6.1 Good practice in EU Member States - identifying short, medium and long-term effects
At European level, the Common Agricultural Policy use various instruments to promote sustainable soil use. These include green payments, which make up 30% of direct payments, requiring farmers to diversify crops, maintain a permanent lawn and devote 5% of arable land to "environmentally focused areas". These activities contribute to increasing soil resilience, conserving soil carbon and protecting biodiversity.
Land protection is also part of the rural development programs, funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and managed by the Member States themselves. Promoting resource efficiency and restoration, preserving and enhancing ecosystems related to agriculture are two of the six key priority areas for rural development, and soil is a significant part of it.
In 2008, an updated EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) was adopted. It through "Best Agricultural Technic" (BAT)[1] promotes the most efficient and advanced phase in the development of activities and their methods of action. This Directive indicates the practical appropriateness of certain techniques for determining the baseline values of pollution restrictions with the aim of preventing or reducing pollution and the environmental impact as a whole.
These measures proved to be positive. Recent work, presented by the European Commission's Joint Research Center, concluded that between 2000 and 2010, soil erosion rates overall decreased by 9% and by 20% in arable land. As part of the new Horizon 2020 program[2] another € 100 million has been earmarked for the 2018-2020 programming period for research relating to land and its protection.
According to 2015 data[3], collected by monitoring the annual reduction of carbon (C) in the soil, intensive agricultural production of cereal in the United Kingdom lowers it by 1%, the addition of mineral fertilizers in Sweden lowers it by 0.5%. Reduced manure fertilization (5 tonnes / hectare) reduces carbon content in Sweden by 0.2% and straw intake (3 tonnes / hectare) in Denmark by 0.2%. However, soil management as a result of good agricultural practice has led to an increase in carbon content of 0.2% annually in France through the cultivation of cover crops, and straw intake of 12 tonnes / hectare in Denmark an increase by 0.3%. Also, the same study shows that the introduction of manure, 35 tonnes per hectare, in the UK increases carbon content by 0.4% and the cultivation of miscanthus giganteus by 4%.
The cultivation of cover crops for the repair of agricultural soil is particularly strong in Germany and France. Between the harvest of one crop and the sowing of another, since the soil must not be bare, cover crops are sown, among which the most widely spread oil radish (Raphanus sativus var. Oleifera). This type is most commonly used for green fertilization, which improves soil properties. At the same time, research has shown that this plant is very effective in controlling some types of nematodes such as turnip nematodes.
The practice of growing cover crops (red, white, sweet and incarnate clover, peas, 1 year old lupinus, hairy vetch, etc.) is one of the mandatory soil remediation measures in EU countries. Cover crops keep the soil covered during winter and other periods of time when crops are not growing, reducing the risk of erosion. Biomass produced from cover crops usually returns to the soil, increasing the level of organic matter. Species of cover crops containing mycorrhizal fungi can maintain and increase the population of these beneficial fungi. Crops that cover legumes can add nitrogen to the soil by fixing nitrogen. Cover crops can retain nitrates and other nutrients that are susceptible to flushing losses.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the principle of so-called Farmingscaping or the method of agricultural design became established in the leading EU countries as well as in the USA. This principle enhances, but also manages biodiversity with a view to increasing the presence of beneficial organisms. These organisms include the use of insect-attracting plants, woody plants, cover crops, and are cultivated to attract and support populations of beneficial organisms such as insects, spiders, amphibians, reptiles, bats and birds that parasitize or feed on harmful insects.
One of the methods widely used in protecting against soil erosion is the formation of horticultural oases. These oases are created by farmers in zones between production fields, steep ditches or places that are easily eroded as they give stability to the soil.
Farmers in the EU have a number of preventive and repressive measures in the field of conventional, integral and organic farming.
[1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu. 2008/1/EC-Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive–new version
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020
[3] European Commission: Best practices on Soil quality management, EXPO Milan, 6 July 2015.
6.2 Good practices in Serbia
In the last decade, integrated and organic production has developed in Serbia, which respects the concept of protection and prevention of further environmental degradation. To this end, a number of preventive-repressive measures are being used.
