Buckwheat present several environmental advantages, and it has been suggested that using it as an animal feed could help to counteract the food-feed competition, particularly as it can provide a second harvest on arable land under temperate conditions (Amelchanka et al., 2010).
High quality cover crop and rotational effect
Buckwheat germinates and grows quickly, soon developing a dense shading canopy that smothers weeds effectively (Kammermeyer, 2016; Valenzuela et al., 2002). It produces high amount of biomass that can be ploughed into the soil for high N and high P manure (Jacquemart et al., 2012). Buckwheat has an excellent rotational effect. It is a phosphorus scavenger: its roots exsude chemical substances that extract inorganic phosphorus from the soil. Roots residues make phosphorus more available to the next crop and return considerable levels of phosphorus to the soil (Valenzuela et al., 2002).
Weed and diseases control
The buckwheat plant has some allelopathic properties that prevent weed development (Jacquemart et al., 2012). Buckwheat residues have been reported to have allelopathic effects on weeds (Valenzuela et al., 2002). Spreading 2 t of buckwheat pellets before rice plantation was found to reduce weeds by 80% in rice fields and to increase rice yield by 20% (Eom et al., 1999; Iqbal et al., 2002). Buckwheat decreases disease load (Jacquemart et al., 2012).
Interaction with insects
With its continuous blooming, buckwheat attracts many kinds of insects including pest predators like syrphids. It is a good foraging plant for bees that make tasteful honey from its nectar: honey production averages 70–100 kg/ha and reaches 150–300 kg/ha for the best cultivars. Its long lasting flowering period is valuable for beekeepers as the bees can still find food on buckwheat when other melliferous plants have disappeared (Naumkin, 1998; Olson, 2001; Cawoy et al., 2008).