Sustainable agriculture has currently been considerably supported by the EU which positively affects development of organic farming in EU member states.  Along with expansion of organic farming itself, importance of its production and non-production function rises as well. Both these functions are expected to be mutually balanced so as the organic farms were not focused on one-sided production. To reach such balance the grant programmes should be suitably set so that the farms were motivated to farm on arable land and permanent grasslands on one side and fulfil non-production function of agriculture on the other side as well. The balance of grant programmes can be estimated according to the way how organic farming is carried on. This article is focused on assessment of condition of organic farming in the Czech Republic and taking advantage of agroenvironmental programmes

Friebel, Ludvik

Friebelova, Jana

Konvalina, Petr

Moudry, Jan (Jr.)

English

Organic Eprints

Organic Farming On Grasslands  1J. Moudr�, jr., 2L. Friebel, 1P. Konvalina, 2J. Friebelová  1University Of South Bohemia, Faculty Of Agriculure, Studentská 13, České Budějovice, 370 05 2University Of South Bohemia, Faculty Of Economy, Studentská 13, České Budějovice, 370 05  Abstract: Sustainable  agriculture  has  currently  been  considerably  supported  by  the  EU  which positively  affects  development  of  organic farming  in  EU member  states.    Along  with expansion  of  organic  farming  itself,  importance  of  its  production  and  non-production function rises as well. Both these functions are expected to be mutually balanced so as the organic farms were not focused on one-sided production. To reach such balance the grant programmes should be suitably set so that the farms were motivated to farm on arable land and permanent grasslands on one side and fulfil non-production function of agriculture  on  the  other  side  as  well.  The  balance  of  grant  programmes  can  be estimated according to the way how organic farming is carried on. This article is focused on  assessment  of  condition  of  organic  farming  in  the  Czech  Republic  and  taking advantage of agroenvironmental programmes.  Key words:  Organic farming, grasslands, agroenvironmental programmes  Introduction Agriculture  is  actually  the  most  important  form  of  the  landscape  management. Šarapatka, Niggli (2008) mentions the need to see a farmer as a landscape manager.  For  preservation  of  sustainable  farming  in  a  landscape  the  Agroenvironmental programmes  (AEP)  play  the  main  role.  These  programmes  include  organic  farming, permanent grasslands management and a programme of landscape preservation with several subprogrammes, such as grassing of arable land, use of intercrops etc.  These measures  have  been part  of  the  Common agricultural  policy  of  the  European  Union since year 1992 and member states have to enable these measures to farming subjects (Fišer, 2004). It concerns support for environmentally friendly farming methods which are beyond the scope of legislation. AEO programmes are aimed to support ecological stability of a landscape, prevent quick water runoff, reduce soil erosion a preserve and rise biodiversity on agricultural land. Farmers are compensated for reduction of activities that negatively affect the nature and landscape, and conversely they are motivated to carry out activities with positive effect (Jongepierová a kol., 2004). This motivation is necessary  because  actual economic system  one-sidedly  prefers  such  behaviour that farmers aim to realize a profit before all, even though such activity could lead to losses for the society when long-term prospects are considered (Šarapatka, Dlouh�, 1998).  In the Czech Republic management of permanent grasslands and grassing of arable land are the most commonly realized agroenvironmental programmes. From the point of view  of  multifunctional  agriculture  permanent  grasslands  represent  a  very  important cultivation on agricultural land that preserves biodiverzity, this predominantly applies for submontane and mountain regions (Pozdíšek et. al., 2004). At the same time permanent grasslands represent a very important component of landscape enhancement as well (Penk, 2001).  Actual share of permanent grasslands makes about 24%, whereas for the soil erosion protection on arable land to be sufficient, this number should rise at least to 35%,  which  would  be  similar  to  share  of  grasslands  in  other  EU  member  states (Kvapilík,  2005).    However  permanent  grasslands  increase  has  to  be  equal  in conventional and in organic farming as well, unfortunately this has not happen recently in  the  Czech  Republic.  While  within  conventional  farming  the  rice  in  acreage  of permanent grasslands has been continuing very slowly, within organic farming this has already reached extreme number so organic farming fulfils rather non-production role, also thanks to the way of permanent grasslands exploitation. Within Czech organic farming also thanks to subsidies the production function is just repressed  which  in  lower  (production)  elevations  is  not  desirable  (Moudr�,  jr., Friebelová,  2006).  