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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

- In France a stable area of about 25,000 ha of sweet maize is grown, mostly in Aquitaine (Maizeurop). Hungary is the leading country in the EU with over 30,000 hectares in 2006. - A number of countries in northern Europe use a proportion of the crop for biogas production: 260,000 hectares in Germany, 20,000 hectares in Austria and 10,500 hectares in Poland (Maiz’info, Oct-Nov 2009 2 ). The German Maiskomitee communicates on areas between 240,000 and 375,000 hectares for 2009. In 2010 energy maize was grown on an area of about 530 000 hectares according to the German Federal Minister of Agriculture (BMELV). The Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe States that in 2010 500,000 hectares were used for biogas production, which is equal to 22% of the total maize area in Germany. 3.2 Cultivation area A comparison of the surface of grain and silage maize in the EU Member States is provided in Figure 2 and Table 2. The cropping area within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) reached 8.3 million hectares in 2007 for grain maize and 5.0 million hectares for silage maize. The annual total yield was 48.5 million tonnes of grain (Eurostat). Figure 2: Area for grain and silage maize production, average of 2004-2008 (from Czarnak-Kłos & Rodríguez-Cerezo, 2010) The largest maize producers are France, Romania, Germany, Hungary and Italy, where maize is grown on more than 1 million hectares each. Even within a Member State, important regional differences may exist in relation to cultivation of maize (Figure 3). There are indications that the areal of maize cultivation is gradually expanding to the North (Eurostat). The data in Table 2 illustrate that the area of maize cultivation has increased over the last decade in the northern countries, while at the same time acreages in southern Europe tend to stabilise or even decrease. Mainly due to the development of varieties better adapted to the northern regions (early maturing types) and the warmer climate less yield failures are noticed (DEFRA, 2006; Handboek Snijmaïs, Olesen & Bindi, 2004 3 ). In the UK there was a fivefold increase from 1989 to 2005 (DEFRA, 2006). In Denmark the area of silage maize has increased from 11,000 ha in 1980 to 118,000 ha in 2003 (Olesen & Bindi, 2004). Also in Germany and Poland, the northern countries of the central zone, the land used for silage maize has increased. Grain maize that needs to fully ripen within the growing season becomes an option for farms in the North. 2 http://www.maizeurop.com/pages/iso_album/20091030maizinfoct2009.pdf 3 Olesen J.E., Bindi M. (2004) Agricultural impacts and adaptations to climate change in Europe. Farm Policy J 1(3): 36–46. Page 6 of 64
Figure 3: Grain maize production by the EU Member States in 2007 (from Eurostat) (NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) Silage maize is usually used on-farm (Defra, 200, Handboek Snijmaïs, Maizeurop). In France about 12 million tons of grain maize out of 15 million produced is sold either to be used as feed or to the food industry (Maizeurop). This leaves 20% for on-farm use. In Slovakia silage maize is predominantly used for on-farm purposes – on average, 88% of silage maize was used for fodder production in 2006 and 2007 4 . Concerning farm size, big differences exist between Member States. Table 3 presents the number of farms cultivating a certain area of grain maize. In the east European Member States most of the farms grow grain maize on very small parcels (0-0.5 ha). But very big farms are present as well (>50 ha). Many small farms are also found in Spain and Portugal. Other countries peak around 2-5 ha. 4 Dillen K., Mitchell P.D., Van Looy T., Tollens E. (2010) The western corn rootworm, a new threat to European agriculture: opportunities for biotechnology? Pest Management Science 66(9): 956-966. Page 7 of 64
Page 1 and 2: Baseline i
Page 3 and 4: 1 Introduction Under the current Eu
Page 5: 3 Maize cultivation in Europe 3.1 C
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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?