In recent years there has been a lot of media coverage on the impact of modern farming practices on pollinators in general. One possible route to improve the environmental sustainability of broadacre agriculture is through adopting regenerative practices. Regenerative farming is based on improving soil health and promoting biodiversity. One practice which may positively benefit pollinators is the addition of a permanent understory of clover in cereal cropping systems. This practice is focused primarily on improving soil health through maintaining a permanent green cover, and increasing nitrogen availability to the cereal crop through nitrogen fixation by the clover understory.
As clover are a valuable source of nectar and pollen there is the potential that the adoption of permanent clover understories in broadacre cereal production to provide floral resources for pollinators where they would otherwise be limited floral resources.
Fielden Whisky are supporting their growers to adopt no-chemical regenerative agricultural practices to support biodiversity and soil health. To support Fielden Whisky in understanding the impacts of integrating a permanent clover understory this study will carry out baseline soil and biodiversity assessments to compare fields growing heritage rye, wheat, and barley using permanent clover understories with fields without a clover understory. This work will cover a range of assessments on soil health and local invertebrate diversity. One aspect of interest is the utilisation of the clover by pollinators.
