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Environment

Richner N., Durocher L., Rohrer H., Walter T.

Leaf blowers as an alternative to rakes: impact on vegetation after four years

In the mountains, hay harvesting represents a significant task for farmers. To make this job easier and speed up the harvest, farmers are gradually replacing rakes with leaf blowers. The Swiss nature conservancy organisation Pro Natura and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Station Agroscope are currently evaluating the potential effects of leaf blowers on the…
Environment

Hanke I., Poiger T., Aldrich A.P., Balmer M.E.

Plant protection products – mitigating the risk due to surface runoff

Plant protection products (PPP) can betransported from treated fields to surface waters via surface runoff during rain events. Potential risks for aquatic organisms due to surface runoff are assessed during the registration process for PPP, and risk mitigation measures are implemented if necessary. Currently, a vegetated buffer zone of 6 m width may be required…
Environment

Schweizer S., Höhn H., Ruf D., Dubuis P.-H., Naef A.

Pesticide application – measures for mitigation of spray drift

The spray application of plant protection products (PPP) leads to a contamination of non-target areas via spray drift: Droplets containing the active ingredient are deposited outside of the targeted area. The potential risk for non-target organisms caused by this drift is evaluated in the authorization-process of PPP. In order to achieve acceptable risk levels for…
Agricultural economics

Becker B., Zoss M., Lehmann H.-J.

Global food security – the consequences for Switzerland

Society is facing major challenges in ensuring global food security. Global trends since the food-price crisis in 2008 have revealed significant new risks. In 2012, the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture decided to identify, quantify and prioritise these risks and to derive potential areas of intervention. A literature review based on the analysis of key…
Agricultural economics

Kopainsky B., Tribaldos T., Flury C., Pedercini M., Lehmann H.

Synergies and trade-offs with regard to ensuring food security and the efficient use of resources

In Switzerland, agriculture and the food industry are facing major challenges, as is society in general. The gap between desired and achievable levels of food production is growing wider, since ensuring sufficient food supplies for a growing population requires a constant increase in production while at the same time it is necessary to reduce the…
Plant production

Aouinait C., Jeangros B., Nassar V., Crole-Rees A.

Innovation mapping in plant production: the case of HOLL rapeseed

The Swiss plant production sector aims at maintaining its competitiveness, even in a liberalized economy. The research program ProfiCrops takes a look into innovations generated for the plant production sector. Innovations are a requisite for maintaining the competitiveness of the agricultural sector. A tool allowing to map innovations in the plant production sector has been…
Plant production

Rouffiange J., Gerardin D., Riot G., Thévoz E., Kellenberger I., Schaerer S., Dupuis B.

Potato susceptibility to blackleg disease caused by Dickeya spp.

Pectin lytic bacteria belonging to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya can cause several diseases on potato, such as stem rots, commonly named «blacklegs», and tuber rots, which are referred to as «soft rots». The blackleg symptom is the primary cause for the rejection of potato seed lots in Switzerland. The field trials conducted in this…
Agricultural economics

Mack G., Flury C.

What is the impact of the new alpine pasturing subsidies?

Alpine pasturing subsidies are now being introduced under the 2014–2017 Agricultural Policy. These subsidies are meant to offer lower-altitude farms a further incentive to move their livestock to alpine pastures during the summer season. Calculations made with the agent-based model SWISSland show that the alpine pasturing subsidies in combination with the previous summer pasturing subsidies…
Environment

Jossi W., Humphrys C., Dorn B., Hiltbrunner J.

Controlling pollen beetle with the natural agent «Surround»

Meligethes spp. (pollen beetles) can cause major damage to oilseed rape crops. Organic and extensively farmed stands are especially at risk, since the use of insecticides on them is prohibited. Moreover, the pollen beetle’s increasing resistance means that non-chemical treatment options could also become important for conventional oilseed rape cultivation in future. Agroscope has tested…
Plant production

Honegger A., Wittwer R., Hegglin D., Oberholzer H.-R., de Ferron A., Jeanneret P., Van der Heijden M.

Effects of many years of organic agriculture

More and more farmers consider to switch from conventional to organic production. What effect, then, does this have on yield and environmental performance? In particular, the question of how the duration of organic management affects plant yield, weed populations, biodiversity and soil fertility has rarely been investigated. To investigate this question, we compared 34 plots…

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