Integrated Crop Management: On-Farm Experience in Sweden and the UK

Keywords: Integrated Crop Management, sustainable agriculture, environment.

The aims of the Integrated Crop Management initiative in Sweden Odling i Balans (OIB) are to minimise any detrimental environmental effect from crop cultivation, to produce high quality agricultural products and to develop a resource-efficient agriculture within, at the same time, a good farming economy. An additional objective of the organisation is to demonstrate, by way of work carried out on 16 reference farms that these objectives are attainable. Moreover, the farmers earn considerable experience that increases each year. A very important feature of OIB is that the reference farms form a bridge between research and development, and practice and application.

Activities carried out have a clear information profile and should not be associated with any form of labelling or marketing concept. There are large similarities between Odling i Balans and LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), OIB’s corresponding organisation in the UK. Both OIB and LEAF started their activities in the early 1990’s. The paper describes and discusses possible differences but also demonstrates some common set of values in OIB’s and LEAF’s concept for sustainable crop production.

Measures that are taken to improve the production methodologies of conventional agriculture will give considerably greater effect than introducing limited measures involving either a restricted area or a specific branch of production. It is therefore essential to involve the majority of farmers. OIB produces checklists and provides suggestions for improvements, as well as, develops models for calculating environmental indicators. These can in turn be used by and together with information and advisory services. LEAF adopts a similar approach using the LEAF Audit and producing technical guidelines and case studies, working with existing farm assurance schemes, training establishments and the many stakeholders involved in countryside management and food production.

Key indicators are widely used in financial accounting. Key environmental indicators are used more and more to describe crop production in terms of efficiency, sustainability and direct environmental effect. By calculating environmental indicators over a number of years is it possible to show the results of actions taken and trends.

Lars Törner, Odling i Balans (OIB), VallÃ¥kra, Sweden

Caroline J Drummond, Linking Agriculture And Farming (LEAF), Stoneleigh NAC, UK

42 pages, 4 tables, 21 figures.