What is the purpose of this field planting?

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question,but will anyway!

Going around the Island (Isle of Wight) on top of a double decker bus I can see many things.
Over the past few weeks I have noticed many fields that have been planted with sunflowers (not as a crop),a plant that looks like some sort of brassica with white flowers and another plant with pale purple flowers, possibly other plants as well.
Sometimes very wide strips at field edges etc have also been planted like this.
Does anyone know the purpose of this type of planting?
Thanks in advance

 

Our neighbour is an agricultural consultant. He said that farmers can get subsidies for planting wild flowers etc., and leaving nature strips. Poppies are popular here. He said the right plants can also put nutrients back into the soil.

Perhaps it is to do with that.

 

If they receive tax payers money for the new Eviroment thingy then they have to plant a % for wildlife etc doing thing to help nature for a return of money

 

Are you saying these are in flower now, in November.

 

The pale purple could be phacelia which is used as green manure. I've noticed it reflowering currently in some wild flower beds

 

I saw a field of sunflowers, in flower, in Wales in October...

 

Sunflowers are just about over but other plants in flower.
Currently about 14°C out today (11° at night) so still warm enough to cut lawn twice a week!!
There is so much still in flower right now.

 

I thought it might be something to do with subsidies etc.
It is just a combination of plants I have not seen before and some of the fields are pretty big!

 

the idea is:
1. fabacaeae like clover species fix some nitrogen over winter, and organic matter improves soil when tilled in.

2. live roots in general prevent mineral erosion which can theoretically poison rivers with salts

3. the flowers act as nectar/pollen food sources for insects in summer

now whether these are actually effective is another issue. it seems farmers only want to do 1. when paid to (despite increasing costs of fertiliser), they already TEND to do 2. with cover crops though, and the extent of 3. is effective is controversial. i think its generally a bad idea to pay farmers to not actually farm though i suspect the current schemes are more "experiments". they also give a use for fields farmers dont want to plant on or are letting go barren for a year inbetween crop cycles.

ideally you intercrop but that would be actively bad for insects if you also use insecticides which most farmers do. unless you grew stuff like brocolli under net youd get barely any yield at all if you didnt. youtube gardeners talk about trap crops as "enviromentally friendly" but how its used in farming is you "trap" the pests then dump insecticide on it dont ask what happens to all the other insects that were enjoying the crop.

there is research being done into more sustainable farming but it doesnt seem to be rushed.

you can read about the initiatives here
The Sustainable Farming Incentive: stats to know – Farming
based on these numbers about 8% of agricultural land is being used for the initiative but a lot of this is land that they wouldnt farm on anyway so its a good use.
more worryingly is that the initiative for "0 use of insecticides" only applies to 2.3% of all arable land, which would imply 97% of all arable land is being treated with insecticides. That doesnt make sense as a huge portion is just fields for pasture so more likely most people doing this arent in the scheme.

 

Think the mauve strip is phacelia. Green manure but good for attracting bees and butterflies.

 

I love Phacelia.
Up here in Perthshire I have seen whole fields full of it...just stunning.
Wonderful for insects.

 

Its part of the ELMS scheme to fulfill nature repair, as mentioned ,the SFI. These are various examples of different schemes available to qualifying land use, which are paid for by taxpayers and incentivise farmers to use their assets further, not a BPS subsidy which is the old EU CAP scheme which is being phased out (truncated in the recent Budget )
Broadly these divide into food for winter birds:sown May-september, flower now for small seeds, removed for a commercial crop 1st February. Varieties include phacelia, buckwheat, mustard,sunflowers etc. Other plots may have insect pollinator species, to be established and flower May through August, on either a 1 year or 3 year cycle
There has been Stewardship *plantings prior to the SFI launch in 2023, which are now concluding, possibly to be replaced by SFI 2024, although its still uncertain if any agreements will actually be concluded for this year due to the general election . These may include other actions you may encounter.Incidently ,@Adam I , pasture is not sprayed with insecticide but would likely receive foliar feed and perhaps weedkiller as a last resort.
* The 2m buffer strip of phacelia above may be an example of this.
For those of you with a passing further interest, I recommend wardys weekly waffle on youtube

 

I've used phaecelia as a green manure for quite a few years, very popular with the insects and generally I have self seeded plants in various parts of the garden and they are often in flower until quite late in the year.

 

Phaecelia seems to be the most common non-fabacaeous plant they are using, I think because it has open flowers for a very long time, though it isn't native so i'm curious about how well it might spread.
It is in the borage family and it has a lot of relatives native here, including Comfrey, Alkanet and Forget-me-nots.
There is lots of comfrey along guildford canal and the bees adore it. Lots of different colours too.