Copyright Information
This presentation has been prepared for use by members of
the SAFFIE consortium and their representatives by James
Clarke (ADAS) SAFFIE Project Director.
Information and slides in this presentation may be freely
used for educational and presentational purposes provided
the SAFFIE project is referenced by name or logo in the
presentation.
Some photographs are protected by copyright and
reproduction in printed materials or on websites needs prior
agreement.
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Sustainable Arable
Sustainable Arable Farming For an
Improved Environment - SAFFIE
Prepared by
James Clarke, ADAS;
SAFFIE Project Director
&
Jeremy Wiltshire, ADAS;
Project Co-ordinator www.saffie.info
Pressures
• Economic - Arable farmers need to optimise
inputs and improve efficiency.
• Environmental - UK commitment to increase
biodiversity, especially farmland bird populations.
• Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs)
• Public Service Agreement (PSA)
SAFFIE aims to reconcile these pressures by
quantifying costs and environmental benefits
of new techniques for farmers and policymakers.
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Farmland Biodiversity
SAFFIE will provide information on:
• Birds – indicator species
and trends in others
• Invertebrates - including
food for birds, beneficial
species, bees and
butterflies
• Botanical species - weed
species and wild flowers
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Specific objectives
1. Manipulate agronomy of wheat to increase biodiversity;
2. Manage margin vegetation to maximise biodiversity;
3. Assess the integrated effects of ‘best’ crop and margin
management practices;
4. Conduct a cost:benefit analysis of the best practices;
5. Interact with the farming community to focus the work
and promote findings.
Five year project: 1 January 2002-31 December 2006
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Skylark Ecology
Inhabit open areas – uplands,
downland, coasts, farmland
Eats seeds, plants &
insects
Nest on the ground
52%
decline in
30 years
3-4 nesting attempts pa
Problems for Skylarks
Autumn sowing results in loss
of stubble for winter feeding.
Winter wheat becomes too tall
& dense to allow skylarks to
re-nest (and feed?).
Skylarks re-nesting next to
tramlines susceptible to
machinery & predators.
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Within-crop management
Standard v Wide Rows v Skylark Plots
Within-field agronomy – crop architecture
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More skylark chicks produced
per nest in SP treatments
2.5
Mean no. skylark chicks leaving nest per attempt (SE
bars) - RSPB
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
pre-June
CONV
June onwards
CONV
pre-June
SP
June onwards
SP
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Benefits from foraging
Later-nesting SP birds still able to feed in the
same field in which they nest
Skylark foraging - RSPB
% foraging in nestfield
treatment*date interaction: Wald14.85; df = 2; P< 0.001
100
Early
80
Late
60
40
20
0
Conv
SP
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Effect of SP on English Skylark
populations
Data from SAFFIE, Browne et al. 2000 & BBS. .
30,000
Net loss/gain of skylarks pa
25,000
Net loss/gain of birds - 1%
pa pop decrease
20,000
= loss of 11500 birds pa
15,000
10,000
5,000
% W. Cereals with SP
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
-5,000
-10,000
-15,000
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35
Summary of outcome from Exp1.1
 SP (& WSR) allow longer breeding season
 More chicks from SP fields
 SP most consistently beneficial option
 Indications are that benefits relate to foraging
 SP cheap & effective solution
 Skylark Plot option EF8 in ELS (10 points/ha)
 EL payments more than cover cost of SP
Experiment 1.2
Weed management for biodiversity
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Weed management for biodiversity
• Aim to increase abundance and availability
of plant species (esp. those important to
invertebrates) in winter wheat
• Small scale experiment to control
aggressive weeds and leave beneficial
plants investigates
• Row spacing
• Inter-row hoeing
• Different herbicide programmes
Within-field agronomy – future ICM strategies
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Which weeds do we want?
Very desirable
Desirable
Undesirable
Annual meadow-grass
Common mouse-ear
Black-grass
Black-bindweed
Fumitory
Broad-leaved dock
Charlock
Groundsel
Bromes
Chickweed
Mayweeds
Cleavers
Fat hen
Pansies
Couch
Polygonums
Sowthistles
Creeping thistle
Wild radish
Rye-grasses
Crop volunteers
Wild-oats
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Effects of row spacing + hoeing and selected
yield t/ha
yield t/ha
herbicide programmes on weeds
and yields
GT&HM 03&04
10
10
9
9
8
8
GT&HM
02&03 4 herbs only
7
6
20
5
7
Undesirable
1
Desirable
2
3
Very desirable
10
15
0
Row spacing
(mean of 4 herbicides)
Autumn
Spring
A+S
Desirable
Very desira
0
Wide +
Harrow
None
10
5
Wide
(Gleadthorpe and
High Mowthorpe)
over two years.
