Vitenskapelig sammendrag
National cereal production is of large importance for food security. Cereal crops cover 30% of the farmland, and most of the cereal area is sprayed annually. Cereal production in Norway contributes 30-72% of the total environmental risk caused by pesticide use in cropping. Adoption of measures to mitigate pollution from agriculture in these areas will have a large potential environmental effect. The conflicts between measures for reduced use of pesticides and measures for reduced phosphorus losses have special concern in cereal production. The main objective of the proposed project is to establish a proposal of sound cereal production methods with reduced pollution from pesticides and phosphorus and their impact on farm economics, and necessary instruments for increased adoption. The sub-objectives include to (1) develop integrated and organic pest management strategies for selected fields with various soil tillage, (2) demonstrate effects of selected pest management strategies on loss of pesticides and phosphorus, and financial results in cereal farming, (3) perform an integrated assessment of the effects of different production methods in cereal on pollution, yield and economic aspects, and (4) identify farmer behaviour regarding integrated pest management and organic farming. This requires a multi-perspective, integrated systems approach. A set of production methods in cereal will be defined and form the basis for simulation and evaluation procedures. Our main focus will be on pest management, but we will also study issues regarding phosphorus, yield, economic returns and farm behaviour as there is a lack of measures and instruments encompassing their conflicting environmental concerns. The project work will show the significance of integrated pest management and organic farming in reducing agriculture-related pollution. This new knowledge will be used to develop instruments for adoption of effective and feasible pollution-reducing measures in cereal production.
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