ADAS launches free planning tool for making informed crop rotation decisions
A new free-to-use crop rotation planning tool
Developed by ADAS as part of the Nitrogen Climate Smart (NCS) project, the planning tools helps growers weigh up the environmental and financial benefits of different crop rotation choices.
Based on data from hundreds of crops in the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN), the Crop Planner tool estimates how a change to a crop rotation will impact farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, gross margins, nitrogen balance and overall energy and protein output.
The aim is to help growers assess the benefits and trade-offs before making any cropping changes, such as introducing a new crop type or altering the frequency a crop is grown.
Supporting sustainable yet profitable cropping choices
The tool was created as part of the NCS project, a farmer-led project to increase UK pulse cropping area to 20%.
Dr Pete Berry, Head of Crop Physiology at ADAS and co-developer of the tool, said: “The Crop Planner tool is a small part of a wider effort to help growers decide whether to include pulses in their rotation. The environmental benefits of pulses are well known, but introducing them can feel risky for those who have never grown pulses before. We hope this tool will give those farmers a better insight into the potential environmental benefits and cost implications, and the confidence to make a change if suitable.”
Wider applications
Pete added that the tool, although built with arable growers in mind, could support policymakers in assessing trade-offs between farm profitability and sustainability:
“Farmers and advisers can explore how changes to crop choices affect their rotational performance, while policymakers can use it to better understand the trade-offs between sustainability, food security and farm-gate economics.”
Industry backing
Farming charity LEAF has welcomed the Crop Planner tool as a practical and accessible resource for growers seeking to make more sustainable yet financially sound decisions.
Dan Stevenson, LEAF’s Head of Sustainable Farming, said:
“Farmers are keen to explore different management approaches that reduce environmental impact and inputs, but they require robust decision-making tools to reduce the associated risks. By bringing together information on emissions, margins and nitrogen balance in one place, the Crop Planner tool supports more informed, whole-rotation decision-making and can help farmers identify opportunities to improve both efficiency and environmental performance.”
Pete concluded: “Few easily accessible tools can analyse the performance of whole rotations, so making use of historical YEN data for this purpose shows the huge value to be gained from sharing data for the good of the industry.”