Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Sustainable and Profitable Farming in Europe

Soils form the basis for agricultural production and other ecosystem services, and soil management should aim at improving their quality and resilience. Within the SoilCare project, the concept of soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) was developed as a holistic approach to facilitate the adoption of soil management that is sustainable and profitable. SICS selected with stakeholders were monitored and evaluated for environmental, sociocultural, and economic effects to determine profitability and sustainability. Monitoring results were upscaled to European level using modelling and Europe-wide data, and a mapping tool was developed to assist in selection of appropriate SICS across Europe. Furthermore, biophysical, sociocultural, economic, and policy reasons for (non)adoption were studied. Results at the plot/farm scale showed a small positive impact of SICS on environment and soil, no effect on sustainability, and small negative impacts on economic and sociocultural dimensions. Modelling showed that different SICS had different impacts across Europe-indicating the importance of understanding local dynamics in Europe-wide assessments. Work on adoption of SICS confirmed the role economic considerations play in the uptake of SICS, but also highlighted social factors such as trust. The project's results underlined the need for policies that support and enable a transition to more sustainable agricultural practices in a coherent way

Soil-Improving Cropping Systems for Sustainable and Profitable Farming in Europe

Soils form the basis for agricultural production and other ecosystem services, and soil management should aim at improving their quality and resilience. Within the SoilCare project, the concept of soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) was developed as a holistic approach to facilitate the adoption of soil management that is sustainable and profitable. SICS selected with stakeholders were monitored and evaluated for environmental, sociocultural, and economic effects to determine profitability and sustainability. Monitoring results were upscaled to European level using modelling and Europe-wide data, and a mapping tool was developed to assist in selection of appropriate SICS across Europe. Furthermore, biophysical, sociocultural, economic, and policy reasons for (non)adoption were studied. Results at the plot/farm scale showed a small positive impact of SICS on environment and soil, no effect on sustainability, and small negative impacts on economic and sociocultural dimensions. Modelling showed that different SICS had different impacts across Europe—indicating the importance of understanding local dynamics in Europe-wide assessments. Work on adoption of SICS confirmed the role economic considerations play in the uptake of SICS, but also highlighted social factors such as trust. The project’s results underlined the need for policies that support and enable a transition to more sustainable agricultural practices in a coherent way

Kan de efficiëntie van karteren worden vergroot met behoud van kwaliteit? : Onderzoek naar een nieuwe karteerstrategie om gewasopbrengstderving in grondwaterwinningsgebieden te bepalen

Om de landbouwschade (in de vorm van gewas-opbrengstderving) als gevolg van grondwaterwinning te berekenen, maakt de ACSG (Adviescommissie Schade Grondwater) gebruik van onder andere een gedetailleerde bodem- en grondwatertrappenkaart. Het vervaardigen van deze kaarten is specialistenwerk en kost tijd. Omdat het aantal én de omvang van de landbouwschadeprojecten toenemen, is er behoefte aan een karteermethode met een kortere doorlooptijd. Het doel van deze opdracht is om een aantal alternatieve karteerscenario’s te ontwikkelen die een kortere doorlooptijd hebben en om de nauwkeurigheid en efficiëntie ten opzichte van de huidige methode te analyseren. Voor elk scenario is de opbrengstderving als gevolg van de waterwinning berekend met Waterwijzer Landbouw. De scenarioresultaten zijn vervolgens ten opzichte van de huidige methode geanalyseerd met behulp van een kosten-batenanalyse

Exploring optimal fertigation strategies for orange production, using soil-crop modelling

Water and nitrogen (N) are two key limiting factors in orange (Citrus sinensis) production. The amount and the timing of water and N application are critical, but optimal strategies have not yet been well established. This study presents an analysis of 47 fertigation strategies examined by a coupled soil-crop model. The strategies include 27 main scenarios with a factorial design of 3 irrigation levels (420, 520 and 640 mm, representing 80%, 100% and 120% of water demand), 3 N input levels (100, 200 and 300 kg ha-1) and 3 main N split applications, and 20 additional scenarios testing alternative N split applications, extreme rainfall years (dry and wet) and different soil textures.The simulations showed that orange yields were strongly influenced by N input and N split applications, but not so much by irrigation. Increasing water and N input led to increased N losses (via leaching and denitrification), and there were significant positive interactions between water and N input with respect to N losses. On average, low N input (100 kg ha-1) led to relatively low N losses (16 kg ha-1) but resulted in low yield (33 t ha-1, 25% yield reduction). High N input (300 kg ha-1) produced a high yield (43 t ha-1) but led to large N losses (104 kg ha-1). Optimal N input (200 kg ha-1) significantly reduced N losses (45 kg ha-1) without yield reduction. Importantly, with optimal N input, improving N split applications significantly increased yield by 13% and reduced N losses by 40%, compared to sub-optimal N splits.Significant interactions between water inputs, N inputs and N split applications in yield and N losses indicate that the optimization of fertigation strategies must consider these three key variables simultaneously. Our results clearly show that over-optimal water and N inputs lead to large water and N losses. Reduced irrigation (80% of water demand) and N input equal to N demand (200 kg ha-1) can significantly reduce N losses without yield reduction. The N split applications should be adjusted to the N demand of the crop during the growing season. Our study focused on a Mediterranean climate, but the methodology and results can be applied to other situations in the world

Actualisatie van de bodemkaart in degemeente Vijfheerenlanden : herkartering van de verbreiding van veen

De Bodemkaart van Nederland, schaal 1:50.000, is onderdeel van de Basisregistratie Ondergrond (BRO), eencentrale registratie met publieke gegevens over de Nederlandse ondergrond. Wageningen Environmental Research(WENR) onderhoudt dit bestand voor het ministerie van LNV.Dit rapport presenteert verbeterde en recente informatie over de bodem, het voorkomen van veen en landvormenin de gemeente Vijfheerenlanden, die is ingewonnen bij de actualisatie van de Bodemkaart en GeomorfologischeKaart in 2022.---Update of the soil map of the municipality of Vijfheerenlanden: Remapping the spatial distribution of peat soilsThe Soil Map of the Netherlands at scale 1:50.000 is part of the Dutch National Key Registry of the Subsurface(BRO), the central registry of public data on the subsurface of the Netherlands. Wageningen EnvironmentalResearch (WENR) maintains this map for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.This report presents improved and updated information on soils, the occurrence of peat and landforms in themunicipality of Vijfheerenlanden, that was collected during the update of the Soil Map and Geomorphological Map in202

Soil-improving cropping systems for sustainable and profitable farming in Europe

Summarization: Soils form the basis for agricultural production and other ecosystem services, and soil management should aim at improving their quality and resilience. Within the SoilCare project, the concept of soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) was developed as a holistic approach to facilitate the adoption of soil management that is sustainable and profitable. SICS selected with stakeholders were monitored and evaluated for environmental, sociocultural, and economic effects to determine profitability and sustainability. Monitoring results were upscaled to European level using modelling and Europe-wide data, and a mapping tool was developed to assist in selection of appropriate SICS across Europe. Furthermore, biophysical, sociocultural, economic, and policy reasons for (non)adoption were studied. Results at the plot/farm scale showed a small positive impact of SICS on environment and soil, no effect on sustainability, and small negative impacts on economic and sociocultural dimensions. Modelling showed that different SICS had different impacts across Europe—indicating the importance of understanding local dynamics in Europe-wide assessments. Work on adoption of SICS confirmed the role economic considerations play in the uptake of SICS, but also highlighted social factors such as trust. The project’s results underlined the need for policies that support and enable a transition to more sustainable agricultural practices in a coherent way.Presented on: Lan