KAZALCI OKOLJA

Key message
Neutral

Types of farming on agricultural holdings have a direct impact on various processes of soil degradation. These processes can be reduced by soil coverage with crops and harvest residues. Soil coverage primarily depends on the crop rotation. In Slovenia, the coverage in the period 1992–2008 was rather constant (between 62.7 and 73.1%). However, a gradual upward trend in soil coverage has been noted. The storage capacity for organic fertilisers is dominated by a combined storage of solid dung and liquid cattle manure, and most farms provide storage of the latter for more than six months. In 2004 and 2005, we noted an increased number of soil analyses allowing fertilisation based on soil reserves and fertilising plans.


This indicator shows categories of agricultural land and soil coverage in the period 1992-2008, along with distribution of livestock farms in terms of storage capacity for organic manure, and the analysis of soil samples in Slovenia for the period 1995-2005.

Types of farming on agricultural holdings are defined as decisions and practical measures that determine farm management. They include the technology of production like crop rotation, types of soil tillage and the related plant coverage of soil, as well as the types and capacity of storage for organic manure*.

*Definition is taken from: H. P. Piorr, U. Eppler (University of Eberswalde) in the framework of the PAIS project (Proposal on Agri-Environmental-Indicators), financed by ESTAT (from 2000 to 2004).


Charts

Figure KM11-1: Shares of land cover, maize and legume crops in fields
Sources:

