A less intensive approach to cultivation could help farmers protect their greatest asset - the soil.
That was one of the key messages from a soil health training workshop for members of the Waveney, Water and Woodlands Farm Cluster (WWWFC) at Woodton, near Bungay.
Holes were dug to show around 20 farmers the structure and composition of the soil in contrasting, neighbouring fields - the densely-vegetated dairy pastures and enhanced over-winter stubble fields at Old Hall Farm, and a waterlogged corner of a conventional arable field managed by Church Farm Partnership in Seething.
Soil experts Philip Wright and Dr Elizabeth Stockdale of NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany) explained some of the many variables governing soil health, including tillage strategies and timings to reduce disturbance and compaction, and the use of cover crops to improve biology, nutrients and drainage.
But Mr Wright said it was the soils receiving less machinery disturbance which had held up best under the severe weather conditions of recent years.
He said: "For me, the question is: Can you do a little bit less in terms of intensity of cultivations? I think once you identify where the problem is, you need to seriously try to minimise pressures, try to do as little as possible to achieve the result, bearing in mind that it is generally nature and roots in the ground which will structure your soils in the end.
"You can wait an awfully long time for nature to fix those problems, so we need a combined attack, using the metal to encourage the roots, but always check and make sure you are not overdoing it.
"The best thing you can do with nature is to have rotations and vary, not just with crops, but also the depth, type and intensity of cultivations."
Dr Emily Winter of the River Waveney Trust also manages the WWWFC, whose 16 members cover more than 4,000ha of farmland around Bungay, Woodton and Earsham.
"One of the key messages has been that less is more," she said. "If you don't have to cultivate, if you don't have to travel over the land, then don't, because you will be doing more harm than good.
"We are moving into an age where people are using nature's own mechanisms to do the work for them as much as possible.
"Soil is so important. Everything you see above ground is indicative of what is going on below, so to understand how to manage farmland you need to know what is going on below ground because that is one of the biggest controlling factors - other than the weather."
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