Focus groups of value concepts of producers: National Report Switzerland

The Organic Revision project was funded by the EU with the aim of supporting the further development of the EU Regulation 2092/91 on organic production. As part of the project focus groups were run in five European countries on value concepts of organic producers and other stakeholders, during 2004-2005. The project aims to provide an overview of values held among organic stakeholders, and of similarities and differences among the various national and private organic standards. In Switzerland, three group sessions were held with established organic farmers, two groups with newly converted organic farmers, one group involved experts from BIO SUISSE and one group was conducted with students from Agronomy, Environmental Sciences and Geography faculties of Zurich. The following conclusions were reached: Almost all participants were engaged in organic agriculture based on a certain believe or because they just like organic farming. Not only farmers had strong concerns with regard to the current development. The discussion about the basic values and the over-arching principles of organic agriculture were seen as very positive and a move in the right direction. The health of the ecosystem were in the discussions several times a fundamental value. Fair trading conditions were seen for many participants as a core issue. The producers did see the maintenance of their family farm and the farm succession as major issue. Many farmers were against an industrialisation of agriculture and against a too strong commercialisation of their products. Several farmers and several groups mentioned the problem of the lack of solidarity between farmers. Solidarity should get more importance in the future. Several farmers wished that there will be better cooperation between farmers and market actors as well as a better common strategy with a clear concept. Another issue was a truthful and careful processing, which is also for farmers very relevant. The farmers as well as the experts found that the added value of the production, the ideologic content of the products, and as well as the special intrinsic quality of the products are very important. Furthermore farmers and experts were in favour of “100 % entirely supply and market chains with only organic product, where not only the producers but also the trader and sales staff is convinced of organic agriculture. Many producers found that the communication with costumers, in particular public relation, will be important to survive on a competitive market and must be improved. A secure livelihood, surviving on he market and the strong workload were for many producers a major issues. Another central discussion point was the overregulation and inspection. Not only the producers but all main actors wished that the standard/rules are more comprehensive and the inspection work less bureaucratic. This issue is highly relevant not only for organic farmers. Experts saw a potential for an adaptation of the standards. In particular the health of the Ecosystem and the regionality are seen as key topics

Testing Missouri soils

Cover title.Digitized 2006 AES MoU.Includes bibliographical references (page 22)

Optimal Spectral Domain Selection for Maximizing Archaeological Signatures: Italy Case Studies

Different landscape elements, including archaeological remains, can be automatically classified when their spectral characteristics are different, but major difficulties occur when extracting and classifying archaeological spectral features, as archaeological remains do not have unique shape or spectral characteristics. The spectral anomaly characteristics due to buried remains depend strongly on vegetation cover and/or soil types, which can make feature extraction more complicated. For crop areas, such as the test sites selected for this study, soil and moisture changes within near-surface archaeological deposits can influence surface vegetation patterns creating spectral anomalies of various kinds. In this context, this paper analyzes the usefulness of hyperspectral imagery, in the 0.4 to 12.8 μm spectral region, to identify the optimal spectral range for archaeological prospection as a function of the dominant land cover. MIVIS airborne hyperspectral imagery acquired in five different archaeological areas located in Italy has been used. Within these archaeological areas, 97 test sites with homogenous land cover and characterized by a statistically significant number of pixels related to the buried remains have been selected. The archaeological detection potential for all MIVIS bands has been assessed by applying a Separability Index on each spectral anomaly-background system of the test sites. A scatterplot analysis of the SI values vs. the dominant land cover fractional abundances, as retrieved by spectral mixture analysis, was performed to derive the optimal spectral ranges maximizing the archaeological detection. This work demonstrates that whenever we know the dominant land cover fractional abundances in archaeological sites, we can a priori select the optimal spectral range to improve the efficiency of archaeological observations performed by remote sensing data

A meta-analysis of pesticide loss in runoff under conventional tillage and no-till management