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2003-2009

Show data
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
ARABLE LAND AND KITCHEN GARDENS ha 190984 191351 187024 184874 181404 173518 172721 172082 170849 172672
Vegetables ha 3495 3626 3139 2730 2952 2807 2707 2607 2507 2731
Other removed land ha 5115 4802 5390 5112 5090 4583 4383 4336 3579 3564
Arable crops ha 182374 182923 178495 177032 173362 166128 165631 165139 164763 166377
CEREALS ha 110958 110690 103338 100765 99276 95480 95119 91122 101865 103871
Wheat and spelt ha 36413 37173 35876 36779 35159 33431 35025 31615 38256 39335
Rye ha 2639 2635 2101 1925 1938 1345 1227 911 674 745
Barley ha 8146 9093 12652 12719 12543 10828 10871 10935 11570 12664
Oats ha 2376 2388 2590 1866 1888 1817 1793 2405 2251 1917
Triticale ha 0 0 0 368 343 437 478 634 835 1227
Maize for grains ha 61220 59253 49359 46750 47123 47491 45592 44401 48009 47571
OTHER CEREALS (TOTAL) ha 713 630 1371 1004 822 658 639 835 915 1057
Other cereals - millet ha 179 119 423 255 199 160 163 183 226 157
- as the main crop ha 35 48 212 96 88 38 41 80 105 36
- as the successive crop ha 144 71 211 159 111 122 122 103 121 121
Other cereals - buckwheat ha 483 455 720 652 542 445 424 601 632 742
- as the main crop ha 25 44 320 165 113 40 40 90 108 218
- as the successive crop ha 458 411 400 487 429 405 384 511 524 524
Other ha 51 56 228 97 81 53 52 51 57 158
DRIED PULSES (GRAINS) ha 613 602 595 699 668 579 445 312 322 362
Fodder peas and broad beans ha 39 39
- Fodder peas ha 39 43 114 105 73 9 9 9 39 39
- Broad beans ha 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dry beans ha 574 559 481 594 595 570 436 303 309 323
Dried pulses, other ha 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ROOT CROPS ha
Potato ha 12928 12434 10147 10070 9382 9186 9200 9845 8952 7785
Sugar beet ha 3153 3499 4910 6132 6341 6370 7670 10837 8116 4700
Fodder roots ha 10789 11431 11311 9928 8647 6753 6753 4921 4264 3778
INDUSTRIAL CROPS ha 5784 5650 6735 4535 5157 4588 4482 4252 4126 4313
Oil plants ha
- Oil turniprape ha 1978 1654 2278 296 149 54 77 173 122 398
- Sunflowers ha 93 125 134 123 109 9 24 24 24 24
- Soya ha 0 42 10 14 4 4 4 28 28 38
- Pumpkins for oil ha 1232 1295 1961 1815 2596 2249 2311 2176 2147 2122
Hops ha 2398 2466 2292 2205 2233 2163 2010 1803 1766 1682
Other industrial crops ha 44 27 38 69 55 97 44 35 39 53
FODDER FROM ARABLE LAND ha 45678 46533 49157 52231 50166 49026 47635 48061 41423 45857
Annual crops ha
- Silage maize ha 24571 25900 30311 30321 30953 29953 29285 30204 26851 24491
- Other ha 1892 1685 1514 1906 1735 1482 1447 1276 1243 1168
- Fodder dried pulses ha 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Clover and lucerne ha 4048 3985 3658 4237 3713 3885 3584 2997 2863 1892
- Clover ha
- Lucerne ha
Grasses and grass-cover mixtures ha 19532 19228 17652 20442 17917 17172 16785 17860 13899 21739
- Grass-cover mixtures ha 11132 10959 10061 11651 10212 10297 10063 10407 3918 5583
Other fodder from arable land ha 473 485 492 321 307 264 260 286 338 470
Fallow land ha 1983 1975 1975 1812 2171 2082 1993 1904 1038 816
land cover % 66.8 66.8 66.3 68.1 66.5 66.4 66.5 66.2 62.7 65.1
proportion of legume % 8.3 8.2 7.7 9 8.1 8.5 8.2 8 4.2 4.6
share of maize % 44.9 44.5 42.6 41.7 43 44.6 43.4 43.4 43.8 41.7
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
ARABLE LAND AND KITCHEN GARDENS ha 168414 172753 175080 176314 177780 175035 180303
Vegetables ha 3228 3982 3631 2891 3169 2752 3421
Other removed land ha 4062 3192 4733 6372 3690 5651 1672
Arable crops ha 161124 165579 166716 167051 170921 166632 175210
CEREALS ha 98277 99305 99775 94637 95951 98586 105564
Wheat and spelt ha 35729 35585 32385 30059 32083 32040 35413
Rye ha 620 630 1109 1320 766 820 714
Barley ha 12392 13789 15324 15451 17044 18532 19229
Oats ha 2014 1964 1854 2731 2471 2332 1887
Triticale ha 1661 1820 2124 1986 2869 3091 3241
Maize for grains ha 45525 44137 45996 42369 39839 40906 43698
OTHER CEREALS (TOTAL) ha 1473 1380 983 1631 1114 1554 1382
Other cereals - millet ha 276 611 339 627 168 344 247
- as the main crop ha 67 115 277 306 120 113 137
- as the successive crop ha 209 495 62 321 48 231 110
Other cereals - buckwheat ha 1169 689 578 811 547 809 761
- as the main crop ha 241 166 210 222 360 351 323
- as the successive crop ha 928 523 368 589 187 458 438
Other ha 28 80 66 193 399 401 374
DRIED PULSES (GRAINS) ha 512 723 770 2009 3905 2337 1578
Fodder peas and broad beans ha 204 367 419 1521 3434 1971 1212
- Fodder peas ha 204 364 418 1513 3342 1970 1211
- Broad beans ha 0 3 1 8 92 1 1
Dry beans ha 308 351 351 451 448 355 355
Dried pulses, other ha 0 5 0 37 23 11 11
ROOT CROPS ha 5991
Potato ha 7113 6832 6832 6306 5900 5736 4427
Sugar beet ha 4450 5359 4658 5057 6684 0 0
Fodder roots ha 3722 4048 3401 3472 1834 1977 1564
INDUSTRIAL CROPS ha 7633 8234 7363 8050 9034 11255 9816
Oil plants ha 6559 5826 6580 7500 9666 8161
- Oil turniprape ha 2433 2705 1945 2260 2809 5358 4442
- Sunflowers ha 20 107 56 40 156 246 256
- Soya ha 67 40 78 172 226 126 49
- Pumpkins for oil ha 3232 3707 3693 4108 4302 3936 3414
Hops ha 1817 1662 1524 1453 1507 1572 1638
Other industrial crops ha 59 13 13 17 27 17 17
FODDER FROM ARABLE LAND ha 44855 55716 56985 61585 57869 59207 61454
Annual crops ha 31525 29334 33882 28359 28474 27068
- Silage maize ha 23933 30200 27045 31525 27008 26802 26543
- Other ha 1028 1325 2289 2357 1351 1672 525
- Fodder dried pulses ha 0 0 67 184 57 0 0
Clover and lucerne ha 2021 2168 2357 3070 2481 3090 4351
- Clover ha 1214 1000 1445 1010 1312 2109
- Lucerne ha 954 1357 1625 1471 1778 2272
Grasses and grass-cover mixtures ha 22013 22023 25294 24633 26725 27133 29574
- Grass-cover mixtures ha 6903 9387 12087 12059 14652 15841 17964
Other fodder from arable land ha 1038 149 160 222 303 510 161
Fallow land ha 464 320 1288 2108 872 1887 584
land cover % 66.8 68.8 70 69.8 70.6 72.7 73.1
proportion of legume % 5.6 7.1 8.7 9.8 12 12.2 13.3
share of maize % 41.2 43 41.7 41.9 37.6 38.7 39
Figure KM11-2: Distribution of cattle farms by storage capacity for slurry in Slovenia in 2005
Sources:

