A new method to understand nutrient balances

Nyttan av stenmjöl, benmjöl och kompost som fosfor- och kaliumgödsel i ekologiskt lantbruk har undersökts i två fältförsök

Optimizing nitrogen utilization by ecological recycling agriculture (ERA)

The main purpose of agriculture is food production. There are always limited resources available for food production, thus the resource efficiency is always the key issue. The modern agriculture is using resources like external nutrients (fertilizers) and non renewable energy in large scale. The high production intensity results in high production per hectare, on the other hand it results also in serious environmental harms.Organic farming is based on more internal and renewable resources than conventional farming.Very often it results also in lower production intensity and lower production per hectare. There is a common criticism against organic agriculture as inefficient use of land and also inefficient use of nutrients and energy per output unit. Closer scrutiny indicates far too often, that the system boundaries and definition of production system explain the results rather than the fundamentals of different production systems. Someexamples of these types of misleading factors are purchased fodder (e.g. production area and input resources for that are partly or fully ignored) and partial nutrient system, e.g. comparison between artificial nitrogen fertilizers and farm yard manure (FYM), i.e. primary nutrients and secondary nutrients (=FYM) are compared, despite of fact that no secondary nutrients exist without primary nutrients.In this survey the whole production system is introduced and all the main nutrient flows are presented. Integration between the animal husbandry and crop production is supported by diverse crop rotation and nutrient recycling in form of FYM. High recourse efficiency is reached and environmental harms can be highly reduced by ERA-farmin

Evaluation of nitrogen utilization by means of the concept of primary nutrient efficiency

The aims of this study were: To introduce a new method, primary nutrient efficiency, for the evaluation of nutrient utilization. To demonstrate and find key factors to reach a high utilization rate of nutrients

Recycling is a must!

In stockless organic farming even 2-4 fold field area is needed to produce equal amount of product compared to conventional farming without fallowing. Integration between livestock farms and stockless farms is in a key role to improve farming

Primary nutrient balance as a new tool to evaluate nutrient utilization

A new tool, utilization rate of primary nutrients, is introduced to evaluate parallel nutrient load and efficiency of nutrient utilization. It is independent of the quality and quantity of final products and therefore allows comparison between any production systems or farms

Nutrient utilization with and without recycling within farming systems

Nutrient balances are used as a measure of nutrient utilization. It is, however, difficult to compare the nutrient utilization between farms, especially if their production systems are different. New analytical tools and methods of interpreting nutrient utilization based on nutrient balances are introduced

Food basket scenario, Juva Finland

The aim of this food basket scenario study based on average Finnish food consumption was to investigate if it is possible to reduce nitrogen surplus of agriculture by changing agricultural production methods and by how much. Existing average Finnish agricultural practises abd ecological farming practises investigated in the BERAS project are compared

Water discharge and nutrient leaching from organic mixed crop rotation

Water discharge and nutrient leaching studies were conducted in an experimental field under organic farming practice for 20 years. The water discharge measurements cover five years out of a six-year crop rotation. The water discharge for the whole year was 1520 m³/ha (=152 mm). More than 2/3 of the total discharge occurred in April-May. The total precipitation for the whole year was 680 mm. The total amount of N in the drainage runoff was 11.5 kg/ha and the flow-weighted average content 7.5 mg/l. The total amount of P in the drainage runoff was 48 g/ha and the flow-weighted average content 0.031 mg/l. 85 % of the total P was dissolved reactive phosphorus (DPR). Some preliminary correlation between N leaching and N management was observed, i.e. higher N concentrations in drainage water were found on green fallow after autumn ploughing compared to first-year grass or spring cereal. Variation in the P concentration of the drainage water between the plots seems to be correlated to soil P status rather than P management

Measurement of nutrient leakage from organic crop rotation in Finland

Water discharge and nutrient leakage studies were conducted in an experimental field on organic farming practices for 20 years. Water discharge was measured and flow-weighted water samples were taken from mixed crop rotation

Nitrogen and phosphorus leakage in ecological recycling agriculture

In this report we quantify nitrogen and phosphorus leakage on three farms in the BERAS project. The study is based on direct measurements of nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in drainage water and water flow measurements