High yield and low N leaching with barley as a green crop for silage after grass-clover

Summary

Danish organic farmers experience increasing difficulties with clover soil fatigue due to continuous cultivation of clover. A solution could be to undersow barley with Italian ryegrass after ploughing of grass-clover where the barley could be used as a green crop for silage (i.e., barley harvested at the beginning of heading), and Italian ryegrass could be used for cutting in autumn.
This method offers advantages not only for the farmer but also for the environment. When grass-clover is ploughed there is a high risk of N leaching. However, new field experiments show, that with the suggested method it is possible to reduce leaching to a minimum and simultaneously achieve a high production of roughage.