Ploughing on regardless?

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Earthworm populations have collapsed under conventional management practices in agriculture. This is linked to a combination of intensive tillage (habitat disturbance), poor organic matter management (food supply interruption) and agro-chemical exposure (low fertility). This is a problem because earthworms are soil ecosystem engineers. Earthworms provide many soil ecosystem services including improving inorganic nutrient bioavailability, reduce Take-all and Fusarium disease incidence and severity, improving soil water balances, carbon sequestration, disperse beneficial soil bacteria and promote legume nodulation. Soils are vital to humankind, but are being rapidly degraded. The UK agri-tech strategy has identified that soil degradation and biodiversity loss threatens soil security. Thus, restoring and managing earthworm resources are vital to soil security in agriculture. This 'Ploughing on regardless?' fellowship has two goals. Firstly to test a model agro-ecosystem based on a clover-residue-wheat management strategy to rapidly rejuvenate and maintain elevated earthworm populations. The Rothamsted long term experiment trials will be used to inform crop rotations and local minimum tillage farmers network to inform on seasonal changes to earthworm abundances. A novel bio-indicator technique based on midden counting will be developed and used for this goal. Secondly, investigations into combinations of treatments that amplify earthworm benefits to soil security and soil use in agriculture will be performed. These include wheat-cultivar earthworm interactions, earthworm mediated below-ground interactions and earthworm mediated below-ground/above ground interactions to provide a holistic understanding of minimum tillage agro-ecosystems. These field and laboratory study outcomes will be used to provide guidance on earthworm-centred, minimum tillage farming practices. Further, provide a scientific understanding of how earthworm, AMF and fertiliser interacts to deliver below-ground ecosystem services, and the role earthworms can play in residue incorporation that affect above-ground interactions.