WP4 Compatibility of management options at farm level
WP4 assesses the compatibility of selected best management practices with real-world farming conditions in the different agro-ecological zones and farm types. Farmer surveys in the partner countries are an important component of this work package. Collected information is integrated into a decision support tool for farmers.
A systematic review is carried out to assess the compatibility of selected practices and their likely uptake across a wide range of farm types found across Europe. This involves assessing technical and economic bottlenecks, and innovations required to address them. Surveys among farmers and farm advisors are made in several rounds, to collect data on current management, and views on alternative options with their promises and difficulties. Figure 1 shows the selected agro-environmental zones where the farm surveys were conducted.
Fig. 1: Main agri-envrionmental zones (FTZs) were farm surveys were conducted.
The decision support tool developed in this work package summarizes for farmers the advantages and disadvantages of alternative soil management options, for given farming conditions. It should help inform farmers how they can adjust their management, in order to better achieve their user-specific goals for sustainable soil management. And how specific bottlenecks can be resolved.
WP4 is led by Jan Verhagen.
