On the 12th of August our SoildiverAgro partner Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt from Antwerpen succeeded to welcome some farmers for a trial visit on their organic trial field. The epidemic makes these difficult, but in small groups of only three farmers at a time, wearing a mask, it was possible to guide the interested farmers through the experiments.
The visit included all trials on their organic trial field that started this year in June with the experiments, when the leek was planted. They compare two systems on the organic field, an intensive system where inverting tillage and amendment of lower organic matter are applied and a more extensive system, where non-inverting soil cultivation is applied with a fertilizer higher in organic matter, which should stimulate soil life. The leek is growing well and little differences can yet be seen between the two systems. The soil biotic/abiotic analysis in fall and the harvest afterwards will reveal if there could already be seen differences in this first year.