One of the preventive measures affecting the rational (ecological-economic concept) behavior in agricultural production is the decision to grant state subventions in fruit production from 2020 on the basis of the document on reionization, ie on the basis of climate and land characteristics of certain areas in Serbia. The profession and science will determine which of the 18 fruit species can produce the highest yields and in which area. Based on this estimate, money for production will be given from the national budget. In practice, this will mean that if a producer grows crops where climatic conditions are not suitable for commercial production, he will not be able to receive state incentives either. The second segment is related to the activities of breeding houses, constantly working to improve the quality of their genetic material by identifying genes that contribute to increased tolerance to environmental stress. For leading crops (crops, corn, oilseeds, industrial plants), the selection goes towards plant cultivation with a well-developed root system that uses water and nutrients from the soil more efficiently, synchronized fertilization processes and better control of plant water losses. In the most common crop in Serbia, corn, this measure is reflected in the growing involvement of AquaMax (Pionner) and Artesian (Syngenta) hybrids, respectively.
Proper selection of seeds or planting material ensures a healthy starting plant material and thus reduces the possibility of infecting plants and soil with harmful organisms transmitted by seed or seedlings or grapevines. The existing laws on the circulation of seeds and planting material are allowed to further expand only the use of processed and declared seed and planting material.
Biological measures include the use of various biotechnical agents of living or inanimate nature in the fight against harmful organisms. Among living are biopesticides that include living agents, macrobiological (predators, parasites, parasitoids) and microbiological (fungi, bacteria, viruses), natural pesticides and metabolism products of some organisms. There are a large number of products on the Serbian market based on Bacillus thuringiensis (Lepinox Plus), Beauveria bassiana (Naturalis Biogard) fungus, Carpovirusine EVO2. Biological measures have the greatest application in the control of pests and pathogens, especially fungi and bacteria.
Biotechnical agents, on the other hand, are inanimate in nature and are chemicals that adversely affect the behavior of pests in terms of attracting - attractants or repelling - repellents. Biotechnical agents also include agents that increase plant resistance and regulate insect development. Targeted protection of cultivated plants is precisely achieved by establishing a "threshold of harmfulness" of the cultivated species, and on the basis of eg. catches in pheromone traps, hunting traps, hunting belts, etc. Today's successful, eco-toxicological protection of apple from apple cider, cherry protection against cherry fly, or tomato from South American leaf miner cannot be done without the use of pheromone plates.
In recent years, in addition to the conventional method (use of herbicides), weed control has been achieved through a combination of agro-technical and physical measures. Physical measures include the use of flames. The first scientific research in Serbia on the application of flames in weed control in the row of crops was started in 2010 at the Scientific Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad. Flame machine is made in Serbia of domestic components by modifying a four row cultivator. The result is a machine that flames suppressing weeds that are in the initial stages of development and are in the row of crops, and between the rows are suppressed by cultivation. This measure provides faster initial efficiency in weed control, the absence of residues in plants, soil and groundwater.
In order to raise the pH of the soil at the end of the XX and the beginning of the XXI century, the Ministry of Agriculture of Serbia conducted an action of lime distribution (CaCO3) to agricultural producers, based on the previously done soil analyzes. In recent years, the so-called soil breeders (pH Plus, BioFert Green, FF Humiflex, Slavol), all to prevent further degradation and repair of agricultural land.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia has started with the implementation of the project "Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction Project" (DREPR).[1] The preparation of this project was carried out by the Ministry of Science and Environment - Environmental Protection Directorate, and the entire project is being implemented with donations from the World Bank and the International Environmental Fund (GEF). $ 9 million was provided for the implementation of the project. Other donors include the $ 4 million from Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) and the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR). The main objective of the project is, first of all, to reduce the pollution of the Danube watercourses and its tributaries with nutrients from livestock farms, especially from pigs and cattle farms, as well as to reduce the quantities of nutrients discharged from the slaughterhouse industry..
