently

Scottish are a valuable store  Water-logging of plant material Develop renewable energy of carbon, particularly the peat can cause it to rot in the Lock carbon into soils and vegetation soils of the uplands and islands. absence of air causing the release of methane, another Optimise the application of fertilisers In Scotland, more than 60x more powerful . and carbon is stored in our soils than Optimise livestock management and vegetation and between them,  Higher overall temperatures the storage of and slurry these carbon stores hold about speed up the various 125x the total amount of CO carbon breakdown processes. Find further information, including 2 links to other Practical Guides and emitted each year in Scotland. It Case Studies, at is essential that we protect soil increases when the carbon reserves and play our (SOM) www.farmingforabetterclimate.org accumulates faster than it is part in meeting Scotland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction being lost. And SOM is one of targets . the keys to and fertility and is worth maximising to boost Soil carbon can be lost in a the soils’ productive capacity variety of ways including : and crop yields. Funded by the Scottish Government as part of their Climate Change Advisory  Ploughing and other cultivations Soil management for carbon, Activity expose soil organic matter to therefore, matters to all farmers, oxygen - this breaks the soil whether organic or conventional. carbon down to - a greenhouse gas. Websites

Top tips for EVERY farm www.farmingforabetterclimate.org www.soilassociation.org  Keep off wet soils - working www.scotland.gov.uk wet soils causes compaction www.ipcc.ch and reduces yields. www.carbontrust.co.uk  Dig to assess soil structures www.sorp.org - structure will change over www.sruc.ac.uk/info/120062/ time. crop_and_soils_systems/412/ visual_evaluation_of_soil_structure  regularly - particularly www.agrecalc.com for pH and P.

 Maintain soil organic matter.

 Take steps to prevent erosion. This Practical Guide highlights  Irrigate to the crop’s tips for managing farm soils to requirements and not more. preserve and boost soil carbon, reduce GHG emissions and  Maintain field drains. benefit the farm business. Soil Management Managing Soils to boost Soil Carbon Key Facts:  Reduced drastically cuts use of resources  Soil and soil organic down on soil carbon losses. It matter is being lost much won't work for every farm in every  Crop rotations with a variety of faster than it can be year. Note it can also reduce on- plant families helps SOM through a made. Minimise soil farm fuel use, cutting costs. variation in rooting depths and erosion and keep soils in styles from year to year. In the field where they can  Minimising keeps particular, including grass in the soil in the field. rotation is helpful. work for you and reduce carbon emissions too.  Incorporating crop residues  Improving grazed pasture after harvest returns much of their through drainage, soil aeration,  It can take up to 500 carbon to the soil. This boosts compaction reduction and years to create 1cm of directly through the improved diversity of forage topsoil - and only residue's nutrients as well as species can all help SOM. moments to lose it in providing better water holding  Afforesting highly degraded or erosion. capacity and boosting activity of soil biota. marginal soils will significantly improve  More than half the world’s  Where straw is required for compared to sub-optimal known species live in the bedding, returning it later as or arable use of those soils. soil - there can be up to 5 manure helps to maintain SOM. tonnes of animal life in The hidden carbon in the one hectare’s soil.  Growing cover crops, particularly manufacture, transport and legumes, on otherwise bare application of pesticides and  Worldwide, soils may ground can benefit soil carbon as fertilisers and the employment of have lost 60% of their well as perhaps "soaking up" tillage and must be taken into account when determining the original soil organic excess nutrients case for land use change. matter since settled  Good irrigation practice helps began. avoid waterlogging and boosts SOM. Improvement  Healthy soil is 25% water and 25% air - both air and  using long- In a trial comparing soils that had a water need pore spaces. term manure applications boosts soil carbon whilst making good diverse rotation including grass, or had significant manure additions or Designing a rotation were in continuous wheat, after five Carbon Storage is long- years the soils in diverse rotation When designing a crop term and the manure-amended soils had : rotation think about :  increased levels of organic matter  varying rooting depths Accumulating carbon in the soil is a long-term process. The life-time of  more fungal activity  maintaining soil cover stable soil organic matter is 250-  grass leys 1900 years but it can be lost in a  better porosity moment, for instance through  nitrogen fixing crops erosion.  greater compaction resistance

 weed suppression To speed up sequestration either : Higher soil carbon and better will be critical for soils to be  cover crops, green manures  INCREASE the rate at which you able to cope with increased climate  shared pests and diseases apply organic matter particularly variability with, for instance better drainage and drought resistance. from off-farm (e.g. composts) or  spring or autumn sowing  DECREASE the rate of oxidation  speed of establishment See the other Practical Guides in this of soil carbon and decomposition series including Assessing Soil  forage vs cash crops of soil organic matter, for instance Structure, Improving Soil Quality  irrigation requirements by using reduced tillage systems and Field Drainage.