Archive
2,595 posts
Phenological annual review for 2008
Although the year 2008 in Switzerland belongs to the 10th to 12th warmest years since the beginning of measurements, the effects on the development of the vegetation were not very striking. An extreme excess of heat was never registered except of the winter months and May. The mild winter simply had an effect on the…
Land tranfers and development of farm structures until 2007
Economies of scale can significantly improve the competitiveness of the Swiss agricultural sector. In order to understand the development behind the farm size structure, the underlying sub-processes of land transfers are examined in-depth. Each year, between 4 % and 5 % of the total utilised agricultural area are transferred due to the closing down or…
Indicators for ecological quality in alpine pastures
Vascular plants are helpful indicators for the ecological quality. In the context of the Ecological Quality Ordinance they are already used in the utilized agricultural area. Recently, criteria to assess the ecological quality of summer pastures have been discussed. ART has identified the vascular plant taxa, which best represent species richness, the occurrence of Red…
Cutting height influences the nutritive value in grass silages
The influence of the cutting height, the pre-wilting degree as well as the use of silage additives on the nutritive value and the fermentation quality was investigated in a trial. In autumn 2006, forage of a ley was cut on 7-8 cm and 3-4 cm. A part of the forage of both treatments was ensiled…
Increasing phasing out of organic agriculture – with an upward trend
Since 2004, the number of organic farms has been declining steadily contrary to the positive trend in demand. Between 2005 and 2007, 263 or 4.1 percent of organic farms were lost. An analysis of data from the Federal Office for Agriculture’s Agricultural Policy Information System (AGIS) shows that 2.0 percent of the farms converted from…
Productivity comparison between Switzerland and Baden-Württemberg
The best 17 % of Swiss farms were able to match Baden-Württemberg in respect of total productivity; the proportion for net labour productivity was around one quarter. This is the result of a study aiming at determining the position of Swiss agriculture in an international comparison of productivity. As the climatic and topographic conditions of…
Agricultural prices: Is history repeating itself?
The development of prices for agricultural products over the past eight hundred years can be divided into four phases. The first three phases were characterised by periods of increase and decrease. Until the middle of the 19th century these fluctuations corresponded closely to the rise in population and the occurrence of wars and epidemics. The…
Acceptability of new pratices by cattle breeders: advantages of a sociological approach
In the PASTO project, experimental agricultural practices with the Herens breed of cattle have been tested. We assessed their acceptability by the cattle breeders to check their chances of being implemented and in what conditions. To do this, we analysed different existing practices in the central Valais, as well as the value system and their…
The PASTO project: an innovative agricultural system of pratices for mountain regions
Mountain agriculture faces numerous challenges: diminishing number of farms and of animals, advancing of the forest, search for viable economic alternatives and multiple social demands concerning the maintenance of landscapes, of biodiversity and the offer of local quality products. Within this context, the PASTO project is testing and developing extensive production methods for meat of…
Willingness to grow genetically modified plants in Switzerland
Interviews were conducted with farmers in the canton of Zurich as part of a project by the national Research Programme on Genetic Engineering (NFP 59). The object was to assess their willingness to use genetically modified crops. 31 % of those surveyed would consider using the technology, while 62 % were against. These differing attitudes are reflected…
Floristic evolution of nutrient-poor grasslands in the Alps
The nutrient-poor, semi-natural grasslands of the Swiss Alps are amongst the most species-rich habitats in Europe. To investigate changes over 25 years in the diversity and floristic composition of these plant communities, we repeated a total of 151 phytosociological relevés, originally recorded between 1975 and 1985 in Château-d’Oex, Grindelwald, Tujetsch und Sent. In this second…
Soil damage by tractor pulling
Between 2002 and 2006, tractor pulling events were carried out once a year on a deep luvisol on arable farm land in Niederbipp (BE). Since severe mechanical stress was anticipated particularly within the track area, the authorization of the event was subject to conditions stipulated by the cantonal soil protection service with the aim of…
Comparison of wood-fired heating systems
The use of wood fuel for heat generation has been increasing steadily in recent years. Wood-fired heating systems do not only make economic sense for woodland owners; more and more often non-woodland owners are having their heat supplied by wood-fired power stations. Three output categories of wood-fired system were compared: 20, 60 and 100 kilowatt…
Economically sustainable apple farming
Which factors and strategies are effective for economically sustainable apple farming? On this research question the Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil Research Station (ACW) has conducted a representative survey in co-operation with the Fruit Union Swiss (SOV). This article summarizes the results about the IP producers. Data analysis shows that commercialisation, production costs and apple orchard size are…
Experiences in the economic use of herbicides tolerant crops
Experiences of the economic viability of herbicide tolerant crops (HT crops) were collected in a literature review from countries in which commercial cultivation is taking place. The results show that HT crops do not generally produce increased yields and no herbicide savings are effected in the long term. Economic benefits may be derived from the…
Managing open grassland in the mountain area of Switzerland – what are the costs?
The visible tendency of Swiss farms to specialise and grow in size has not been without consequences for agriculture. Working time is an increasingly scarce commodity, whilst the incentive to farm low-yield, high-intensity land is decreasing. This has consequences for agriculture: the forest is reclaiming land that farmers have given up working, biodiversity is dwindling,…
Influence of straw and high fibre diets of fattening pigs
Large white gilts were kept in single pens provided with full-length straw (S) or a rubber mat (R) as bedding. In the grower and finisher period the pigs were restrictively fed either a low fibre diet (130 g/kg DM NDF, treatments LFS and LFR) or a high fibre diet (180 g/kg DM NDF, treatments HFS…
Detection of falsified maize gluten
Different methods have been employed to detect falsified maize gluten products. Microscopic observations -numerous starch grains, seed envelopes and wheat bran fragments- clearly showed the presence of atypical maize gluten particles in samples with otherwise normal crude protein levels (≥ 60%) and the usual gold-yellow color. Chemical analyses in a few samples confirmed the presence…
Rearing entire male pigs – a possibility in Switzerland
The objective of the present trial was the determination of growth performance, carcass quality and boar taint of entire male pigs fattened on a Swiss commercial farm. From 2005 to 2007, 1094 entire males were fattened on the Juchhof with a liquid, ad libitum feeding system (15,5 MJ DE/kg DM). From the first to the…
ProSchwein: Alternatives to the conventional castration of piglets
To prevent the occurrence of meat with boar taint, which is not accepted by the consumer, male piglets are surgically castrated without anaesthesia. As this method of castration will be banned in Switzerland by 1st January 2010, the project ProSchwein investigated different alternatives. A device for inhalation anaesthesia (anaesthetic gas: isoflurane) showed a good anaesthesia…
Economicvalue of Bt maize is relative
The economic value of genetically modified, insect-resistant maize, also known as Bt maize, is relative. This is shown in a literature review carried out by Federal Research Station Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART, in which experiences of the economic viability of Bt maize were collected from EU countries in which commercial cultivation is taking place. The results…
