Sheepdrove Organic Farm Soils Programme Report 2003 Interim Report

Summary

Sheepdrove Organic Farm wishes to maintain or improve soil fertility (where appropriate) in accordance with organic principles and to gain a greater understanding of the biological activity with the soil ecosystems of the farm. In order to monitor changes in soil fertility a monitoring programme has been established to record all available past soils data and implement an ongoing programme that meets the agronomic needs of the farming enterprises and contributes to the ‘Sheepdrove Story’. From the limited data collected to date there is evidence that organic matter levels are higher than would be expected on these soil types and that past management has maintained major nutrient status at ‘conventional’ levels.