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Environment

Herzog F., Richner W, Walter Th.

Moderately positive effects of ecological measures

Farmers provide the proof of ecological performance (PEP) for 97 % of the utilised agricultural area of Switzerland. Ecological measures and PEP have significantly reduced the environmental damage caused by agriculture. The pollution of water and air with nitrate, phosphorous and ammoniac has decreased and ecological compensation areas contribute to stabilising the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes.…
Environment

Calanca P., Fuhrer J., Jasper K., Torriari D., Keller F., Dueri S.

Climate change and agricultural production

The shift in climatic conditions expected for the coming decades could become a major challenge for the Swiss agriculture. Relevant questions in this context concern the extent of the regional climate changes, their impact on agricultural ecosystems and the possibility for agriculture to adapt to the new conditions. Providing an answer to these questions is…
Environment

Reidy B., Menzi H.

Farm and manure management in Switzerland

Reliable estimates of ecological impacts of agriculture require a detailed knowledge of farm management and structure. To establish a new Swiss ammonia emission inventory, a representative survey on parameters relevant for ammonia emissions was conducted in 2002. The stratified sample of farms allowed the differentiation between nine different regions and four farm types. The results…
Environment

Neftel A., Ammann Ch., Calanca P., Flechard Ch., Fuhrer J., Leifeld J., Jocher M.

Greenhouse gas budgets of grassland systems

The field experiment «Kyoto-Wiese» in Oensingen (CH) shows that the conversion of arable land to intensively managed permanent grassland leads to an increase in the soil C-content of around 1.5 tons per hectare and year, provided that a sufficient amount of N-fertilizer is applied. This sequestration of carbon corresponds roughly to the yearly emission from…
Environment

Tobias S., Nüesch A., Nebel R., Guilmain A.-L.

Suburban agriculture or landscape management?

Cities and conurbations are usually located in places that are favourable for agriculture. However, in urban regions there are very few people working in the agricultural sector. Although most people use the landscape adjacent to residential areas for recreation, they still expect an agrarian look of this landscape. An investigation of agricultural structures of municipalities…
Environment

Chervet A., Ramseier L., Sturny W. G., Tschannen S.

No-tillage versus conventional tillage: ten years of comparison

Over the last ten years, conventional plow tillage has been compared to no-tillage on six crop rotation plots in the long-term field trial Oberacker at the Inforama Ruetti in Zollikofen. The deep cambisol of the trial plots contains 15% clay and 3% organic matter.The absence of tillage operations in no-tillage makes a more complex strategy…
Environment

Sanvido O., Widmer F., Winzeler M., Streit B., Szerencsits E., Bigler F.

Coexistence of GM with nonGM crops

Today, the coexistence of GM and non-GM crops is highly debated, both in politics and in public. Environmental, consumer and farmer associations emphasize for various reasons and motivations that a coexistence of the two cropping systems is virtually not possible in Switzerland due to its small-scale agricultural production. Agroscope FAL Reckenholz, the Swiss Federal Research…
Environment

Heinrich A., Kaufmann R.

agricultural building and landscape

Agricultural buildings form and influence our environment, in particular in open country, away from built-up areas. Here agricultural buildings have a major impact on the landscape. The general trend to cut costs has brought about a change in the construction technique of agricultural buildings. Atypical materials and colours are used, in some cases a qualified…
Environment

Diserens E., Spiess E., Steinmann G.

TASC: an Excel tool to prevent severe soil compaction damage

TASC (TYRES/TRACKS AND SOIL COMPACTION) est une application excel tenant lieu de guide pour le praticien des grandes cultures. Une appréciation des sollicitations du sol induites par le train de roulement des machines est rendue possible, en tenant compte des propriétés du sol et des machines. Lorsqu’il y a lieu, le risque de compactage sévère…
Environment

Szerencsits E., Schüpbach B, Buholzer S., Walter Th., Zgraggen K., Flury Ch.

Landscape types and accessibility of near nature habitats

The aim of the interdisciplinary research project «Greifensee» was the development of agri-environmental measures for the sustainable development of the agriculture. Therefore landscape development was simulated for the year 2011 and for different scenarios.The delineation and classification of landscape types by means of geomorphologic units, soil characteristics and land use was done to characterise the…
Environment

Stamm Ch., Singer H., Szerencsits E., Zgraggen K., Flury Ch.