Global agricultural intensification has led to increased pesticide use (37-fold from 1960 to 2005) and soil erosion (14% since 2000). Conservation tillage, including no-till (NT), has been proposed as an alternative to conventional plow till (PT) to mitigate soil erosion, but past studies have reported mixed results on the effect of conservation tillage on pesticide loss. To explore the underlying factors of these differences, a meta-analysis was conducted using published data on pesticide concentration and load in agricultural runoff from NT and PT fields. Peer-reviewed articles (1985–2016) were compiled to build a database for analysis. Contrary to expectations, results showed greater concentration of atrazine, cyanazine, dicamba, and simazine in runoff from NT than PT fields. Further, we observed greater load of dicamba and metribuzin, but reduced load of alachlor from NT fields. Overall, the concentration and the load of pesticides were greater in runoff from NT fields, especially pesticides with high solubility and low affinity for solids. Thus, NT farming affects soil properties that control pesticide retention and interactions with soils, and ultimately their mobility in the environment. Future research is needed for a more complete understanding of pesticide-soil interactions in NT systems. This research could inform the selection of pesticides by farmers and improve the predictive power of pesticide transport models

The impact of agricultural management on soil aggregation and carbon storage is regulated by climatic thresholds across a 3000 km European gradient

Organic carbon and aggregate stability are key features of soil quality and are important to consider when evaluating the potential of agricultural soils as carbon sinks. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how soil organic carbon (SOC) and aggregate stability respond to agricultural management across wide environmental gradients. Here, we assessed the impact of climatic factors, soil properties and agricultural management (including land use, crop cover, crop diversity, organic fertilization, and management intensity) on SOC and the mean weight diameter of soil aggregates, commonly used as an indicator for soil aggregate stability, across a 3000 km European gradient. Soil aggregate stability (-56%) and SOC stocks (-35%) in the topsoil (20 cm) were lower in croplands compared with neighboring grassland sites (uncropped sites with perennial vegetation and little or no external inputs). Land use and aridity were strong drivers of soil aggregation explaining 33% and 20% of the variation, respectively. SOC stocks were best explained by calcium content (20% of explained variation) followed by aridity (15%) and mean annual temperature (10%). We also found a threshold-like pattern for SOC stocks and aggregate stability in response to aridity, with lower values at sites with higher aridity. The impact of crop management on aggregate stability and SOC stocks appeared to be regulated by these thresholds, with more pronounced positive effects of crop diversity and more severe negative effects of crop management intensity in nondryland compared with dryland regions. We link the higher sensitivity of SOC stocks and aggregate stability in nondryland regions to a higher climatic potential for aggregate-mediated SOC stabilization. The presented findings are relevant for improving predictions of management effects on soil structure and C storage and highlight the need for site-specific agri-environmental policies to improve soil quality and C sequestration

The impact of agricultural management on soil aggregation and carbon storage is regulated by climatic thresholds across a 3000 km European gradient

Organic carbon and aggregate stability are key features of soil quality and are important to consider when evaluating the potential of agricultural soils as carbon sinks. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how soil organic carbon (SOC) and aggregate stability respond to agricultural management across wide environmental gradients. Here, we assessed the impact of climatic factors, soil properties and agricultural management (including land use, crop cover, crop diversity, organic fertilization, and management intensity) on SOC and the mean weight diameter of soil aggregates, commonly used as an indicator for soil aggregate stability, across a 3000 km European gradient. Soil aggregate stability (-56%) and SOC stocks (-35%) in the topsoil (20 cm) were lower in croplands compared with neighboring grassland sites (uncropped sites with perennial vegetation and little or no external inputs). Land use and aridity were strong drivers of soil aggregation explaining 33% and 20% of the variation, respectively. SOC stocks were best explained by calcium content (20% of explained variation) followed by aridity (15%) and mean annual temperature (10%). We also found a threshold-like pattern for SOC stocks and aggregate stability in response to aridity, with lower values at sites with higher aridity. The impact of crop management on aggregate stability and SOC stocks appeared to be regulated by these thresholds, with more pronounced positive effects of crop diversity and more severe negative effects of crop management intensity in nondryland compared with dryland regions. We link the higher sensitivity of SOC stocks and aggregate stability in nondryland regions to a higher climatic potential for aggregate-mediated SOC stabilization. The presented findings are relevant for improving predictions of management effects on soil structure and C storage and highlight the need for site-specific agri-environmental policies to improve soil quality and C sequestration