The Preservation of Soil Fertility

An incredibly important element of a sustainable faming enterprise is to ensure that the key component, soil fertility, is being maintained and improved to ensure the continued success of crops.

The primary measures that are being taken to preserve soil fertility across Agrvovivo are:

Continued Soil Sampling and Crop Rotation

Agrovivo constantly monitors soils conditions through soil sampling using the latest technologies and through effective crop rotation. Part of the regular sampling involves testing the acidity of the soil alongside the nutrients available, this enabling the optimum crop rotation to be planted alongside targeted fetilisation across the land bank. Soil health is continually monitored to ensure the best set of crops can be planted.

Strip Tillage

Due to the changing climate and droughts experienced in recent years, the lack of moisture in the soil is a serious problem that has led to a change in cultivation technologies. By removing heavy cultivations and ploughing and changing over to Strip Till and Min Till, the number of cultivations has been decreased, the depth of the cultivations have been decreased and the amount of soil that is disturbed and turned over has also been reduced substantially. By combining cultivation operations in Strip Tillage and carrying them out in a single pass, the working process is substantially minimised.

Compaction

Compaction is a serious issue on all arable farms and reducing compaction across the cropping area is a key requirement. By introducing a cycle of deep ripping across the land bank, alongside the utilisation of RTK Guidance systems and the elimination of trucks driving all over the fields at harvest time, Agrovivo has managed to substantially reduce soil compaction. This reduction will enable stronger water and moisture retention in the soil, combined with better root growth and nutrient uptake.