Do farmers who produce in environmentally friendly ways earn less income? As an Agroscope study shows, this needs not be the case, and farmers can actually generate more revenue by protecting the environment.
Oats, triticale, hull-less barley, lupin, faba beans and buckwheat are rarely cultivated. The EU project CROPDIVA intends to change that. Agroscope analyses the value chains of four of these crops in order to promote their cultivation and processing.
A hoeing and spot-spraying device enables huge savings in the use of plant protection products. Although costs are higher than for conventional plant protection devices, motivated farm managers give this innovative technology genuine prospects for the future.