Side 16
Tour B3, 30 June: Tour leaders: Frederik Thalbitzer Journalist at Landbrugsavisen, Chairman of the Danish Association of Agricultural Journalists Marendine Krainert Ladegaard Press officer, Organic Denmark Making a business out of organic farming In Denmark, organic food production is built up around a state-controlled sys - tem, which covers the whole food chain. All organic farms, suppliers and or - ganic food companies are subject to government inspections at least once a year as an add-on to other regulatory inspections. This ensures that organic food is produced in compliance with the EU’s organic regulations. In addition to living up to organic regulations, organic farmers and feed and food compa - nies must comply with the legislation that applies to food production in gener - al – in respect of the environment, nature, animal welfare, traceability, hygiene and food safety. On this tour we will visit two organic farms with an extra focus on environ - 16 ment, animal welfare and marketing. Månsson grows organic and conventional vegetables. The farm enter - prise plants 45 million cash crops annually. Axel Månsson will relate how he gradually shifted the farm to becoming organic, which he believes is healthier for people and the environment. In addition to vegetables, he also has a large production of organic eggs. Axel Månsson has established a biogas plant that provides nutrients for the vegetable crops. We will also meet Lone Andersen, a Danish or - ganic farmer and chairwoman of the COPA-COGECA working group on organic agriculture in the EU. She will meet us and we will have a debate about organ - ic legislation in the EU. Another farmer we will visit is Bertel Hestbjerg who has one of Denmark’s largest organic pig farms. He is particularly keen on animal welfare and with his concept ’poplar pigs’ improves animal welfare over and above the official minimum requirements. He has also established his own marketing company in order to gain a posi - tion on the market for his brand. The tour will end at the national farm ani - mal fair Landsskuet with free time to see ani - mals and machines followed by dinner and a debate with the chairman of the Danish Agri- culture & Food Council. After the above-mentioned visits we will con- tinue to the annual farm fair Landsskuet in Herning. See page 14.
Side 17
Tour B4, 30 June: Tour leaders: Niels Damsgaard Hansen Freelance journalist, former editor-in-chief at FBG Medier Hanne Gregersen Freelance journalist Comparison between growing systems in an extensive project with large test plots GRObund is the name of a unique project funded by Syngenta and led by Seg - es, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council’s center of knowledge. The project studies and compares practical issues with regard to three growing systems: 1) conventional cropping (with ploughing), 2) reduced tillage, and 3) Conser - vation Agriculture (CA). This is a project of unprecedented scope with a setup that has never before been used in Denmark. Each of the three host farms has 36 five-hectare test plots, says project 17 leader Annette V. Vestergaard, national adviser at Seges. The test plots have three different treatments in each of the three different growing systems, and four repeats in order to achieve the best statistic confidence. The time scale of the project must be sufficient to illustrate differences between the systems in the same test plots over the whole project’s life. The farmers and their advisers are in charge of managing the plots. They choose everything, including varieties, spraying and fertilisation. Everything is registered in addition to data regarding soil health, pests, beneficial insects, diseases, yields, machinery economics and, of course, overall economics. The unique element is that systems and not individual factors will be com - pared to each other. Normally, individual factors, such as ploughing with harrowing and direct drilling are studied. In this project, so many factors are involved that it is the growing systems that are compared instead of the effects of indi - vidual factors, such as catch crops, tillage, or straw residue strate- gies. Annette V. Vestergaard (left) and Niels-Erik Halgaard (right) by the advanced camera with sensors that identify and register insects moving around within camera range in the test plots. After the above-mentioned visits we will continue to the annual farm fair Landsskuet in Herning. See page 14.