European Environment Agency, 2005; Central Cattle Breeding Database, Agricultural Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, 2005.

Figure KM11-3: Number of analysed soil samples
Sources:

Agricultural Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, 2006.

Show data
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
BF number 400 400 850 400 300 300 100 100 100 800
ERICO number 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 4000
Slovenian Institute for Hop-Growing and Brewing number 548 923 938 1023 889 1145 1022 1311 1701 8316
CAFS MB number 1354 1300 1575 1399 1227 1359 1606 1670 2841 3515
CAFS MS number 655 754 789 748 682 669 887 875 1544 9918
CAFS NG number 480 320 391 387 354 453 813 903 1038 4480
CAFS PT number 218 295 398 323 398 488 565 1017 1307 4508
AIS number 1427 1095 1463 1072 1230 1222 1212 1978 2716 10755
Sugar Factory Ormož number 1800 1800 1800 2100 1800 1440 1850 1950 2300 5000
Total number 6902 6907 8224 7472 6900 7096 8075 9824 13567 51292
2005
BF number 700
ERICO number 983
Slovenian Institute for Hop-Growing and Brewing number 2424
CAFS MB number 10017
CAFS MS number 8935
CAFS NG number 1909
CAFS PT number 6723
AIS number 7147
Sugar Factory Ormož number 1500
Total number 40338

Goals

·         To expand such types of farming on agricultural holdings that allow preservation and sustainable improvement of soil fertility, prevent erosion and soil compaction, increase the efficiency of plant nutrients, reduce the potential for contamination of the environment by plant protection products and fertilisers, and that are economically efficient;

·         To provide adequate storage capacity and appropriate handling of livestock manure during its storage and use on fields.

 


The types of farming on agricultural holdings have a direct impact on various processes of soil degradation, such as erosion, reduced organic substance in soil, compaction of soil and various types of pollution. These processes are reduced by covering of soil with crops and harvest residues and depend primarily on the structure of the crops in rotation.

Among the categories of agricultural land in Slovenia, permanent grassland prevails, while the share of fields and kitchen gardens is the lowest. Nevertheless, the basic feature of Slovenian agriculture is that it is primarily focused on the production fodder. Maize heavily dominates among forage crops, as its production is the most economical. Narrow crop rotation results in relatively low coverage of land, a very large share of maize and few legumes in crop rotation. All these factors speed up soil degradation processes. The increasing proportion of land coverage and the increasing percentage of legumes in seed composition after 2000 is mainly a consequence of the introduction of certain measures within the Slovenian Agri-Environmental Programme and the Agricultural and Environmental Programme. Narrow crop rotation is a reflection of specialised agricultural production; therefore no significant changes can be expected within a short period of time. From this perspective, the period 1992–2008 can be seen as relatively short.

