Can Purtell uses the natural capacities of plants to build soil fertility by improving soil mineral content, soil structure and organic material in the soil.

Biofertilisers will be used to optimise natural processes at key moments of the cycle.

Soil health and water infiltration is monitored field by field with a series of visual tests and recorded using the brilliant Soilmentor app created to support regenerative farmers by Abby Rose and her team at VidaCycle.

Laboratory soil tests are used to look at improvements of mineral accessibility over time.

Soil fertility is restored over a period of 2-3 years at which point fields are sown with heritage wheat.

During this time Carbon (organic matter) in the soil is tested annually to record and contribute data on the capacity of this methodology and land use for sequestering carbon in the warm dry climate of Ibiza.

Herbal Leys

Herbal Leys use plants that grow in alkaline marginal land, they are more drought resistant because they have deeper roots. They have the ability to break up and aerate compacted soil due to herbs with long tap roots creating opportunity for micro-organisms to flourish and the diverse species of plants in the ley make accessible a wide range of minerals in the soil that have been depleted through continuous growing of grain crops and ploughing restoring soil and providing the basis for optimum livestock health.

Can Purtell is sowing herbal leys to regenerate soil health and produce a mineral balanced hay for equines and other livestock.

 Ancient Legumes

Many of the ancient legumes used in agriculture for thousands of years in the Mediterranean Basin have fallen out of fashion and into disuse. They are beginning to be re-considered and re-introduced as useful forage plants for livestock. Feeding the soil with nitrogen and providing protein in the sward.

Many of these legumes also have beneficial health giving properties such as sainfoin that has antithalmentic properties and Fenugreek that stimulates milk production.

Can Purtell is trialling leguminous plants such as Vicia Ervilia (Bitter Vetch), Trigonella Foenum Graecum (Fenugreek), Onobrychis Vicciflora (Sanfoin), Vicia Narbonensis (Narbon Vetch), Trifolium Resupinatum (Persian or Bird Eye Clover),Medicago Polymorphus (burr medic) Lathyrus Cicera (red vetchling), Medicago Scutellata (snail medic) Lotus Corniculata (birdsfoot trefoil)

 Green Manures

• Provide competition for unwanted or invasive plants.

• Improve biodiversity of flora and fauna by providing habitat and food for pollinators, beneficial insects, and birds.

• Make accessible specific minerals in the soil

• Improve amount of organic matter and nitrogen in the soil.

• Improve soil structure through root systems and helping to aggregate the soil

• A green manure crop can also be used as a very specific “treatment” for the soil depending on the properties and function of the plant and the soil conditions.

• Green manure crops are used by us as a beneficial first year crop when recovering disused land in preparation for sowing and establishing a perennial crop in the following year.

Can Purtell buys organic green manure plants from Cal Pauet and then harvests and muliplies the seeds for re-use on new fields that are being recovered. In this way the next generation of seeds will carry a record of the soil and will be more adapted to the local climate giving them the best chance of being healthy hardy and resilient in their new home Ibiza.

Green manure crops are used as an annual forage for livestock to help restore soil structure and boost biodiversity in the fields. They are also used as a treatment to give competition to unwanted plants that have established in the field,

Bio-Fertilisers

My good friend Al is producing Super Magro in her shed using manure from Gabriel Artina’s cattle. This potent bio-fertiliser will feed the living organisms in the soil and accelerate and optimise natural processes at key moments of the crop cycle. To enquire about Al’s Super Magro press the button below!