Category Archives: Case Study

Natural Grazing in Podkarpackie Region

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Summary

The program “Podkarpacki Naturalny Wypas” was established in 2012 as a public initiative, in order to preserve, protect and restore the biodiversity in valuable natural areas through extensive grazing of livestock in the meadow-pasture areas of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. The program is coordinated by the Marshal’s Office of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Local Government). The program currently runs as a long term initiative (2017-2020). Each year an open call is organized in which non-profit organizations (e.g. foundations, associations, NGO cooperatives) and other eligible parties present offers toarrange grazing on specific grasslands by subcontracted f armers, who provide animals cattle, horses, sheep, goats and deers) and plots of land for grazing. In the pilot year (2012), 7 organizations took part, representing a total of 321 farmers, grazing 5,981 animals on the area of 4,700 hectares. In 2019, there were 7 organizations involved and 715 farmers, grazing on an area of 15,100 ha (about 13,236 animals). The study of Ruda et al. (2019) shows that the program brings measurable benefits. Over half of the interviewed breeders increased the grazed area and number of animals, a significant part systematically performs pasture care activities, or built pastoral infrastructure. The program contributes to the protection of biodiversity in valuable natural areas and brings measurable economic and social benefits.

Objectives

Preservation, protection and restoration of the biodiversity in valuable natural areas, based on extensive grazing of livestock while maintaining animal welfare.
Restoration of valuable natural and landscape areas for grazing.
Maintenance and restoration of architecture associated with traditional pastoral grazing;
Protection of cultural heritage, supporting and sustaining the traditions, customs and other related elements of folk culture of pastoralism;
Economic and tourist activation of the Podkarpackie province.

Public Goods

Farm animal health and welfare
(Farmland) biodiversity
(Farmland) biodiversity
Cultural heritage
Landscape and scenery

Problem description

The program responds to the need for economic and tourist activation of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, and in particular for the protection of naturally valuable meadow and pasture areas while maintaining biodiversity. Among the factors justifying the implementation of the Program the most important are: a large share of protected areas in the region (44.9% of the total area), a progressive decline in livestock numbers and the low utilization of permanent grasslands (below 50%)

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Kromme Rijn Collective management

Kromme Rijn Collective management

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Summary

Collective implementation of agri-environmental management has been started up throughout the Netherlands since 2016. After individual management had proven to fail to deliver the desired agri-environmental-climate public goods (AECPGs), a larger-scale implementation of agri-environmental management was considered a more feasible and promising solution. In the central Dutch province of Utrecht, a wide variety of AECPGs is required by society and farmers. This includes improvement of water quality, enhancing and emphasizing the landscape diversity that supports recreation, and providing a habitat for species including bats and owls. In the eastern half of the province, the Kromme Rijn region, the “Agrarisch Natuur Collectief Utrecht Oost” (agricultural nature collective Utrecht East) organizes the large-scale nature management. Land owners are members of the collective, which organizes payment for specific nature management actions performed by farmers, monitors, and brokers between land owners and organizations / companies that implement some specific nature management actions, based on a common regional management plan. The collective is certified by the national certification institute for agri- environmental management and has its own quality assurance controllers.

Objectives

Objectives are set by the provinces. In the case of Kromme Rijn, the province of Utrecht defines targets in its annual nature management plan. Defined are targets for nature, landscape, agricultural nature and landscape management. Landscape management targets at fostering landscape diversity. The ANLM aims at maintaining landscape elements: characteristic on the levees are tree lines, small patches of forests, wooded banks, ponds, and small traditional orchards. The lower and wetter part of the region.
Langbroekerwetering, contains small patches of wet species-rich grasslands that are extensively managed through mowing, combined with tree lines and small fields.
Creating habitat for amphibians, including the great crested newt, for several owls, and several bat species. Creating habitats for threatened species of extensive traditional arable lands.

Public Goods

Water quality
Water quality
Water quality
(Farmland) biodiversity
(Farmland) biodiversity
Cultural heritage
Soil quality (and health)
Landscape and scenery

Problem description

Agri-environmental management has been introduced in the Netherlands in 1975.
1000 km2 were assigned as agriculture-nature area and managed by nature organizations, another 1000 km2 included “normal” farmland, on which farmers planned their farmland and management practices in a nature-friendly way. Since the year 2000, it became increasingly apparent that farm-level agri-environmental management was not effective, because target species required a larger mosaic of land use and land cover than can be provided on a single farm. In 2016, agri- environmental management by nature collectives has been introduced by the Dutch government

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Nutriflow_baner

NUTRINFLOW

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Summary

The project aimed at establishing good practical examples of win-win measures for agricultural producers in water management for the retention of nitrogen and phosphorus. Through working with farmers and landowners, the project promotes and demonstrates with concrete investments the benefits gained from holistic planning and coordinated implementation of water retention and on-farm drainage management measures. To show good practice examples on the Ailes stream a project was developed and contracts with landowners signed. The overall project was lead by Proagria (Finland). Union “Farmers Parliament” (Latvia) was one of the project partners.

Objectives

  • Control and reduce nutrient inputs into natural watercourses and water bodies;
  • Control soil erosion;
  • Enrich oxygen content in water;
  • Promote natural self-purification processes in water;
  • Increase awareness among farmers, advisors and municipal authorities and services on drainage techniques and approaches to integrate field and basic drainage measures while lowering the barriers for the execution of sustainable drainage management and combination of environmental and production benefits.

