City soil healthier than farm soil.

[veggiechicken]

City soil healthier than farm soil, say experts | Herald Scotland

Probably something we've always believed - that our gardens and allotment soil is better for growing than most agricultural land. Thought you might like to see it in print

[Snadger]

Just goes to prove--the best thing for the land is the gardeners shadow!

[KevinM67]

Depressingly enough, our local news last night had farmers "up in arms" about new EU powers restricting certain types of pesticides.

Whilst it would be easy for me to decry them - it's not my livelihood dependant on it.

Going by the article - it does seem that in a few generactions time, farm land may be gubbed. However, would urban growing meet the ever demanding needs of the whole population.

I don't know? - and with many things, it appears that it will be left to future generations to deal with, which is incredibly sad.

[Kristen]

Sorry, but it reads like a sensationalist headline to me. We have farmland all around us, on heavy clay. It would be dreadfully hard work to convert it into a garden or an allotment, it seems that it is only there to anchor the crop's roots so that it stands upright!

I'm not surprised the article says that it has less organic matter etc. than an allotment ... farmers round here don't put anything like that on the fields - sometimes they use Chicken manure instead of fertiliser, but it is not all that common. There was a big outcry when farmers were banned from burning stubble - because of the hit they took on yields due to incorporating the straw; now that they have been doing that for some time the soil chemistry has evened out, so AFAIK it is no longer an issue (or maybe they put more Nitrogen on now to compensate?).

The article said "25 per cent higher nitrogen [on allotments]"; farmers around here have combines that record yields at points within the field, and fertiliser is applied commensurately; a farmer would be horrified if they had an ounce more fertiliser than was needed at any point in the field!!, as it would represent lost income.

I read somewhere that there is far greater run-off of Nitrogen (and other chemicals) from gardens and allotments than from farmland; so pollution of waterways is less from farmland because amateur gardeners "chuck plenty on" where farmers can't afford to!

I think there is a lot less percentage of land in gardens and allotments, than farms, so overall the effect of gardners is presumably not a significant problem

[VolesAteMyPeas]

I knew it. My plot is on a farmer's field!

[Jeanied]

I take comfort from the findings in the report - one used to hear how polluted city soil was and how many chemicals were found in allotments - mine has been chemical free for 20 years and still producing good crops when I keep the weeds down!

[Kristen]

My plot is on a farmer's field!

A while ago we moved to a house that had been built on a small-ish farmer's field (10 years earlier). Plough-pan that you needed a pick-axe to get through, no soil structure, etc. When I needed a flower bed I hired a JCB and dug out the clay, and plough pan, and replaced it with best Fenland topsoil instead ... would have taken yonks to convert the field-soil back into garden-soil.

mine has been chemical free for 20 years and still producing good crops when I keep the weeds down!

I don't put any chemicals on my Veg Patch either (except granular fertiliser, but it gets plenty of Muck and Compost too). I wonder how common that is nowadays (compared with, say, 20 years ago), or whether some/many/most? allotmenteers use pesticides etc.?

[Penellype]

Sorry, but it reads like a sensationalist headline to me. We have farmland all around us, on heavy clay. It would be dreadfully hard work to convert it into a garden or an allotment, it seems that it is only there to anchor the crop's roots so that it stands upright!

I'm not surprised the article says that it has less organic matter etc. than an allotment ... farmers round here don't put anything like that on the fields - sometimes they use Chicken manure instead of fertiliser, but it is not all that common. There was a big outcry when farmers were banned from burning stubble - because of the hit they took on yields due to incorporating the straw; now that they have been doing that for some time the soil chemistry has evened out, so AFAIK it is no longer an issue (or maybe they put more Nitrogen on now to compensate?).

The article said "25 per cent higher nitrogen [on allotments]"; farmers around here have combines that record yields at points within the field, and fertiliser is applied commensurately; a farmer would be horrified if they had an ounce more fertiliser than was needed at any point in the field!!, as it would represent lost income.

I read somewhere that there is far greater run-off of Nitrogen (and other chemicals) from gardens and allotments than from farmland; so pollution of waterways is less from farmland because amateur gardeners "chuck plenty on" where farmers can't afford to!

I think there is a lot less percentage of land in gardens and allotments, than farms, so overall the effect of gardners is presumably not a significant problem

There are actually laws about how much nitrogen farmers can put on the land. Some areas are "Nitrate vulnerable zones", where the nitrates can leach from the soil into water courses, causing problems with wildlife. In these areas farmers have to write down exactly what they put on each field and send it to the authorities each year. There are also rules about how much muck you can spread and where it is allowed to come from. In fact farming has so many rules and regulations, and requires so much paperwork that its amazing anything gets grown at all!