Site-specific conditions and application of herbicides from the view of the water protection

This article investigates from the perspectives of water protection and economy whether arable cropping is adapted to site conditions in the catchment of Lake Greifensee. Field studies demonstrate that herbicide losses to surface waters can vary very strongly for different areas. Large losses can be expected from poorly drained fields with a direct hydrological connection…
Environment

Prasuhn V., Herzog F., Schärer M., Frossard E., Flühler H., Flury Ch., Zgraggen K.

Inputs from diffuse sources in the Greifensee area: phosphorus and nitrogen

The phosphorus concentration in the Greifensee continues to exceed the target value, due to excessive phosphorus inputs. No relevant water pollution by nitrogen is currently evident. Phosphorus and nitrogen inputs from diffuse sources have been estimated with the aid of the Modiffus model. High phosphorus inputs are principally due to leaching of drained arable land,…
Environment

Keller F., Fuhrer J.

Agriculture and the heatwave of summer 2003

During August 2003, the highest temperatures were recorded since the beginning of the measurement period in Switzerland in 1753. Together with the hot July they made up an extremely rare summer heatwave. Already in February, precipitation amounts were very low and remained low during the rest of the summer. As a result, soils were drying…
Environment

Keller A., Van der Zee S.

Availability of phosphorus in intensive used grassland soils

We investigated the sorption capacity and availability of phosphorus (P) in soils of the Lippenrütibach catchment (Canton Luzern, Switzerland) to assess the risk of P-losses from agricultural land in the long-term. The different available P-forms in soil were characterised using six P extraction methods. The soils in the study area revealed a high P-sorption capacity…
Environment

Nemecek Th., Gaillard G., Zimmermann A.

Reference values for life cycle assessment of farms

Reference values are required to analyse life cycle assessments of farms. For this purpose 27 model farms were defined for Swiss agriculture, each representing a group of farms, classified by the farm type according to the typology developed by Agroscope FAT Tänikon, by the production region (lowlands, hill, mountains) and by the farming system (integrated,…
Environment

Zihlmann U., Weisskopf P., Jossi W.

Soil mineral nitrogen dynamics in plots of organically and conventionally grown potato

In the DOK long-term field experiment two organic (D: biodynamic; O: bioorganic) and two conventional (K: mineral fertilizer plus farmyard manure; M: mineral fertilizer only) farming systems have been compared. In 1999, 2001 and 2002 dynamics of mineral nitrogen (Nmin) in plots planted with potato was analysed in the 0 to 100 cm soil layer.…
Environment

Jöhl R., Knop E., Herzog F., Jeanneret Ph., Walter Th., Duelli P, Ewald K. C.

Low intensity meadows harbour endangered grasshoppers

Ecological compensation measures (agri-environment schemes) in agriculture aim at the protection of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures in preserving and increasing biodiversity is therefore essential. We studied the grasshopper fauna on the most common type of ecological compensation areas in Switzerland (low intensity meadows) and compared it with…
Environment

Jossi W., Bruderer R., Schweizer Ch., Scherrer C., Keller S., Dubois D., Tschachtli R.

The influence of three different farming systems on the epigeic arthropods

The fauna of beneficial epigeic arthropods (carabids, staphylinids and spiders) was compared in three different farming systems (integrated intensive, integrated extensive and biological systems) at Burgrain during 1997 to 2002. The predatory insects and spiders were captured with Barber traps. Between the tree investigated cultures – summer barley, winter wheat and maize – the number…
Environment

Sanvido O., Bigler F., Widmer F., Winzeler M.

Environmental Monitoring of Genetically Modified Plants in Switzerland: Development of a conceptual Framework

Besides two field trials in 1991 and 1992, no deliberate releases of genetically modified plants (GMP) have yet been conducted in Switzerland. The use of GM crops in Swiss agriculture is discussed controversially and in contrast to the European Union, commercial cultivation seems unlikely in the near future. Nevertheless, cultivation can not be excluded for…
Environment

Mosimann Th., Bono R., Simon P.

Does the ecological evidences` programme produce a better erosion control? The development of the soil erosion risk in the canton of Basel-Landschaft

The soil survey programme of the canton of Basel-Landschaft also includes the survey of the development of the soil erosion risk. Every 10 years more than 70 agricultural farms are questioned about their methods of cultivation and the risk of soil erosion is evaluated. The results of the last questioning dating from 2002 show that…
Environment

Sanvido O., Bigler F., Widmer F., Winzeler M.

Future emphasis of risk assessments of transgenic crops in Switzerland

Genetic engineering and its consequences are topics that concern both politics and the public. The controversies regarding the possible effects due to the use of genetic engineering in agriculture for food and feed production are viewed differently. Thus, there is still a gap in knowledge regarding the ecological risks of genetically modified organisms. The Swiss…

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