Public Goods

Water quality

Problem description

The project responded to the common pan-Baltic challenge to implement more effective and acceptable measures to reduce nutrient inflows to the surface waters and the Baltic Sea from agriculture. It is evident from recent history of implementing on-farm agri-environment measures, that they have not yielded the results needed in terms of reduced nutrient losses and that complementary measures in the drainage network and landscape are needed. In part, this is due to the multifaceted hydro-morphological, physical and biochemical processes in the soil and the aquatic environment, which also makes the effect of these individual measures difficult to measure. Through addressing water flow, water storage and retention it is possible to tackle the problem of nutrient losses outside the growing season when there is no uptake by the crops. According to studies and estimates, up to 90% of nutrients are lost outside growing season which indicates great potential for
nutrient loss reductions by the above mentioned measures. At the same time, there is great potential to be gained for agricultural production, but also for the production of ecosystem services for the society from measures targeting water flows and retention in the landscape.
Through a holistic catchment level management, an optimal combination of measures in the landscape, the stream network and on farm could ensure sustainability and viability of agriculture while reducing the external nutrient loading to the sea. The fact that the project’s partner countries are faced with the need to renovate agricultural drainage infrastructure, provides an ideal ground to introduce new, more sustainable measures to meet the needs of agricultural production and the aquatic environment. Attention to sustainable drainage management is especially critical in the foreseeable climate change with increased precipitation and on the other hand increased summertime water shortages.

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Incentives for collective reservoirs

Incentives for collective reservoirs

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Summary

The measure has been programmed in the RDP for the 2007 – 2013 and supports the construction of collective small-medium irrigation reservoirs. The objective is twofold: 1) to ensure a stable water supply for the agricultural sector, and 2) to reduce the pressure on groundwater resources. The support is in the form of partial coverage of construction costs and it is granted if the candidate projects involve a minimum number of farmers and/or water stored (even though the thresholds have changed over the years). In the Ravenna province, there is the largest number of measure applicants. In such an area the Consorzio di Bonifica della Romagna Occidentale (Land Reclamation Board of Western Romagna) has proved a key actor in the management of such projects, coordinating farmers demand and providing technical assistances.

Objectives

  • To ensure a stable water supply for the agricultural sector;
  • To reduce the pressure on groundwater resources.

Public Goods

Water quantity

Problem description

The measure has the double objective of ensuring a stable water supply for the agricultural sector, and at the same time the reduction of groundwater consumption.

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BurrenLife Project

BurrenLife Project

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Summary

Due to the unique landscape, farmers in this region face many environmental challenges which the traditional agri-environmental schemes do not address. This project works with farmers to achieve specific environmental outcomes, rewarded by payments, and also makes funds available for farmers to invest in self-selected, but pre-approved, conservation projects. Environmental targets are set and monitored by farm advisors, performance is scored and payments are made based on the scoring system..

Objectives

  • To ensure the sustainable agricultural management of HNV farmland in the Burren, improving water quality and usage, and supporting the landscape and cultural heritage of the region;
  • To preserve the culture and heritage of the region;
  • To support the economic and social sustainability of farmers.

Public Goods

Soil quality (and health)
Rural viability and vitality
Landscape and scenery
Cultural heritage
(Farmland) biodiversity
(Farmland) biodiversity
(Water quality

Problem description

The Burren extends over an estimated 72,000 ha of land in Counties Clare and Galway (Ireland). It is defined by the presence of exposed limestone, the calcium-rich skeletal remains of marine organisms that populated the seas over 340m years ago. The Burren has recently been recognized through UNESCO Geopark Status, over 30,000 ha of the Burren is designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and an additional 2,000 ha designated as Special Protection Area under the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC). A study by Dunford (2001) estimated that stocking levels in the Burren increased from 0.38LU/ha in 1970 to 0.66LU/ha in 2000, a 73% increase. During this time, it is estimated that approximately 30% of the Burren’s archaeological sites were lost due to land reclamation. Silage gradually replaced the naturally available forage of the wintering pastures, resulting in reduced levels of grazing which contributed to a loss of biodiversity and accelerated levels of scrub encroachment. The initial stimulus for the project came from local farmers who, feeling threatened by SAC designations and environmental program conditions, decided to engage constructively with researchers and public authorities to find a way forward.

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Eco-grazing - Grazing for ecological grasslands

Eco-grazing – Grazing for ecological grasslands maintenance in the green areas of Brest Metropole

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Summary

The Head of Green Spaces of Brest Metropole has chosen to entrust the management of the mowing of some of their green spaces to an eco-grazing service proposed by a breeder with a part of his flock of Scottish Black Face-bred sheep whose production (lamb meat) is subsequently sold (not cull or amenity animals as classically done). Eco-grazing is more expensive than conventional mowing, but has been chosen for the many environmental services that result (reducing GHG emissions, reducing noise, social link, local agriculture, invasive plant management, favouring mellow-flowering plants).

Objectives

  • Decrease in carbon footprint (from 2 to 8 mower interventions to max passage with a lighter machine)
  • Noise reduction
  • Social link in neighborhoods
  • Meat production from local urban agriculture
  • Biodiversity, invasive plants management
  • Alternative approach to thermal and chemical tools

Public Goods

Climate regulation greenhouse gas emissions
Landscape and scenery
(Farmland) biodiversity
(Farmland) biodiversity

Problem description

Brest Metropole used to manage extensive meadows using the mower and other thermal tools. In order to implement greener management of these grasslands, the Head of Green Spaces took the initiative to introduce eco-grazing, which was more expensive than previously done. A breeder responded to the call for tender by proposing to set up eco-grazing as part of his organic lamb production, to ensure the maintenance of meadows and to provide the desired environmental services.

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