Arable

Arable is currently one of the most intensively managed land uses and covers a multitude of crops from the most basic commodity products such as wheat, oilseed rape, sugar beet and potatoes, to more specialist crops such as linseed and asparagus. Some crops are annual while others, particularly salad crops, can yield two or three crops each year on the same piece of land. As a habitat, there is currently considerable emphasis on the margins around the edges of fields, particularly where these are adjacent to other habitats such as hedgerows and woodland and habitat strips that break up very large tracts of arable cropping. There has also been a significant revival of interest in soil management both in terms of preventing its loss and encouraging good soil health.