Archive
2,435 posts
Grazing intensity and ecosystem services in the alpine region
In the alpine summer-grazing area, grazing intensity is one of the most important management variables controlling vegetation and ecosystem services. In spite of this, grazing intensity is difficult to quantify on large, heterogeneous alpine pastures. For this reason, local grazing intensity on two alpine summer dairy farms in the canton of Obwalden and in the…
Livestock husbandry on alpine summer farms – a literature review
This literature review focuses on three aspects of livestock husbandry on alpine summer farms: the impact of alpine summer farming on the animals; the suitability of the animals for alpine summer farming and alternatives to dairy cows on alpine summer pastures. The conditions on alpine summer pastures result in an energy deficit in dairy cows…
Copper free control of potato late blight in organic potato production?
Copper is used in organic potato production to control the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. A disadvantage of copper is, that it accumulates in the soil and damages soil organisms. In Switzerland, the application of 4 kg of copper per hectare and year is allowed. In a six year crop rotation, the ecotoxicologically acceptable amount…
Life cycle assessment of intensive and pasture-based dairy production systems
Swiss dairy farms must increasingly cope with climate protection, environmental conservation and the use of limited resources. In the context of the Hohenrain comparison of dairy production systems, a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts was conducted using the Swiss Agricultural Life Cycle Assessment method. The environmental strengths and weaknesses of seasonal full-pasture and indoor…
Feed-ration composition on Swiss dairy farms
As part of the 2014-2017 agricultural policy, the Swiss Federal Council is proposing a contribution for grasslandbased milk and meat production in the form of the socalled «production-system contributions». With a view to the structuring of this new instrument and its future evaluation, the current situation as regards the feeding of ruminants in Switzerland is…
Valuable biodiversity in grassland areas of encroached alpine pastures
Europe has a long tradition of alpine grazing. Alpine pastures shape the cultivated landscape supporting a high biodiversity. However, more and more alpine pastures are abandoned and affected by shrub encroachment, leading to the disappearance of plant and animal biodiversity. As part of the «AlpFutur» collaborative project, the aim of this study was to highlight…
Indicators for pesticide usage in Switzerland
Since 2009 agricultural data are collected within the framework of the project Farm Accountancy Data Network Agro-Environmental Indicators (AEI FADN). The indicator «pesticide usage» consists of key figures characterizing the practice of chemical plant protection. The crop specific number of spray rounds quantifies both the total number of times a crop has been treated, and…
What would an organic Switzerland look like?
Switzerland‘s high purchasing power, natural site conditions, small-scale agricultural structure and political independence arguably make it more suitable than any other country for a conversion of entire regions to organic farming. The SWISSland forecast model is used to simulate a complete changeover to organic farming for the time period 2018–20, and to compare this with…
Infrastructure for alpine summer farming: historical witnesses and spatial planning
Traditional buildings are an important part of the cultural landscape in alpine pasturing areas, serving as historico-cultural witnesses. They are, however, under pressure from structural change in agriculture and often require renovation. To assess their historico-cultural quality, a list of criteria has been drawn up which provides a basis for their agro-touristic development, i.e. for…
Organic farming without cattle: results after 12 years on the pilot farm Mapraz
The pilot farm Mapraz was set up to give an answer to various questions related to the conversion of farms without livestock to organic farming. After twelve years of evaluation whereof during the last six years two crop rotation systems were compared (one with one year temporary ley -TL and one with two years of…
ALPIS – concept for a new alpine agricultural information system
The alpine economy is in a state of constant change: regional political developments and environmental concerns are offset by the need for profitability and efficient management. A lack of recent data means that many cantons use the alpine cadastral land register, which is based on surveys carried out in the 1950s to the 1970s, for…
PRAMIG: a development project to enhance grassland management in the Swiss Southern Alps
Meadows and pastures play a vital economic role for both agriculture and tourism along the Southern side Alps. The main objective of the PRAMIG (Miglioramento dei prati a Sud delle Alpi) project was to promote sustainable management methods for farms located in the Southern side Alps, by means of a fodder production system adapted to…
On the social situation of the farming population in Switzerland
As part of a social report, this paper traces the social situation of farmers in Switzerland in comparison with other occupational groups on the basis of the European Social Survey (ESS). With the social situation – which encompasses the quality of life and life opportunities of population groups – various factors such as job, income,…
Economic efficiency of seasonal used mountain pasture farms in Switzerland
In the project AlpWirtschaft the application VokoAlp was developed for compiling and analyzing data and for budgetary accounting. Cost-efficiency studies for 18 typical Swiss alpine summer farming units were done for different levels (staff, farmers). Large differences in income between different alpine pasture farms were found. The larger alpine farms were more profitable with higher…
Baseline sensitivity of septoria leaf blotch to SDHI fungicides
Since recently, a new class of fungicides is available to control Septoria leaf blotch of wheat, the so-called carboxamides or SDHI. The risk of resistance development in Mycosphaerella graminicola to SDHI fungicides is estimated to be medium to high. Therefore the implementation of an anti-resistance strategy is necessary to preserve the efficacy of these fungicides.…
Symbionts and arthropods – potential implications for biological control
Most arthropod species live in association with numerous bacteria. Their interactions can have different outcomes. While some bacteria are crucial for their host’s survival, others are facultative and their presence can have a negative, positive or neutral effect on the nutrition, reproduction or survival of their host. Some endosymbionts (such as Wolbachia for example) are…
