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The deadline for sowing catch crops under GLAS is fast approaching. Participating farmers must have crops established by 15 September 2016. According to Teagasc’s Catherine Keena, catch crops provide many benefits. They absorb available nutrients such as nitrogen, which prevents leaching down to ground water, and helps prevent runoff in surface water. They provide organic matter to the soil, which helps increase the biological activity such as earthworms.
The deadline for sowing catch crops under GLAS is fast approaching. Participating farmers must have crops established by 15 September 2016. According to Teagasc’s Catherine Keena, catch crops provide many benefits. They absorb available nutrients such as nitrogen, which prevents leaching down to ground water, and helps prevent runoff in surface water. They provide organic matter to the soil, which helps increase the biological activity such as earthworms.
At least two catch crop species must be sown and one species must not make up more than 75% of the mix. Because the seed size and seeding rates can vary substantially, farmers should consider the seeding method.
In some circumstances it may be best to split seeding in two, depending on the machinery available. For example, some of the cereal species’ minimum seeding rates are up to 75kg/ha, while the brassica species are as low as 3kg/ha.
A drill may be the best method to sow cereal species and a pneumatic or broadcast seeder may be the better approach for brassicas or legumes. Catherine suggests that, if conditions allow, rolling should be carried out to improve soil-to-seed contact and to reduce losses due to pests. The list of recommended catch crops permitted is shown in Table 1. There is a video on the Irish Farmers Journal’s Youtube channel, with some advice on establishing catch crops on the farm.
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