Farmer view: how green manures protect my soil
Chris Molyneux - Molyneux Kale Company
Chris Molyneux is a specialist grower of Red Russian Kale, on his 250-acre farm in South West Lancashire. He has been farming Red Russian Kale for eight years. As a highly experienced grower of traditional curly kale, cavalo nero and red kale – plus the more traditional green vegetables of spring greens - he decided to grow Red Russian Kale because of its interesting colour and surprisingly sweet flavour; a feature that he noticed appeals to his daughters who don’t usually like to eat their greens.
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Chris was part of a field lab investigating how different combinations of green manure species can be used to optimise the supply of nitrogen available to a following kale crop. The field lab is looking at how growers might better synchronise the availability of key nutrients from green manures with peaks in demand from the following crop.
In this short film Chris talks about the importance of soil to his business, and how he looks after his soil bacteria and fungi using green manures.