Heritage Grain Fields

Heritage grains are an essential part of the traditional landscape and have a rich and diverse ecosystem. Before 1940, manure was mainly used and there was little of it. Not all fields were fertilized every year. Chemical pesticides did not exist. The fields were cultivated with tall heritage grains. They have developed and adapted to our climate over centuries. This makes heritage grains well suited to organic production, where mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides are not used. 

Heritage grains lie down if they are fertilized. Heritage grains can cope with weeds because they have such long stalks that the weeds are mostly hidden under them. Heritage grains are sown with elss seeds per heactare as the longer stalks and larger root system require more space (e.g. modern rye is sown at 180 kg/ha, but heritage rye at 100-130 kg/ha). More decaying matter enters the field when heritage grains are cultivated and the amount of carbon in the field increases. This increases resilience to climate change. When there is more decaying matter in the soil, there is more food for earthworms and other soil organisms. Ladybugs eat aphids in the grain field. When you sow less seeds per hectare field birds such as the corncrake (Crex crex) and the grey partridge (Predix predix) can move better in the grain field. Grasshoppers and skillful climbers like the harvest mouse (Micromys minutus) to live in tall stalks. The harvest mouse eats insects. Under field crops, you can either sow flowering undergrowth such as clover or let low weeds live their own lives there. Clover is a food plant for bumblbees such as the common carder bee (Bombus pascuorum) and weeds produce seeds for field birds such as the ortolan (Emberiza hortulana) and the whinchat (Saxicola rubetra). Also common kestrel  (Falco tinnunculus), Euroasian curlew (Numenius arquata) and Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) belongs to the agricultural landscape.