Environmental & Amenity
10th March 2020

Conservation crops provide key focus in new Limagrain publication

Limagrain has published its latest HiBird publication with increased emphasis on the sowing options for Countryside stewardship and environmental management schemes.

Available online or in print, the LG Conservation and Gamecover Crops brochure assigns each of its 17 sowing options – from beetle banks to wild bird food and crops for pollinators – to the particular Countryside Stewardship options that it is suited to, and lists its particular environmental benefits. All options, apart from the EFA fallow land options, meet the higher and mid-tier schemes.

One of its most popular wild bird mixtures suitable for AB9 is Jack Russell mixture; a herbicide tolerant mixture of spring triticale, millet, oilseed radish, grain sorghum and sunflower. “This gives fantastic colour and feed for a year,” says Limagrain’s Martin Titley. “It is typically sown in May or June and sheds seed from early autumn with the grain sorghum giving structure and winter hardiness.”

Hibird Conservation and Gamecover Mixtures 2020

A crop pollinator option, in the HiBird portfolio, is the Multispecies Ley mixture, which is a combination of grass, legume and wildflower varieties. “This meets a range of Countryside Stewardship options and also creates legume and herb-rich swards that is productive for sheep and cattle and will also improve soil structure” he adds.

“And if farmers are looking grass buffer strips that will produce new wildlife habitats and, if used near watercourses, help prevent pollutants form surface run-off, the CFE Field Margin Mix is well-suited and includes low growing grasses, legumes and wildflowers.

“Conservation and environmental cropping schemes will play a larger part in our future land management,” says Mr Titley. “We’ve made the latest HiBird portfolio as comprehensive as possible to guide growers on the most suitable conservation and gamecover crops. The range includes seed mixtures for all UK farmland sites and environmental schemes.

“We encourage growers to be discerning with their choices and select those seeds mixtures that best suits their own situation so they can maximise the benefits.”

Download the LG Conservation and Gamecover Crops brochure here

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Environmental & Amenity

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