Baseline information on agricultural practices in the EU ... - Europabio

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2 Methodology This survey of the practices commonly used in European maize cultivation is based on <strong>information</strong> retrieved from public sites of governments, research institutes, peer-reviewed scientific literature, farmers’ organisations, seed organisations, seed companies and expert opinions provided by EuropaBio member companies. Most of the documents represent recommendations from research institutes and professional organisations. While the practice of an individual farmer will be determined by different factors and may be different from the recommendations of the public sites mentioned above, they should also be taken into consideration as they represent an optimal management situation and should lead to implementation of policy decisions. Therefore, when available, <strong>information</strong> is included on the actual crop management practices as performed by the farmers. Also it is recognized that practices may differ within Members States and where applicable, indications on regional differences have been included. Where available, the <strong>information</strong> was further complemented with a review of policy statements that would indicate the direction of the future of agriculture in the EU. The <strong>information</strong> was organized following the sequence of activities that a farmer performs when cultivating a maize crop. Furthermore it was structured on a geographical basis, following the structure implemented in the Regulation on Plant Protection Products 1 . This approach identifies 3 geographical zones as areas where agricultural, plant health and environmental (including climatic) conditions are comparable (see Table 1). Table 1: EU geographic zones (based on the Regulation on Plant Protection Products) Zone Geography Member States A North Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden B Centre Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom C South Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain Care was taken to collect <strong>information</strong> covering all relevant zones and focusing on the major producers in order to get a representative view on the range of agricultural practices across the EU. Where possible and relevant, a distinction has been made between a maize crop grown for silage or for grain. 1 Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and 91/414/EEC; OJ 24/11/2009 L 309, p.1-50) Page 4 of 64
3 Maize cultivation in Europe 3.1 Crop description Maize is basically a tropical grass, and it requires high insulation and warmth. An average temperature of 20 – 24°C is optimal, and the temperature should not sink below 14°C at night. The minimum for germination is 8°C. Nevertheless, maize is cultivated on every continent except Antarctica. Depending on variety and local climate, maize may need between 70 and 210 days for full development. Silage maize is cultivated for feed and is mainly used on-farm. Grain maize may be used for feed (poultry, corn-cob-mix for pigs), food (maize-meal-products, snacks, cornflakes) or for industrial purposes (starch, paper industry). Temperature and precipitation are major factors influencing the type of maize production (see Figure 1). From north to south and from oceanic to more continental regions, precipitation from April to October decreases and temperature increases. In general, the shorter and wetter climatic conditions in north-western European regions are more suitable for silage maize, because it can be harvested for this purpose while still unripe, while grain maize production dominates in dryer and warmer regions of central and southern Europe. In addition to climatic conditions, regional needs for specific maize commodities, like on-farm use of silage for livestock-feeding, or the presence of agro-fuel or gas facilities, can influence the farmers’ decision for production type. Figure 1: Maize production characteristics in 11 regions in Europe. Pie diagrams: Maize production type: Silage (green), grain (yellow) and other (white); Numbers in diagrams: total maize area in the region (in million hectares); Numbers outside diagrams: Average temperature (°C) and precipitation (mm) from April to October and fertilizer (synthetic and organic) applied per year (kg nitrogen input per ha); Bar diagrams: Percentage of maize area under integrated pest management (including organic), crop rotation (no maize after maize), low tillage (including no tillage) soil management versus ploughing. Full bars represent 100%. (Source: Endure, 2009, Final report on the maize case studies.) Next to these there is also the sweet maize type that is harvested for the fresh vegetable market and the crop intended for energy production: Page 5 of 64
Page 1 and 2: Baseline i
Page 3: 1 Introduction Under the current Eu
Page 7 and 8: Figure 3: Grain maize production by
Page 9 and 10: Zone Member State Maize type 2010 2
Page 11 and 12: Zone Member State Number of holding
Page 13 and 14: Zone Member State Main weed species
Page 15 and 16: Zone Member State Main pest species
Page 17 and 18: Figure 4: Distribution of Diabrotic
Page 19 and 20: 4 Preparation 4.1 Seeds Breeding go
Page 21 and 22: Table 7 provides an overview of mat
Page 23 and 24: Insecticides are included in seed t
Page 25 and 26: Table 10. Page 25 of 64
Page 27 and 28: Zone Member State Use Tillage B Cen
Page 29 and 30: • In Germany the Fertilisation Or
Page 31 and 32: Zone Member State Use Sowing dates
Page 33 and 34: Table 14: Chemical weed control (pr
Page 35 and 36: Zone Member State -: no data availa
Page 37 and 38: Zone Member State Use Insecticides
Page 39 and 40: Zone Member State Main pest species
Page 41 and 42: Integrated pest management (IPM) pr
Page 43 and 44: Figure 5: European Irrigation Map (
Page 45 and 46: Table 20: Irrigation of maize in Bu
Page 47 and 48: Zone Member State Region grain maiz
Page 49 and 50: Table 21: Irrigation methods and so
Page 51 and 52: Irrigation methods Zone Member Stat
Page 53 and 54: Irrigation methods Zone Member Stat
Page 55 and 56:
The main overall objective of EU wa
Page 57 and 58:
Zone Member State Use Harvest date
Page 59 and 60:
7 Consulted sources The following t
Page 61 and 62:
Křístková M., 2010, Experience w
Page 63 and 64:
Bayerischer Bauernverband; http://w
Page 65 and 66:
Wageningen UR Livestock Research ht
show all

Baseline information on agricultural practices in the EU ... - Europabio

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?