The  share  of  arable  land  within  organic  farming  is  low,  whereas structure of crop rotations  and plant species diversity is not optimal. This fact conforms to  Kvapilík  (1999),  Šimon  (1996),  Moudr�,  Strašil  (1999)  conclusions  who  state  that predominantly in submontane regions the diversity of used plants should be varied by traditional and non-traditional species.  Although the  overall  share  of  grasslands  in  the  Czech  Republic  has  not  reached sufficient number yet, within organic farming the situation is contrary. There is advised to motivate farmers to fulfil better the production function of farming on arable land which together  can  help  to  reduce  potential  economic  risk  related  to  expected  changes  of subsidy programmes taking effect in year 2013.   Method and material Data  used  for  calculation  was  drawn  from  the  analysis  of  selective  group  of  85 organic farms all over the Czech Republic, registered in the Pro-Bio database. Data collection  was  provided  by  means  of  questionnaire  survey  and  additionally  by  direct interviews  in  site  or  phone  survey.  As  monitored  factors  were  chosen  variables concerning  agricultural  land  exploitation  (farming  on  arable  land  and  permanent grasslands management), plant production as far as the structure and acreage of grown plants is concerned, livestock production as far as the number of kept animals and their species is concerned. Furthermore information about certain subsidy programmes used, total  farm  acreage,  number  of  employees  and  other  additional  data  were  collected.  Further factors were added using combination of found basic data (stocking rates).  Calculations were focused on evaluation of relations between level of grassing and stocking rates, evaluation of relations between stocking rates and farming on arable land and  on  permanent  grasslands,  or  farming  on  permanent  grasslands  only  under  the agroenvironmental programmes. Data was processed by means of descriptive statistics tools and contingency tables. Furthermore methods of linear regression and correlation were used. The evaluations itself was carried out using DBMS (data base management system) MS Access and spreadsheet program MS Excel.   Results and discussion In  the  Czech  Republic  current  organic  farming  is  represented  by  farming  on permanent grasslands only. The share of permanent grasslands within organic farms makes 90,8%. Such considerable share of grasslands practically leads to repression of production function of farming on arable land, moreover grassed areas resp. produced biomass  are  complicated  to  be  efficiently  utilized.  Grazing  and  mowing  for  livestock feeding  purposes  are  the  most  common  ways  of  permanent  grasslands  biomass utilization. An alternative utilization of biomass for energy purposes has not shown much positive effect. High shares of permanent grasslands with followed-up livestock production define the main line of Czech bioproduction, which mainly represents non-milk beef raising and reduced scale goat and sheep raising. To utilize grazed grasslands properly, there is necessary to maintain right stocking rates of a pasture (expressed by livestock units - LU).  This  number  should  reach  about  0,5  LU/ha,  which  in  most  cases  corresponds. There are also many farms where this number does not reach 0,5 LU/ha (Figure 1), which cannot be considered to be suitable from the environmental and even economic point  of  view.  Excessive  livestock  rates  of  pastures  over  2  LU/ha  are  within  the monitored farms very rare.   Figure 1: Total stocking rates histogram by livestock units (LU)  Relative frequency0.000.050.100.150.200.250.300.350.400.450.50<0,25 0,25-0,5 0,5-0,75 0,75-1 1-1,25 1,25-1,5 1,5-1,75 1,75-2 >2Loading by livestock units   The influence of agricultural production trends on stocking rates (LU) Within the monitored file of farms was found that higher stocking rates of pastures are rather reached by farms with production activities on arable land and grasslands then  by  farms  managing  permanent  grasslands  only.  An  average  load  makes  1,06 LU/ha compared to 0,65 LU/ha by farms managing grasslands only.   Trends of livestock production Within  the  monitored  file  of  farms  beef  raising  without  milk  production  (WMP) represents  65,88%  of  all  cases  (56  farms),  beef  raising  with  milk  production  (MP) represents  8,24%  of  all  cases  (7  farms)  and  beef  raising  with  both  WMP  and  MP represents 4,71% (4 farms). Number of farms corresponding to 21,17% of all cases (18 farms) have no beef production at all and focus on other kind of livestock (sheep, goats, horses...). Evident differences in livestock rates are found in cases applying WMP beef raising ( 0,77 LU/ha), whereas in cases applying MP beef raising it makes 1,19 LU/ha.   