Landscape Agroecology: managing interactions between agriculture, nature and socio-economy

State of the art GIS and database technologies for landscape scale analysis and the modelling of land use and environmental impacts are presented. These methods have been developed at University of Aarhus in multidisciplinary collaboration with other research institutions throughout Europe; for example during the EU research projects www.mea-scope.org and www.sensor-ip.eu. In the years to come, these landscape scale research methods are further developed and integrated with similar frameworks in other EU countries, and used for scenario studies (see for example the landscape components of http://www.nitroeurope.eu/, http://www.darcof.dk/research/darcofiii/refugia.html or http://www.darcof.dk/research/darcofiii/bioconcens.html). Scenario studies, visualised in geographical information systems, are useful to evaluate possible future landscape developments, and to identify potentials and limitations in combining multiple landscape functions. Here we focus on scenario systems that focus on exploring interactions between landscape functions – e.g. the interactions between farm management, economy, nutrient losses, fauna population dynamics, plant community development etc. Among others, scenarios for drinking water protection via increased set-aside grassland or afforestation are presented. It shows that benefits from subsidies targeted to areas with special interests in protection of drinking waters from nitrogen pollution differ from non-targeted subsidies. Experience has shown that working with scenarios and involving potential users at an early stage in development are important ways of focussing the work effort and ensuring that relevant tools are developed. Developments in data collection and collation at the EU level will allow similar systems to be developed elsewhere

Materials and Methods REFUGIA project working paper

The organic farming structure has been analysed for all farms in Denmark 2005-2010. In 2005, the average farm size for organic farms was 50 ha, compared to 40 ha for conventional farms. For organic farms the largest average farm size in on sandy soils and for cattle farms, whereas the for conventional farms, the largest farms are on loamy soils, and cash crop, and pig farms. The farms has been classified into farm types accoring to the EUROSTAT methods. Hobby farms are defined with a number of standard working hours under 1871 timer/år (typically under 10-25 ha). These farms normally are not included in national statistics, but are important to include in the REFUGIA studies, because these farms are important for biodiversity and have a relatively higher number among organic farms. The other farm types are full time farms. If more than 2/3 of the standard gross margin comes from catlle it is a cattle farm, and the same for cash crops. The rest is pig farms and other types of farms (for example poultry and fur animals). Standard rotations are defined for each of these farm types

Økologisk jordbrug beskytter biodiversiteten

Økologisk jordbrug beskytter naturen med sin pesticidfri dyrkning og mindre brug af gødning, men en række andre faktorer er lige så vigtige

Hvordan beskytter økologisk jordbrug biodiversiteten?

Økologisk jordbrug beskytter naturen med sin pesticidfri dyrkning og mindre brug af gødning, men en række andre faktorer er lige så vigtige for beskyttelsen af agerlandets biodiversitet, viser ny forskning. Det gælder fx beskyttelsen af småbiotoper, den tidsmæssige kontinuitet af økologisk drevne arealer, og udviklingen af nye driftsformer og produktionslandskaber, der i særlig grad tager hensyn til naturen

Visions for organic bioenergy production in Denmark

There is a large potential for organic bioenergy production, which can be combined with the present food production and the provision of multiple other goods and services required by society; i.e. a cleaner aquatic environment, or nature values in cultural landscapes. This paper presents six scenarios for bioenergy production from organic farming in Denmark, with a total energy production potential of around 6.7 PJ/yr. This potential is compared to the present energy use of around 2.5 PJ/yr, and the po-tentials for energy savings equalling 0.1-0.5 PJ/yr