Adequate storage capacity allows good management of livestock manure and reduces the risk of polluting natural resources. Slovenian regulations stipulate that there must be a 3.5 m2 manure facility with an associated pit of 2 m³ for each livestock unit (LU), or an 8 m³ pit or lagoon for slurry. Among dairy-oriented cattle farms, the dominating types of farms are those where livestock manure is stored as solid dung. According to a survey conducted in 2005, about 85% of farms have manure facilities with slurry pits, 2% have only manure facilities with no pits, and 13% have only slurry.

The storage capacity of the facilities on farms that only have slurry is at the EU average. About 70% of Slovenian farms can store slurry for more than six months. The dominating type of storage area is a concrete pit outside the cowshed (55%), while there are sometimes storage facilities for slurry under the bars in the cowshed (39%). The rest are open overhead tanks and lagoons. In farms with combined storage facilities, the capacity is relatively large, sufficient for more than six months storage of livestock manure – the total capacity is above the EU average. The prevailing type of manure facilities are those with uncovered manure on an impermeable or concrete base (> 90%). As regards the type and capacity of manure facilities, the situation in Slovenia is comparable to the one in Finland and Sweden.

Neither the EU, nor Slovenia has past data relating to slurry and manure storage, so the assessment of trends is not possible. Recently, the number of soil analyses has been increasing, which allows adaptation of fertilising to the needs of the plants. An exceptional increase in these analyses in 2004 and 2005 is due to the introduction of payments for the implementation of the Nitrate Directive, which, among other conditions, prescribes fertilisation based on a soil analysis fertilisation plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Methodology

Data for Slovenia:

Objectives summarized by: the Resolution on the national environmental protection programme 2005-2012 (ReNEAP, OG RS, No 2/06) and the Rural Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia for the period 2007–2013.
Source database or source: Statistical Information (2003-2009), Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia and the Central Cattle Breeding database, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia.
Data administrator: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia.
Data acquisition date for this indicator: 18.11.2009
Methodology and frequency of data collection for the indicator: Calculations for land coverage and the share of maize and legumes in seed composition have been made according to the statistical data on the scope of cultivated crops and vegetables in fields and kitchen gardens. In order to calculate the land coverage, the same method was used as described in the final report for the environmental indicator IRENA 14. The conversion factor is based on the number of days from sowing to harvesting of individual crops and vegetables species, or groups of species. Such estimates are comparable with the estimates from other European countries, but are only available in part (for some countries in the year 2000). The Central Cattle Breeding database at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia covers all information on the origin and yield of cows subject to milk production control (82,597 milking cows in 5,352 dairy farms). In 2005, the database was completed with the results of survey to analyse the status in herds and on farms. Neither the EU nor Slovenia dispose of information on the situation in the past, therefore the assessment of trends is not possible.
Data on the number of soil samples were analysed according to records compiled by Janez Sušin from the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia.
Data processing methodology: In drawing figures, numerical data were used and sometimes converted into shares for an easier display.
Information concerning data quality:
- Advantages and disadvantages of the indicator: As there are no data on the situation in the past, the assessment of trends is not possible.
- Relevance, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty: Reliability of the indicator (archival data): The indicator is reliable.
Uncertainty of the indicator (scenarios/projections): Scenarios and projections are not available.
- Joint assessment (1 = without major comments, 3 = data with reservation):
Relevance: 1
Accuracy: 1
Completeness over time: 2
Completeness over space: 1

Other sources and literature:
- The Central Cattle Breeding database, Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, resumed on 18.11.2009.
- European Environmental Agency, 2005. IRENA Indicator Fact Sheet, IRENA 14 – Farm management practice, 14.1 Soil cover on arable land. 14.3 Types and capacity of storage facilities for organic fertilisers. New Cronos database, Eurostat. H. P. Piorr, U. Eppler (University of Eberswalde) in the framework of the PAIS project (Proposal on Agri-Environmental-Indicators), financed by ESTAT, resumed on 18.11.2009
- Statistical information 2003-2009, Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia, resumed on 18.11.2009

Date of data source summarization