Undesirabl
5
Normal
GT&HM 03&04 all spacings
Data from two sites
6
20
5
% cover
% cover
15
yield t/ha
None
Autumn
Spring
A+S
Herbicides
(mean of 3 spacings)
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Results so far
• Inter-row hoeing and wide-spaced rows
did not improve biodiversity
• Herbicides offered more opportunity
• Where aggressive weeds were present, it
was difficult to preserve desirable
species
• Spring (only) application of herbicide was
best for desirable species
• Analysis of results is continuing
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Experiment 2
Margin management
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Margin management
• Seed mixes
1. Grass as in Countryside Stewardship
2. Tussock grass + wildflowers
3. Fine grass + wildflowers
• Management treatments
1. Cut
2. Scarify
3. Selective herbicide
Margin vegetation
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Spring Treatments (March)
Sward scarification
Cutting
Graminicide application
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Margin vegetation
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Margin vegetation
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Sown species
Major effect of seed mix; no effect of treatment
High Mowthorpe June 2004
Number of species
15
Cut
10
Scar
Gram
5
0
CS
Tussock
Seed Mix
Fine
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Unsown species
No effect of seed mix; big increase from scarification
High Mowthorpe June 2004
Cut
10
Number of species
Scar
Gram
5
0
CS
Tussock
Seed Mix
Fine
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Bare ground %
No effect of seed mix; big increase from scarification
High Mowthorpe June 2004
2 5 .0
% Bare Ground
2 0 .0
Cut
1 5 .0
Scar
Graminicide
1 0 .0
5 .0
0 .0
CS
Tussock
Seed Mix
Fine
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Vegetation height
No effect of seed mix; cutting tallest, except on fine
High Mowthorpe June 2004
Vegetation Height (cm)
40.0
35.0
Cut
30.0
Scar
25.0
Graminicide
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
CS
Tussock
Seed Mix
Fine
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Ground-beetle species richness
More on tussock mix; increases
from scarification
Species richness
25.0
Cut
Scarify
20.0
Graminicide
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
CS
Tussock
Seed Mix
Fine
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Pollinators – bumblebee abundance
Large effect of seed mix; no effects of treatment
140.0
Total no. bumblebees
120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
Cut
Scarification
40.0
Graminicide
20.0
0.0
CS
Tussock
Fine
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Seed-eaters:
Count
Seed-eating passerines by treatment
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Cut
Scar
Gramin
May
June
July
Scarification and
graminicide - later in
the season
August
Month
Insectivores by treatment
Insectivores:
12
Count
10
8
Cut
6
Scar
4
Gramin
2
0
May
June
July
Month
August
Scarification - early
to midwww.saffie.info
season
Scarification may be scary…
...but it’s better for biodiversity
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Experiment 3
Integrating crop and margin
management
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Integrated effects of best crop and
margin management
Integrating best practice
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Experiment 3 – treatments and design
• Four treatments:
1. Control = normal for area
2. Best margin and best field centre
3. Best margin management
4. Best field centre practice
• 26 sites
• Each treatment/plot over 5 ha
Integrating best practice
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Integrated effects experiment
• Integrated effects of
Skylark Plots and margin
scarification on birds,
insects and plants
• 26 sites in England &
Scotland
• Margins & Skylark Plots
established
• Full monitoring started in
April 2004
Integrating best practice
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Skylark breeding performance – English
SAFFIE sites 2004-05 (95% CI)
4.00
3.75
3.50
3.25
3.00
2.75
2.50
2.25
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.25
0.00
Total Nests/10ha
Brood size post-reduction
Chicks/10ha
Control
Simultaneous nests/10ha
Chicks/Nest
Best margin and
Best margin
best field centre
Treatment
Integrating best practice
Best field centre
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Do margins enhance predation?
 Margins facilitate predator movement; acting as corridors
 Do margins increase abundance of prey & predators?
 Does skylark nest predation increase with proximity to margin?
Skylark: within-crop nest success in relation to distance to treatment edge
Best field
centre
fledged
predated
4
3
Best margin
Best margin
and best field
centre
2
1
Control
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
260
280
300
320
340
Dist to edge (m)
Integrating best practice
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360
380
Margins and Skylark plots
• Benefit of skylark plots alone reconfirmed
• Concern that combination of best margins and
best field centres reduced benefit to skylarks
• Some bird and mammal species may have
benefited from margins and combination
• Examining possible causes and effects on other
species in 2005
• As a precaution advise that skylark plots are
located at least 80m from margins
Integrating best practice
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Costs & benefits
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Potential benefit of Skylark Plots
For 10ha field
Gain from ELS points (20@5 points)
£100
Cost of lost production (9.5t/ha@£65/t)
£20
Net gain (to cover costs)
£80
Worst case management costs
<£60
Potential gain
>£20
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Potential benefit of Margins (per ha)
Cost of lost production (7.6t/ha@£65/t)
£494
Saved production costs (inputs, fuel
and labour)
Net effect on income from margins
Annualised cost of establishment and
management – no seed
Net cost of margins
Gain from ELS points (@400 points/ha)
Break-even seed cost
£389
-£105
£42
£147
£400
£1263
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Margin seed costs (per ha)
Countryside
Stewardship mix
Fine grass and
wildflowers
Tussock grass and
wildflower
Optimum seed mix
Full seed
rate
Break-even
seed rate
£125
+£150/yr
£1100
+£32/yr
£1300
97%
£750
+£102/yr
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Costs and benefits
• All treatments show potential benefit for:
• Profit within ELS
• Biodiversity
• Benefits will be refined as project
concludes to show:
• Most relevant options
• Suitable seed mixtures
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Relevance of SAFFIE
 Skylark Plots (SP) & margins included in ELS
 SP cost-effective ELS option
 SP could help reverse skylark decline
 Scarification is an exciting and innovative
finding with communication challenges
 Understanding integrated crop/margin
treatments is vital
 Demonstrates role of research in providing
future options for arable farming www.saffie.info
Acknowledgments
Sustainable Arable
Project No. LK0926
DEFRA, SEERAD, EN
Project No. 2617
Host farms
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