Speakers: Ben Adams, Andy Cato, Jerry Alford & David White
Intercropping (also known as bi-cropping, Polycropping, companion cropping) involves the growing of two or more crops together, driven by an understanding that plant diversity is the real driver of soil recovery and soil health. Intercropping has been shown to improve soil’s resilience to stresses, reduce the need for synthetic fertilisers and increase biodiversity. Yet it requires a different approach to conventional cropping, especially when the current agricultural industry is highly tuned to process and market monocultures. This session is an opportunity to learn from experienced practitioners about the range of crops that can be teamed up together, what works and what doesn’t. It covers the practicalities of taking the crops the whole way through from drilling to harvest to marketing.