European land quality as a foundation for the sustainability intensification of agriculture

Wien

University for Natural Resources and Life Science

2014

S. 19

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200190143

Annual Conference of the Austrian Soil Science Society "Burning Issues in Soil Science", September 22, 2014, S. 19

Sustainable Intensification (SI) is a concept for increasing agricultural production under sustainable conditions by 2050 to meet the needs of worlds growing population. Generally the concept of SI is the increase of yields without harming the environment. For reaching this goal, the intrinsic potential of soils has to be considered. This report aims at identifying arable soils in Europe which have the best natural resilience and performance and therefore can be used for SI. New data from arable sites across 23 European member states from LUCAS topsoil survey 2009 were taken and attributed to arable land using the Arc Geographical Information System (ArcGIS). The results show that almost half (47%) of the currently used arable agricultural area cannot be recommended for SI. Even 4% of this area should be extensified in order to reduce environmental harm. 12% of arable soils in Europe can only be recommended for SI with restrictions and 41% can be used for SI without impacting the delivery of goods and services provided by land and soil (water, air and biodiversity). The comparison of our results with a detailed Soil Quality Rating in Germany showed similar results and proved that our concept also reflects the yield potential and hazardous factors.