Farmers’ Experiences of How Under-Sown Clovers, Ryegrasses, and Timothy Perform in Northern European Crop Production Systems

• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy12061401
• Publication Date: 2022-06-11T13:33:26Z
• Authors: Pirjo Peltonen-Sa...; Lauri Jauhiainen; Hannu Känkänen; Juuso Joona; Tony Hydén; Tuomas J. Mattila
• Keywords: Cash crop; Early adopter

Early adopter-farmers form a living lab of farms that have great deal hidden knowledge about the cultivation cover crops (CCs). Understanding how early adopters use and value CCs provides valuable knowhow to be shared with other farmers. This study gathered information most common under-sown in Finland. A structured survey was used collect farmers’ experiences considering CCs’ regional suitability, growth, competition, impacts on soil cash crop yields. The respondents were both conventional organic farmers who cultivated 2020. One thousand one hundred thirty answered survey. Four ten times they CCs. They mostly familiar clovers, ryegrasses, timothy as 27 specific statements CC (a Likert scale, five answer choices). Farmers’ well line understanding gained from field experiments. Farmers had experienced positive health. Organic slightly more than is attributable longer period having farms, general differences means control weeds manage nutrition. Gained experience species grassland mixtures strengthened trust their high cereal areas are an important target group for sharing adopters’ experiences, challenged even Future research on-farm experiments should focus instead cereals (grain legumes, rapeseed, minor crops).