Chemicals or organic – What the beetles think?

The top three dishes contain the beetles collected from Pig Down at Lower Pertwood Farm

The lower dish has the beetles from a neighbouring conventional farm.

The results came as no surprise. In the “conventionally-farmed” field, where chemicals had been applied, the soil was dry, lifeless and most beetle larvae failed in these conditions. In the organic fields, where the soil retained moisture and there was shading from weeds, more than three times the number of beetles were counted. Why are they important? A bit like worms, they carry organic matter deep into the soil to improve its quality to aid plant growth.