Arable farmers could sequester more carbon in their soil by changing crop rotations, planting cover crops such as clover, or using direct seeding, which allows crops to be grown without the need for tillage. Cattle breeders could improve their soil by growing more native grasses. Hedgerows also help to sequester carbon in the soil because they have extensive underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi and microbes that can extend up to several metres into the field. Farmers have spent decades removing hedgerows to make way for intensive farming, but restoring and maintaining existing hedgerows would improve biodiversity, reduce topsoil erosion and help stop harmful agricultural runoff, a major polluter of rivers. (Fiona Harvey, theguardian)