Breakthrough in the EU for organic Ecological Recycling Agriculture around the Baltic Sea

 A large EU project to reduce the nutrient losses and save the Baltic Sea is now starting. It will focus on how the countries around the Baltic Sea can convert to ecological recycling agriculture. This three year project which is being coordinated by Södertörn University as the lead partner and the Swedish Biodynamic Research Institute (SBRI), is a prioritized initiative within the Baltic Sea Program and has been awarded a budget of 4.5 million euro.

The name of the project is BERAS Implementation. It builds on the finding from many years of research and field trials on about 50 representative farms in all EU countries around the Baltic Sea that show how the nitrogen and phosphorous discharge from agriculture to the sea can be radically reduced by converting to ecological recycling agriculture. The new EU project was initiated by SBRI in collaboration with Södertörn University which is the Swedish lead Partner. In all, 25 partners from 10 countries and 34 associated partners will participate in the work which is supported by government departments, financial institutions and environmental organizations.

“This is an important breakthrough for the research-based, but somewhat uncomfortable, insight that there is a systemic problem in today’s agriculture. The present linear flow of nutrients must be replaced by considerably more ecological recycling agriculture if the Baltic Sea is to be saved”, says Associate Professor Artur Granstedt, SBRI.

“Representatives for the 10 countries’ governments have obviously drawn the conclusion that ecological recycling agriculture is necessary if we are to deal effectively with the environmental problems in the Baltic Sea. Now we hope that this awareness will even have an effect on Swedish agricultural policy.

The project’s main goal is the conversion to ecological recycling agriculture (ERA) without use of chemical fertilizers, imported animal feed and chemical pesticides. In this way a good environmental status in the Baltic Sea can be achieved. Other environmental goals include the reduction of green house gases emissions from agriculture and the food chain as well as favoring biological diversity.

The details of the BERAS Implementation project are now being worked out and its implementation is expected to gain momentum at the beginning of 2011. The project  will also collaboration with other relevant EU-projects being carried out by the farmers’ organization LRF (Baltic Deal) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (BALTIC Compass).

               “This exchange among initiatives with different approaches to solving the problem in the Baltic Sea is very positive. More dialogue and action as well as an openness for different solutions is now needed”, says Artur Granstedt.

The main findings of the earlier BERAS research project include:

By converting to ecological recycling agriculture the average surplus of nitrogen from agriculture can be reduced by more than half, from app. 79 kg to 36 kg per ha and year. At the same time ecological recycling agriculture gives no surplus of phosphor. These results indicate how an ecological and regionally balanced agriculture without excessive fertilization is possible in the whole region.

More information about BERAS Implementation is available at www.beras.eu

For additional information and comments contact:

Artur Granstedt

0708 676763 /  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Coordinator for BERAS Implementation project

Associate Professor, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Head, Biodynamic Research Institute

New accepted BERAS peer review article is now published in Ecological Economics, Elsevier
Science Sustainable governance of the agriculture and the Baltic Sea - agricultural reforms, food production and curbed eutrophication

Markus Larsson, Artur Granstedt
Stockholm University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Mälardalen University, School of Business, Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden
The Biodynamic Research Institute, Skilleby, 153 91 Järna, Sweden

Longstanding initiatives with local organic food systems and Ecological Recycling Agriculture (ERA) in the eight EU-countries in the Baltic Sea drainage area were evaluated during 2001 - 2004. In two  scenarios agriculture production in the whole Baltic Sea drainage area converts to ERA. This halved the nitrogen surplus from agriculture and eliminated the surplus of phosphorus. In these scenarios food production would decrease or remain stable depending on strategy chosen.

MA_submit_May_2010_abstract.pdf