Management Of A Permanent Cover Crop In An Organic Farming System

Summary

"The current societal, political and regulatory context is bringing farmers to search and develop low-input cropping systems, particularly in organic farming. Sowing a permanent cover crop is a practice of interest for those systems. Several functions can be highlighted: enhancing the symbiotic activity of the cover crop species to bring nitrogen into the system and limit the use of exogenous fertilizers, weed control through canopy competition, and erosion mitigation in sloping plots.In organic agriculture, the non-chemical management of a permanent cover crop can be difficult and existing mowing solutions can only be done in the fallow period. Thanks to the collaboration between ARVALIS and an agricultural machinery manufacturer, an inter-row mower prototype was created to manage the cover crop into the main crop. This mowing is made possible by the tractor's self-guiding system, which is also used for sowing the permanent cover crop and the main crop.This technique has already been tested in the south of France where a trial with alfalfa and wheat was carried out. The first results are very encouraging; in the situation where alfalfa is mowed three times, wheat yields reach 26.6 q/ha and 13.9% of protein. To confirm these initial results, a larger-scale experiment was set up with other permanent cover legumes species and different mowing methods using the innovative inter-row mower prototype.The innovative nature of this technique for managing permanent cover crop thus offers multiple perspectives for the agro-ecological systems of tomorrow."