Eight new R&D projects

One project is about plant protection in raspberry cultivations and another project is about weed control in row-cropped vegetables. Genes in winter wheat competing with weeds are investigated in one project while autumn fertilization in timothy seed cropping are evaluated in another project.

The Board of Agriculture had included improved animal health in the call for organic production, but no such project was granted this time. Three projects were selected because they integrate organic production and the national environmental goal of a non-toxic environment. Those are projects on biological control of carrot, on the cultivation measures to control blackgrass and the trimming of various red clover varieties.

The entire project list (in Swedish) is available here on the website under  "Forskning/Jordbruksverket FoU" .

There are also several other approved projects of interest for organic agriculture, e.g. projects studying how different measures affect biodiversity, projects about integrated weed control, including inter-row hoeing and herbicide resistance.

Some projects will evaluate the effect of measures to reduce the risk of nitrogen and phosphorus leaching, such as buffer zones and catch crops. Also, strategies for spreading slurry and nitrogen at the right time and in the right amount at the right place will be tested and evaluated in some projects. These projects can be found in the Board's project database.