CLOVER AND FERTILIZER BASED STRATEGIES TO LIMIT NITRATE LEACHING IN CONVENTIONAL AGRICULTURE - RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH TO ORGANIC FARMING SYSTEMS

The fundamental processes that influence nitrate leaching are similar in all farming systems and research into the processes operating in co nventional agriculture also contributes to an understanding of N cycle s in organic farming. Many of the strategies that have been proposed f or reducing N leaching in conventional agriculture are also applicable to organic farming. The relevance of much research to organic agricul ture is limited by differences in the organic matter content and biolo gical activity of organically and conventionally managed soils with th e result that quantitative information about organic systems cannot al ways be derived from conventional agriculture. There is a particular n eed for information about N fluxes in whole-farm systems, particularly those involving grass/arable rotations.