In addition to activities in EU countries, Serbia, as a candidate country for membership in the "European family", has achieved some results in the protection and remediation of soil. During the last decade of the 20th century, based on previous land analyzes in the Bor River, during 1994, 1995 and 1996. In the Center for Agricultural and Technological Research in Zajecar, and on the existing soil condition, oats and rye were produced in vegetation vessels using 104 chemical reclamation. In 1996 and 1997, rye was planted on an area of 5 acres, which ended the vegetation, ie it provided seeds for further reproduction. In connection with this, a Project for the financing of study and research works for the formation of an experimental field on an area of 1 hectare in the city settlement Vrazogrnac was done.[2]
Based on the above mentioned and later in-depth researching[3] more encouraging findings have emerged in attempts to quality recultivate contaminated land.
[1] https://www.ekapija.com. With the help of DREPR, manure disposal facilities were built on 29 farms - a contract with 12 farmers is being prepared.
[2] City of Zajecar (2012): Environmental program on the territory of the city of Zajecar for the period from 2012 to 2019, Zajecar
[3] Maric M, Antonijevic M, Alagic S. (2013) The inves-tigation of the possibility for using some wild andcultivated plants as hyperaccumulators of heavymetals from contaminated soil, Environ Sci Poll Res20(2), 1181-88
6.3 Good practices in Bulgaria
In the last ten years, the best practices in soil protection in the territory of Bulgaria, and in particular the Vidin district, are:
- Regional Waste Soilfill in Vidin Region;
- Covering terrain and agricultural soil;
- Ecologically acceptable disposal of obsolete pesticides and other plant protection products with expiry date;
- Introducing the „No-till“ technology.
On the territory of the village of Žheglica, a “Regional Soilfill for Municipal Waste in the Vidin Region” was built, which serves all 11 municipalities in the Vidin Region and creates conditions for the removal of unregulated soilfills and the closure of existing municipal soilfills. The new soilfill is located in the valley southwest of the existing soilfill and 1km west of the Danube River. It covers an area of about 221 hectares. The soilfill has two non-hazardous waste disposal facilities with a total volume of 516,000 tonnes, as well as a composting plant with a maximum annual capacity for receiving and treating about 10,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste. The operation of the soilfill was funded by OP "Environment".
As a result of the activities of the company „ Gypsum AD“ in the village of Koshava, 87.9 hectares of polluted soil have been identified as well as created sludge and filtered „cakes“ from production waste containing heavy metals, fluorine and radionuclides. In the last three years, as a result of the methods used, the company has emptied and delivered for disposal between 20 to 30 thousand tons of sludge and filtered „cake“, in parallel with biological recultivation of about 13 hectares of contaminated surface.
One of the leading problems, that has arisen is the storage and disposal of pesticides from the last decades of the twentieth century, especially from abandoned farms. At a site near the village of Žheglica in a harmless way for the environment and human health, about 130 m3 of banned pesticides and pesticides with expired date of use are stored. These pesticides are collected, sorted, the packaging separated, and grouped into "B-B cubes". In this way, the problem of pollution of agricultural and non-agricultural soil was finally solved, as well as the problem of the possibility of uncontrolled pollution of all ecosystems. The project “Environmentally friendly disposal of obsolete pesticides and other expired plant protection products” funded by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program includes the construction of two storage facilities for the storage of organic pollutants (pesticides, hazardous waste and other expired plant protection products). Both warehouses are located in the area in question, Vidin district, namely "Warehouse 35" in Dimovo and "Warehouse 133" in Rakovica village.
According to the project, organic contaminants will be repackaged, transported and handed over for final disposal, and the warehouses will be cleaned and the visibly contaminated top soil in front of the warehouse replaced with clean soil or crushed stone.
As part of soil protection best practice, in recent years, particular attention has been paid to the introduction of the “No-till” technology in agricultural soil cultivation. Specifically, the main topic of the Seventh National Agricultural Seminar of the National Cereal Producers Association (NASGP), and in accordance with the guidelines of the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was the “No-Till” technology, aimed at protecting soil from further degradation. This technology involves managing agro and ecosystems in order to improve sustainable productivity, increase profitability and food security while maintaining and improving our resource base and environment.