Have we reached ‘peak’ maize?

Long time readers of this blog will know that I have written a lot in the past about maize and its potential and real environmental impacts e.g. exaserbates flooding and soil erosion – see here for previous blogs.

The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the area of countryside devoted to maize. In 1985, 25,000 hectares grew maize, today it is over 180,000 hectares. The majority of maize is grow as cattle fodder and as a result the south west of England has extensive areas devoted to it. Additionally around 10 years ago maize was also specifically grown so that it could used in anaerobic digestion (AD) plants to produce electricity. The growing of this maize is subsidised and it is therefore an attractive crop for farmers.

Between 2015 and 2016 the area of maize grown for AD plants increased by 55%. Last year the government reduced the subsidy for AD maize by 50%. Defra have just published their annual cropping figures.

	2015	2016	2017	% change 2016-2017
All Maize	173	182	183	0.8
of which grain maize	8	8	8	2.2
of which fodder maize	132	122	118	-3.1
of which maize for anaerobic digestion	35	52	57	9.8

As can be seen the overall area of maize is the same in 2017 when compared to 2016. The area of maize grown for fodder has decreased by by 3.1% and the area of for AD has increased by 9.8%.

The reduction in maize for fodder is occurring as cattle are being returned to pastures to feed on grass and perhaps because there is a concern that cattle areas where there is a high incidence of maize cultivation have higher outbreaks of bovine TB than areas with little maize (see here).

Whilst the area of AD maize has increased the rate of increase has declined dramatically (9.8% cf 55%). I welcome this and I suspect that this is a direct result of the subsidy decrease.

Nevertheless there are still over 180k hectares of maize in England. It is a plant which is harvested late in the year (October) and requires a lot of heavy machinery to achieve this which compacts the soil. Due to the lateness of the season and the wet soil conditions maize fields are usually left bare for the winter. Bare and compacted soils can lead to high incidences of runoff during storms which can flood nearby villages and result in high levels of soil erosion.

This can be a common sight in Devon during the winter months

 

This was next to my garden in Exton when I lived there in January 2016 – muddy flood water from the maize fields upstream

Which led to flooding in the village

Attempts are being made by maize growers to grow varieties which can be cultivated earlier in the year so a cover crop can then be sown but maize grown in the wrong place e.g. on slopes next to watercourses (a common field arrangement in Devon!) is still a big problem.

The Defra figures may indicate that we have reached ‘peak’ maize thanks to more cattle eating grass and a cut in the subsidy regime. Let’s hope so.

Already looking forward to next years’ figures!

 

 

British Wildlife having fun

The new John Lewis advert is out – it is good obviously for John Lewis but it is also good for British wildlife and as a result their conservation.

I suspect that not everyone will agree …..

Badgers at St Ennodoc

I played golf at St Ennodoc yesterday with the Devon and Exeter Squash and Racketball Golf Society. It was an excellent day out. I was amazed though by the amount of badger activity on parts of the course.

This was one of about a dozen areas of turned over grassland

Looking down to St Ennodoc Church where Sir John Betjeman is buried.

I did wonder at first whether there were wild boar in the area but the consensus is that this was caused by badgers. The West Cornwall Badger Group offer the following advice – see here.

This is a seasonal problem and should soon stop.