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Fertility Building Management Measures in Organic Cropping Systems

Original titleFertility Building Management Measures in Organic Cropping Systems
Abstract

The FertilCrop project involves close cooperation of experts in the areas of weed control, soil physics and biology, plant nutrition, green manures, composting, climate change and modelling. Improved cropping methods, new techniques and decision-making aids will be developed for practitioners. "We expect the close cooperation between farmers and researchers to yield environmentally-friendly and, in particular, locally adapted cropping systems that combine science with practical expertise", explains Andreas Fliessbach, the project manager at FiBL.

The FertilCrop project builds on its predecessor TILMAN-ORG, which ran from 2012 to 2014, involving some of the same research partners. Both the research focus of the newly launched project and the approach it takes are unusual. Its focus is on interrelationships, such as between crop yields and weed growth or between good soil structure and high soil microbial activity. All the partners will draw on already existing field experiments. The abundant data will be fed into computer-based advisory and decision support models with a view to producing easy-to-apply tools for farmers. Participating farmers will learn to confidently assess soil fertility and use the computer-based decision support systems.

Over the project’s three-year term, 20 research partners in 13 European countries will collate and evaluate data from 18 field trials and case studies. This will combine the expertise of advisors, farmers and researchers.

Financing/ Donor
  • Federal Agency for Agriculture FOAG, Bern
  • CORE Organic PLUS
(Research) Program
  • Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) – SCOPES - Scientific co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland
  • CORE Organic Plus/ Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG)
Project partners
  • Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
  • Aarhus University (AU)
  • Fundacja im. Stanislawa Karlowskiego (FSK)
  • Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA)
  • Centro di Ricerche Agro-Ambientali "Enrico Avanzi" (CiRAA)
  • Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU)
  • ISARA Lyon
  • Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
  • Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG-PIB)
  • University of Ljubljana (UL)
  • Estonian University of Life Sciences (EULS)
  • Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
  • Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LRCAF)
  • Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD)
  • Cantabrian Agricultural Research and Training Centre (CIFA)
  • Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR)
  • Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (BFO)
  • University of Florence - Department of Agrifood Production and Environmental Sciences (DISPAA)
  • SEGES P/S (SEGES)
  • Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

http://www.fertilcrop.net/fc-partners.html

FiBL project leader/ contact
FiBL project staff
  • Alföldi Thomas (Department of Extension, Training & Communication)
  • Krauss Maike (Department of Soil Sciences)
  • Mäder Paul (Departement für Bodenwissenschaften)
  • Willer Helga (Department of Extension, Training & Communication)
(people who are not linked are former FiBL employees)
Role of FiBL

Coordinator

FiBL project number 1008401
Date modified 14.03.2024
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