A review on the current scientific literature showed that pesticides are widely present in soils, water and air and have a potential to contaminate organic produce. These contamination pathways must be considered when findings of pesticide residues are investigated.
Agroscope has developed risk indicators which show the development of risks associated with the use of plant protection products for important environmental compartments, describe the risk potential of the active substances and take account of legal measures for risk mitigation.
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.
Those wishing to promote biodiversity in agriculture by means of result-based schemes need meaningful indicators. An overview of proposed and used indicators highlights developments and challenges.
Foods of animal origin – friend or foe? It all depends on the needs of consumers and on local production conditions, as shown by a major review in which Agroscope took part.
In vegetable production it is usual to leave crop residues on the field. Measurements carried out by Agroscope researchers show that removing these residues significantly reduces nitrate leaching.
Which measures are suitable for significantly reducing pesticide use in field crops? In the PestiRed project, farmers rate the implemented measures as largely positive; with a differentiated result for economic efficiency.
The reduction of environmental risks from plant protection products is to be monitored by the Confederation using a risk indicator. The indicator also takes into account the degree of implementation of risk reduction measures in practice. This degree of implementation was estimated by a study.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are important for healthy soils and crops. A pan-European study shows that plant-protection products adversely affect these fungi, reducing their ability to supply plants with phosphorus via their roots.
A comparison of different methods of winter-wheat fertilisation with nitrogen showed that nitrogen surpluses can be significantly reduced by means of site-specific variable-rate nitrogen fertilisation.
Many tile drainage systems on arable land are in need of renewal. Cantons and stakeholders will now be given a decision-making tool enabling them to assess such areas in detail and to find sustainable solutions.
Ammonia emissions from the Swiss farming sector have scarcely declined over the past 20 years. This is because the factors leading to either an increase or decrease in emissions have for the most part cancelled each other out between 2000 and 2020.
Agroscope has highlighted for the first time the factors that are key for the targeted, large-scaled promotion of biodiversity in agriculture. Focusing on agriculture as a whole is especially important.
Agroscope has developed a scoring system for plant protection in vegetable crops. The system enables the creation of incentives for reducing the use and environmental risks of plant-protection products and promoting preventive and non-chemical measures.
Many consumer goods contain activated carbon, which can be contaminated with pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Agroscope showed that current analytical methods and legal bases used to address PAH content are incomplete.
Dry summers can see a loss of up to 25% of total Swiss roughage production. This is because grassland yields are strongly correlated with summer drought, as shown by a new analysis conducted by Agroscope and the Swiss Farmers’ Union.
A test of five methods using the example of winter-wheat cultivation shows that site-specific nitrogen fertilisation enables more efficient fertilising without adversely affecting yield.
The past 30 years have seen a clear trend towards rising water costs. The supply of agricultural land with water from natural sources is thus coming under increasing pressure.
Protecting the climate whilst reaping a good harvest is possible if greater amounts of carbon are sequestered in the soil. Agroscope calculated the amount of additional carbon that the soil is capable of storing.
A long-term field study conducted by Agroscope, the Soil Protection Agency of the Canton of Bern and the University of Bern shows that soil erosion on arable land can be significantly reduced with the right measures – in particular, conservation tillage practices.
Farmer acceptance plays a crucial role in establishing optimal flower strips. A survey conducted by Agroscope, FiBL and HAFL shows that pollinator flower strips work in practice, and lead to high satisfaction.
Agroscope has developed risk indicators for plant protection products. These indicators highlight risk trends over time for important environmental compartments. Based on sales volumes of active substances, they take account of specific risk reduction measures.
The preservation of soil fertility and multiple soil functions faces various challenges both in Switzerland and throughout Europe. A survey carried out in Switzerland among people from practice, government agencies and research highlights problems and possible solutions.
Model calculations show how climate change will affect the water requirement for different crops grown on the Swiss Central Plateau. This will allow us to proactively plan for crop irrigation and adaptation to the changing climate.
Rodrigues L., Hardy B., Huyghebaert B., Fohrafellner J., Barančíková G., Bárcena T., De Boever M., Di Bene C., Feiziene D., Fornara D., Kätterer T., Laszlo P., O’Sullivan L., Seitz D., Leifeld J.
Together with project partners, Agroscope investigated soil carbon sequestration potentials for 24 European countries. Carbon sequestration could offset 0.1% to 27% of greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture per annum.
Calculations carried out by the Swiss Soil Monitoring Network (NABO) over more than 30 years reveal that fertiliser applications and plant-protection products can lead to excess heavy metals in agricultural soils.
Certain crops in Switzerland can benefit from more-species-and-individual-rich wild-bee communities. An Agroscope report shows how this could be achieved.
What are the possible routes of entry of plant-protection products into surface waters? Agroscope shows the potential input risks in terms of tile drainage, runoff and agricultural point sources for over 20 000 catchment areas.
Nematodes are important indicators for soil life. An Agroscope study shows that nematode numbers and species diversity are significantly higher in organic vegetable fields than in conventionally farmed fields.