Arable field margins
1 April 2011
People might think of arable field margins as just the edge of fields where the farmer has not cultivated a crop; that’s true, but arable field margins are also much more than that. Very often they are areas of habitat specifically created by farmers that come in a wide range of shapes and sizes and are important for species and habitats across the landscape.
Arable field margin © Morwenna Christian
How many are there and what do they do?
There are just over 100,000 hectares of arable field margins across England. Most of them have been developed since the mid-1990s when incentive payments to create them first became available. Arable field margins can be sorted into four broad categories, low input (ideal for rare plants and foraging farmland birds), winter food (for farmland birds), pollen and nectar food (for bumblebees and butterflies) and permanent grass (protecting watercourses by intercepting sediment and nutrient run-off from fields and reducing risks from spray drift).
Where are they?
They occur across much of lowland England in both arable and mixed (arable and livestock) farmland. Targeting habitat support for farmland birds, arable plants and other farmland biodiversity through Government initiatives like Environmental Stewardship has encouraged farmers and landowners to put arable field margins in place on their land. So as you travel around the countryside, look carefully at the edges of fields - you are very likely to see a strip or block of land that is growing something different to the rest of the field – this could be an arable field margin.
Why do they matter?
They are important areas in farmland because they protect ditches, rivers, streams and hedges from agricultural activity and they provide important sources of food and nesting habitat for many species, including declining birds like yellowhammer and grey partridge. Small mammals like field voles thrive in the grass arable field margins while bumblebees and butterflies make full use of the nectar and pollen from legume and flower margins, both important sources of food in a less varied landscape.
Arable plants make use of uncropped cultivated arable field margins at the field edge and into the field themselves, where the lack of crop plants and their inputs, allow the vulnerable and often rare arable plants to complete a lifecycle and produce seeds to germinate in another year. Arable field margins are not just for decoration, they are an integral part of the farmland ecosystem.
Issues for the future?
The pressure on agricultural land to deliver more goods and services like food, bioenergy and environmental protection is greater than ever before as the global demand for each increases annually. Natural England encourages farmers and landowners to allow space for arable field margins on the land they manage, to ensure protection of species and habitats, together with provision of services like pollination and an aesthetically pleasing landscape.
Incentive schemes such as (Entry Level and Higher Level Stewardship) and projects like the South West Farmland Birds Initiative, Campaign for the Farmed Environment
and ETIP reward farmers for putting the right amount and type of arable field margins where they can give the most benefit are helping.
Uptake through these schemes continues to increase annually but more margins still need to be planted to meet the challenges ahead from climate change and increasing food and energy production from a decreasing area of farmland.
