Avena Sustainability Impact Projects | Intercropping, Cover Cropping & Pollinator Strips

Sustainability Impact Projects (SIPs) Across the Value Chain

Avena implements Sustainability Impact Projects (SIPs) that aim to explore alternatives in farm practices. SIPs function by partnering across Avena’s value chain, with customers, farmers, researchers, and agronomists.

Data from participating farms are collected and compiled into reports by qualified agronomists. By operating several projects, Avena can generate data from multiple farms and regions at the same time. This not only improves the validity of findings but demonstrates the efficacy of these farm practices across different regions.

In its role as an implementation partner, Avena shares the results of the projects with the farming community, creating the opportunity for wider adoption of these regen ag farm practices. Currently, Avena is operating SIPs to support innovation in the farm practices of intercropping, cover cropping, and pollinator strips.

Intercropping

In Avena’s intercropping SIPs, focus has been on mixed planting intercropping and row intercropping.

Mixed planting intercropping involves planting complementary crops in the same plots. Mixing crops like this can benefit soil structure and reduce pest pressures. When intercropping oats and peas, peas provide essential nitrogen to the soil, while oats reduce pea ‘lodging’ where pea plants bend or collapse, which can reduce yield and complicate harvesting. These intercrops are then harvested together and separated in the crop cleaning stage.
In row intercropping, multiple crops are grown in alternating rows on a single field. This process emulates traditional farming techniques used by Indigenous farmers for hundreds of years prior to the arrival of Europeans in North America in the 1600s.

Cover Cropping

Like intercropping, cover cropping can be practiced in different forms. In one SIPs projects, red clover was under-seeded with oats. Shaded by the taller oat canopy, the clover prevented weed growth from underneath. The clover continued to grow after the oats were harvested, overwintering and continuing to mature.

In addition to protecting soil structure, red clover ‘fixes’ nitrogen from the atmosphere, reducing the need for chemical fertilizer in subsequent crops. The flowers of the clover also encourage pollinators thereby improving biodiversity. This practice not only benefits the environment but can even improve profits via improved soil fertility.

Pollinator Strips

For pollinator strips, sections of less-productive cropland were seeded with a blend of pollinator friendly plants. The mixture, developed by the University of Manitoba, contains eleven varieties of annuals, perennials, and biennials, including clovers and grasses.

Pollinator strips have been shown to improve insect diversity, mitigate pest-pressures, and provide natural habitat for endangered species like the burrowing brown owl.
They provide structure to the soil and enhance soil nutrients and microbiomes.
When planted in low-lying wet areas or as buffer zones at the edge of fields, they can reduce field runoff into water systems, protecting ecosystems and human health.

**Interested in Joining Sustainability Impact Projects?**

Avena partners with farmers, researchers, civil societies and customers to identify and promote regenerative agriculture farming practices.

Contact us to learn more about supporting Avena farmers on Sustainability Impact Projects (SIPs).

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