Tab. 1 - Structure of livestock production within the file of monitored farms   Number of animals  Number of farms Cattle  without  dairy production 8517  58 Cattle with dairy production  1060  7 Goats  2043  26 Sheeps  4227  16 Horses  334  29 Poultry  5315  7               Figure 2 – WMP and MP beef raising within the file of monitored farms Share of cattle with and without diary productionw/o DP; 68%with DP; 4%both; 5%w/o cattle; 23%  Taking advantage of agroenvironmental programmes   91% of all organic farms take advantage of subsidy support for organic farming and support for permanent grasslands maintenance as well. In fact, both these subsidy programmes provide together an economic stability for all of organic farms, even for those, who are located out of LFA regions. In many cases this results in such situation that  farmers  generate  their  sufficient  earnings  based  on  the  subsidy  support  and consequently reduce their own production. This state also prove results of measured stocking rates by farms with or without production on arable land and stocking rates by farms with or without milk beef raising, where farms applying a more intensive farming system  (plant  production  on  arable  land  or  beef  raising  with  milk  production)  reach higher  stocking  rates  compared  to  those  who  produce  an  extensive  farming  system based  on  beef  raising  without  milk  production.  For  the  more  intensively  farming companies the beef raising constitutes part of the farm cycle, provides barnyard manure production for example (farm with production on arable land) or in some case it may be the primary resource of earnings (MP beef raising). Lower stocking rates reached by extensively farming companies with WMP beef raising prove the fact, that here beef raising is realized on minimal or slightly higher than minimal stocking rates so that the subsidy programme qualification criterion was reached   Tab. 2 - Stocking rates in relation to the way of farming   Type of farm  Farms  with arable land MP beef raising  Farms  without arable land  WMP  beef raising Stocking  rate LU/ha 1,06  1,19  0,65  0,77  Remaining agroenvironmental measures are used by the farms minimally only.  The reason consist in low share of arable land that the measures are prepared for but also there is probably lack of knowledge of the other agroenvironmental programmes.  Conclusion  In  the  Czech  Republic  organic  farming  is  predominantly  realised  by  farming  on permanent  grasslands.  Within  the  monitored  file  there  the  share  of  arable  land  is represented by 9,2 % only. ŠARAPATKA, URBAN (2006) mentions even lower values - 8,1 %.    In  most  cases  permanent  grasslands  are  used  for  beef  raising  without  milk production  or for  raising  other  livestock  species  eventually.  An  optimal  stocking  rate (expressed in LU/ha) is not always satisfactorily followed. For example ŠARAPATKA, NIGGLI (2008) o mention an optimal stocking rate between 0,5 - 1 LU/ha, for extensive growths  slightly  less  (0,4-0,8 LU/ha). Within  the monitored file of  farms  these  values correspond, however there is group of farms where the stocking rates reach bellow 0,5 LU/ha. We can say that in the Czech Republic organic farming fulfils its environmental function  above  all.  This  function  is  very  important  (Hampicke,  Liptersky, Wichtmann, 2005) but it is not supposed to markedly repress production function of organic farming, which also thanks to actual conditions set by subsidy programmes has not happen.   Acknowledgements  The project has been implemented thanks to 2B06131 grant.   References:  [1] FIŠER, B.: Agroenvironmentální programy na orné půdě, ZO ČSOP Bílé Karpaty, 2004, 22 s [2] HAMPICKE,  U.,  LIPTERSKY,  B.,  WICHTMANN,  W.:  Ackerlandschaften  – Nachhaltigkeit und Naturschutz auf ertragsschwachen Standorten, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2005, 311 s. [3] JONGEPIEROVÁ,  I.  a  kol.:  Agroenvironmentální  programy  na  květnat�ch podhorsk�ch loukách. Vzdělávací a informační středisko Bílé Karpaty, o.p.s. Veselí nad Moravou, 2004, 22 s [4] KVAPILÍK,  J.:  Chov  krav  bez  tržní  produkce  mléka  z hlediska  vstupu  České republiky do EU, in.: Sbor. ref. mezin. konf. Agroregion, JU v Česk�ch Budějovicích 1999, s. 242-244. 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a kol.: Agroenvironmentální programy na květnat�ch podhorsk�ch loukách. Vzdělávací a informační středisko Bílé Karpaty, o.p.s. Veselí nad Moravou,

a kol.: Ekologické zemědělství v praxi,

a kol.: Využití trval�ch travních porostů chovem skotu bez tržní produkce mléka.

a kol.: Zemědělství a krajina – cesty k vzájemnému souladu, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci,

Agroenvironmentální programy na orné půdě,

Analysis of farming in marginal areas and prediction of expected progress.

Je cena potravin odrazem skutečn�ch nákladů na jejich produkci?

Mimoprodukční funkce zemědělství a ochrana krajiny. Institut v�chovy a vzdělávání Mze,

Pěstování alternativních plodin, Jihočeská univerzita v Česk�ch Budějovicích, Zemědělská fakulta,

Střídání plodin – nejlevnější agrotechnické opatření.

V�voj početních stavů přežv�kavců ve vztahu k trval�m travním porostům. – in.:

Organic farming on grasslands

Organic farming on grasslands

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Organic Eprints