Energiforbrug i forskellige dyrkningssystemer

Energiforbruget i jordbrugsproduktionen er interessant både fra et ressource synspunkt og fordi udledningen af CO2 fra forbrænding af fossil energi bidrager til drivhuseffekten. Både i målsætningerne for den danske Landsforening for økologisk jordbrug (LØJ) og i landboorganisationernes oplæg til Godt landmandsskab år 2000 indgår desuden mål om at reducere forbruget af fossil energi og få den bedst mulige energiudnyttelse. Ved en kombination af studier i økologiske og konventionelle kvægbrug og brug af standardværdier for dieselforbrug til de enkelte markoperationer er der opstillet modeller for energiforbruget i mark og stald. I energiregnskaberne indgår både det direkte (diesel + el) og det indirekte energiforbrug (f.eks. energi medgået til produktion af den anvendte gødning). Modellerne viste at dieselforbruget per ha er næsten ens i økologisk og konventionel produktion. Det ekstra dieselforbrug til ukrudtsharvning i de økologiske afgrøder opvejes stort set af dieselforbrug til udkørsel af handelsgødning og pesticider i de konventionelle afgrøder. I konventionel produktion udgjorde gødningsforbruget en stor del af energiforbruget, hvorfor energiforbruget per kg korn var henholdsvis 6, 15 og 18% lavere i økologisk produktion på vandet sandjord, lerjord og uvandet sandjord. Energiforbruget per FE græs var tilsvarende 41, 66 og 68 % lavere i økologisk produktion på de tre jordtyper. Udbytterne i økologisk produktion var 15-30% lavere, hvorfor denne produktionsform beslaglægger et større areal til produktion af en given mængde korn og mælk. Dette forhold bør tages i betragtning ved vurdering af energieffektiviteten i de to produktionssystemer, f.eks. ved at modregne den potentielle nettoenergiproduktion på det overskydende areal i konventionel produktion. Jordbrugets samlede udledning af drivhusgasser ville formentlig kunne reduceres med op til 13% regnet i CO2 ækvivalenter ved omlægning til økologisk produktion med fastholdelse af den nuværende animalske produktion

Simulering af fossilt energiforbrug og emission af drivhusgasser. Tre scenarier for omlægning til 100% økologisk jordbrug i Danmark

Formålet med rapporten er at beskrive og anvende en metode til at vurdere ændringen i landbrugets forbrug af fossil energi og emission af drivhusgasser ved omlægning til 100% økologisk jordbrug i Danmark. Situationen for dansk landbrug i 1996 er sammenlignet med tre scenarier for 100% omlægning: A) Fuld selvforsyning med foder (0% import). Herved begrænses den mulige svineproduktion. B) 15% import af foder til drøvtyggere og 25% import til enmavede dyr (15-25% import). Også her begrænses svineproduktionen, men dog mindre en i scenario A. C) Fastholdelse af den samme animalske produktion som i 1996 (ubegrænset foderimport)

Synergies between the expansion of biogas production and organic farming

Synergies between the expansion of biogas production and organic farming

Dansk landbrugs strukturudvikling siden 2. verdenskrig

Dansk landbrug og landbokultur har forandret sig drastisk over de seneste par generationer. Omkring Anden Verdenskrig oplevedes en ligevægtstilstand med mere end 200.000 selvstændige og forholdsvis små brug, og med en landbefolkning der i afgørende grad prægede samfundet både politisk og økonomisk. Selvom markarealet siden da er faldet med mere end 10 %, forvalter landbruget stadig omkring 2/3 af landet, men antallet af bedrifter er nu nede på cirka 11.000 egentlige heltidsbrug og et større antal deltids- og hobbybrug. I denne artikel gennemgår vi den økonomisk og teknologisk drevne strukturudvikling fra bonde- og andelskulturens glansperiode i 1880’erne til cirka 1960 og omstillingen til dagens stordrift med globaliseringens udfordringer og samfundets krav til sundhed, klima, natur og miljøbeskyttelse samt dønningerne efter den økonomiske krise og 00’ernes opskruede jordpriser

Stakeholder engagement and knowledge co-creation in water planning:can public participation increase cost-effectiveness?

In 2014, a radical shift took place in Danish water planning. Following years of a top-down water planning approach, 23 regional water councils were established to co-create and provide input to Danish authorities on the development of River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). The water councils advised local authorities on the application of measures to improve the physical conditions in Danish streams within a given economic frame. The paper shows the difference the use of water councils (public participation) made by comparing the final water council proposal included in the 2015 RBMP to the RBMPs proposed by the central government (Nature Agency) in 2014. The study concludes that the measures proposed by the water councils will generally deliver better results than the proposed Nature Agency plans, which do not include the same level of participation. Specifically, the water councils with stakeholder involvement proposed a much longer network of streams (3800 km), yielding a better ecological outcome than the shorter stream network (1615 km) proposed by the Nature Agency for the same budget. Having a structured and fixed institutional frame around public participation (top-down meeting bottom-up) can produce cost-effective results, but the results show that cost-effectiveness was not the only deciding factor, and that local circumstances like the practicalities of implementing the measures were also considered when developing the Programmes of Measures. The findings suggest that the use of water councils in water planning has significant advantages, including the fact that the knowledge of local conditions helps to identify efficient solutions at lower costs, which can be useful for administrators, policy-makers, and other stakeholders implementing the Water Framework Directive in years to come