On Friday 16th October we welcomed Dr Richard Smith MBE, who is the Environment Agency’s leading soil specialist, to meet with our farming and landowning members to explore how the day-to-day management of land within the valley can enhance or degrade our soils.
The event took place at Calhayes Farm. Dave Crabb and Fred Constantine-Smith from the Luppitt Landscape Partnership team gave a short talk describing the complex, but very well documented, soil types in the valley. They shared the work we have been doing to assess the current state of our soils as well as some of the farming options and payments we are proposing to Defra for improving our soils across Luppitt over the next 20 years.
After a welcome pasty we headed out into one of the Calhayes pastures up on the plateau where two deep soil pits had been dug, so that Richard could describe the layers of soil that lie beneath the surface. It was a fascinating journey through the complex geology, chemistry, physics and biology of the soils and how the weather is also reflected in them. We then explored how our soils are impacted by different farming practices and the timing of them.
Soil and its condition underpins food production, supports a healthy ecology and is crucial to how we adapt to a changing climate. We hope to welcome Richard back as we go through the project to support us in this vital area of maintaining a productive and ecologically healthy farming landscape for the future. Thanks are due to Dave Crabb for hosting the event, Geoff Derryman for sharing soil samples and Andrew Tucker for preparing the soil pits.