SOWAP seeks to address some of the current environmental, social and economic concerns of practicing conventional arable crop production in northern and central Europe.

Present arable cropping systems rely on intensive mechanical cultivation of the soil to ensure a good quality seedbed for crop establishment, and a clean tilth to reduce competition between crop and weed species.

The agronomic benefits of this system are however counterbalanced by the environmental consequences of such intensive soil management. e.g. potential for soil erosion, reduced soil biodiversity, lack of opportunity for sequestering carbon and damage to aquatic ecosystems from transported sediments .

SOWAP aims to assess the viability of a more “conservation-oriented” agriculture, where fewer tillage practices replace the numerous cultivations carried out under more “conventional” arable farming systems.

The use of appropriate chemicals is tested, and their potential for off-site contamination assessed, to ensure that any suggested approaches are environmentally sound .

1. Demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of “conservation oriented” arable land management systems in protecting soil resources, improving catchment water quality and promoting biodiversity
2. Provide demonstrations of best practice in soil management for local farmers
3. Provide practical field solutions to demonstrate sustainable farming practices to policy makers
4. Demonstrate how an unique database can be disseminated successfully at the local, regional, national and EU level via workshops, field visits, publications and the Internet.