Nitrogen and phosphorus balances on Finnish dairy farms

The calculation of whole-farm nutrient balance is an effective and simple method for estimating the potential nutrient loading from dairy farming into the environment. In Finland, however, the published results based on larger number of farms are still lacking. In this study whole-farm nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances on Finnish dairy farms were studied based on short-cut data for the year 2002. The survey was targeted to 1260 dairy farms, located all over Finland. Of the 386 replies received, 319 were used for subsequent statistical analyses. The association between selected farm variables and nutrient balance was studied using regression analysis and a sensitivity coefficient was calculated for each regression slope. The average (± standard deviation) whole-farm nutrient balance for N and P was 109 (±41.3) and 12 (±7.2) kg ha-1, respectively. The most responsive factors affecting the nutrient balances were total nutrient and fertilizer import per ha, followed by animal density, milk export per ha and concentrate import per ha. The results suggested that nutrient surpluses could be controlled more easily in combined crop and milk than in specialised milk production. It is concluded that nutrient surplus on Finnish dairy farms is markedly lower than that on areas with intensive production in central European countries. However, when nutrient balances were extrapolated to comparable production intensity as in central Europe, the level of the surpluses was equal

Organisational downsizing, sickness absence, and mortality: 10-town prospective cohort study

Objective To examine whether downsizing, the reduction of personnel in organisations, is a predictor of increased sickness absence and mortality among employees.Design Prospective cohort study over 7.5 years of employees grouped into categories on the basis of reductions of personnel in their occupation and workplace: no downsizing ( 18%).Setting Four towns in Finland.Participants 5909 male and 16 521 female municipal employees, aged 19-62 years, who kept their jobs.Main outcome measures Annual sickness absence rate based on employers' records before and after downsizing by employment contract; all cause and cause specific mortality obtained from the national mortality register.Results Major downsizing was associated with an increase in sickness absence (P for trend < 0.001) in permanent employees but not in temporary employees. The extent of downsizing was also associated with cardiovascular deaths (P for trend < 0.01) but not with deaths from other causes. Cardiovascular mortality was 2.0 (95% confidence interval 1.0 to 3.9) times higher after major downsizing than after no downsizing. Splitting the follow up period into two halves showed a 5.1 (1.4 to 19.3) times increase in cardiovascular mortality for major downsizing during the first four years after downsizing. The corresponding hazard ratio was 1.4 (0.6 to 3.1) during the second half of follow up.Conclusion Organisational downsizing may increase sickness absence and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease in employees who keep their jobs