Here are our lovely cover crops doing their job... This plot of land has been an orchard for 23 years, and it's now on a break before it gets grazed with sheep to kick start the soil biology so that it can become a vineyard.
Cover crops manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife.
It's thought that intensively managed agricultural soils have lost 50% to 70% of their pre-cultivation carbon, and this loss is partly responsible for the increased concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Cover crops can promote soil aggregation and therefore can improve the ability of soils to store carbon, taking it out the atmosphere.