Groene grondbedekking in de biologische boomkwekerij

In deze studie zijn een aantal aspecten van een groene bedekking onderzocht. Hierbij waren een goede gewasproductie en onkruidbeheersing steeds de prioriteit maar is ook gekeken naar de bodemvruchtbaarheid en de stikstofvoorziening. Verschillende groene bedekkingen zijn getest in het rustjaar en in de bestaande teelt van vruchtbomen is klaver als ondergroei gezaaid. De zaai is op twee momenten uitgevoerd: aan het einde van het eerste teeltjaar (september) en vlak na planten waarbij de groene bedekking twee teeltseizoenen als ondergroei aanwezig was

Identifying key factors to improve productivity and reduce environmental impact of potato farms in West Java, Indonesia

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in Indonesia has increased significantly in recent years, with a total annual production of 1.3 million tons. Although the acreage of potatoes is increasing relatively, the productivity of potatoes remains stagnant and is relatively low, around 16-17 tons per ha. A series of studies with the objective to identify key factors associated with potato cultivation and to evaluate of existing farmers’ practices were carried out in the main potato-producing areas i.e. Pangalengan and Garut, West Java during five consecutive production seasons starting from the dry season of 2013 to the dry season of 2015. In each sub-district, ten potato farmers growing cv. Granola and/or Atlantic were selected resulting in 40 participating farmers. A substantial variation of the observed yields was found for both varieties and regions, mainly due to seed quality. The supply of nitrogen (N) and phosphate (P2O5) from organic and chemical fertilizers of 400 kg N and 581 kg P2O5/ha outreached results of local experiments in obtaining optimal yields. Farmers applied much more active ingredient (AI) per spray, up to 6 times and used more than 500 l of water per spray to control late blight, while experiments showed the spray volume can be reduced by 10-20% without loss of efficacy. The key factors identified in this study to stimulate potato development and productivity and reduce environmental impact in the areas were seed potato quality, fertilizer use efficiency and late blight control

Op weg naar biologische boomteelt

Report of a study on an organic production system on sandy soils. This report gives a first impression of cultural methods, economic feasibility and bottlenecks in organic arboricultur

Potential of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through improved nutrient circularity in agriculture in West Java

The discharging of cattle manure into the environment by dairy farmers in West Java, Indonesia, is causing environmental pollution and social issues. The objective of this study was to explore effects of increased utilization of cattle manure and good agricultural practices (GAP) on GHG emissions from the dairy and horticultural sector in Lembang Sub- District in West Java. Environmental consequences of various scenarios to avoid discharging of cattle manure were explored, including different manure processing methods, utilization of manure in either the dairy sector or the horticultural sector, and different levels of GAP in horticulture. Results showed that, compared to discharging, utilizing cattle manure on land for forage production and in horticulture lead to reduced GHG emissions, but only when cattle manure replaced currently used fertilizers. In a similar vein, results showed that implementing good agricultural practices (GAP) in horticultural production led to significant reduction of GHG emissions from the dairy and horticultural sectors in Lembang Sub-District

Report Topsector Potato India and Ethiopia 2015/16

The Agricultural Counsellor of the Netherlands Embassy in Delhi initiated a BOCI project ‘Overview of the potato chain in India’ in early 2011. In September 2012 this initiative has been adopted by the Dutch and Indian stakeholders and the Pubic Private Partnership (PPS) was established to facilitate the intensification of collaboration between Dutch and Indian stakeholders of the potato chain. A team of Wageningen UR researchers was commissioned to carry out this project. In 2011, the team collected information from reports, personal files, internet and some Dutch companies and reported the information in “An overview of the potato sector in India and prospects of Indo & Dutch cooperation”. The team also participated in the Netherlands Trade mission to India (5 & 11 June 2011) and visited the Central Potato Research Institute at Shimla. Furthermore jointly with the Agricultural Counsellor we organized a potato seminar to present our findings on 5 October 2011 in Delhi. Major potato stakeholders both from India and from the Netherlands attended the seminar; total number of participants was about 60 persons. In 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 the team carried out different tasks such as presenting information on various subjects of the Dutch and Indian potato chain to exchange knowledge. In addition, several identified subjects were investigated. All actions and activities aimed to facilitate collaboration between Dutch and Indian stakeholders. Visits to different locations of India accompanied by Dutch stakeholders, meetings with experts of the Indian potato production chain both stakeholders and researchers, and topics such as skin curing and chemical haulm killing, reduce storage losses and the establishment of the Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Punjab (Jalandhar) and Uttar Pradesh, and the Centre of Potato Expertise (COPE) at Ludhiana (Punjab) were successfully accomplished

Ground Zero? Let’s get real on regeneration! Report 1: State of the art and indicator selection

The urgency with which the world needs to combat climate change has led to ambitious commitments by leading food companies such as Nestlé. Given that a large proportion of emissions in supply chains occur during the production of commodities, focus has converged on Regenerative Agriculture as a key strategy to achieve those goals. The Regenerative Agriculture agenda coalesces around three main goals: • Reduce the Carbon Footprint • Enhance Soil Health • Enhance and safeguard Biodiversity alongside commitments to enhance smallholder producers’ incomes, to avoid child labour and to ensure a sustainable supply. The Ground Zero project aims to provide a framework of robust, easily measurable and verifiable indicators and methods for the assessment of the carbon footprint, soil health and biodiversity in cocoa and coffee production systems. The project is organised around four work packages (WPs): WP1 – Coordination; WP2 – Carbon Footprints; WP3 – Soil Health; WP4 – Biodiversity. Here we report on the state-of-the-art for each of these topics and in a final chapter we indicate the next steps that will be taken in the project

Grain legume production in Europe for food, feed and meat-substitution

Partial shifts from animal-based to plant-based proteins in human diets could reduce environmental pressure from food systems and serve human health. Grain legumes can play an important role here. They are one of the few agricultural commodities for which Europe is not nearly self-sufficient. Here, we assessed area expansion and yield increases needed for European self-sufficiency of faba bean, pea and soybean. We show that such production could use substantially less cropland (4–8%) and reduce GHG emissions (7–22% current meat production) when substituting for animal-derived food proteins. We discuss changes required in food and agricultural systems to make grain legumes competitive with cereals for farmers and how their cultivation can help to increase sustainability of European cropping systems.</p