Vea la versión en español a continuación
Farmers and scientists should be able to work together to create practical, new technologies, but itâs easier said than done. So, I was pleased to see a clear example recently, in Peru.
Peruvian agronomists, Edgar Olivera and RaĂșl Ccanto, have been working in the municipality of Quilcas near Huancayo since about 2002. The farmers were poor, and the land couldnât sustain them. Farmers would grow potatoes for a year, followed by some other crop like ulluco, or broad beans or oats. Then the soil fertility would be exhausted and the land would remain fallow for several years, producing a poor-quality fodder that left the cows hungry.
I was lucky enough to go to Quilcas in 2013, nearly ten years ago, when two soil scientists, Steve Vanek and Steve Fonte teamed up with Edgar and RaĂșl and the farmers of Quilcas.
RaĂșl and Edgar convened a community workshop and (thanks to the goodwill that they had established with the farmers) many people from Quilcas attended. Steve and Steve proposed that after farmers harvested their second crop, instead of leaving it fallow, they could plant a mix of pastures: grasses and legumesâannuals and perennials. In the experiment, some of the plots would be fertilized and others would not be. The farmers responded enthusiastically, and they agreed to lend some of their land and their time to the experiments.
Edgar and RaĂșl continued to work in Quilcas and other highland communities. The Steves kept making visits from the universities where they taught in the United States. They often brought graduate students. Meanwhile, after years of hard work and some government support, the community managed to dig an irrigation canal into Quilcas, which was finished in 2018.
I never went back to Quilcas until this year (2022) and I was pleasantly surprised. Many of the farmers in the village of Collpar (part of Quilcas) were using some version of the new fodder mix. After harvesting their potatoes, they plant a second crop. Then they plant a mix of several kinds of grasses (like oats and rye grass) and legumes (such as vetch and alfalfa). The oats and the vetch are annuals, while the rye grass and the alfalfa are perennials. The oats and the vetch are harvested first, while the rye grass and the alfalfa live for another three to five years. A little irrigation helps the plants to thrive, as does a bit of guinea pig manure or some wood ash from the kitchen. The fodder is cut and taken to the animals, which do not graze on the small plots.
Local farmer Marcelo Tiza showed us the rich, dark soil beneath the fodder crops, full of earthworms and other life. Another farmer, Ricardina RodrĂguez explained that the fodder allowed the women to have healthier cows and to start a cheese-making group. Most of the farmers are now raising guinea pigs and dairy cows commercially.
The success with animals is built on the communityâs efforts with irrigation and new fodder systems. Along the way the farmers have adapted new ideas to their own context, selecting the fodder species that work for them, and figuring out how to water, and fertilize the fodder crop, and how to turn it into products they can eat or sell. When farmers and scientists collaborate well, they each contribute ideas. In this case, the agricultural scientists proposed new fodder species, and a new style of mixing them, but they wanted to plant the fodder in large, unirrigated lands at the start of a long period of several yearsâ fallow. The farmers added the idea of irrigating the new crops, fertilizing them, and planting them in small plots. In other words, the collaboration yielded an idea that neither party may have thought of on their own.
âOur original concept was to address the outlying, degradation-prone areas as well,â says Steve Vanek. Unfortunately, the fodder plants that thrived near the farmsteads didnât do well in the distant plots. âFarmers are also sensitive to the idea that for larger, outlying plots erosion and degradation are a real risk. They understood that species such as orchardgrass can complement the slower establishment of native grasses and legumes to better protect the soils.â This is a topic that researchers and farmers hope to tackle in future.
Fodder plants perform well in mixed communities, protecting and supporting each other. In the same way, a mix of farmers, agronomists, and soil scientists can stimulate each other with new ideas, eventually reaching solutions that none of the groups would have thought of alone. Given with slow rhythms of crops and livestock, this meaningful collaboration may take several years to pay off, but it is worth it.
Watch the video
Improved pasture for fertile soil
Further reading
Meza, Katherin, Steven J. Vanek, Yulissa Sueldo, Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, MarĂa Scurrah, and Steven J. Fonte 2022 Grass-legume mixtures show potential to increase above-and belowground biomass production for Andean forage-based fallows. Agronomy 12(1): 142.
Meza, Katherin, Steven J. Vanek, RaĂșl Ccanto Retamozo, MarĂa Scurrah, Edgar Olivera Hurtado, and Steven J. Fonte 2017 Importancia de los servicios ecosistĂ©micos en un paisaje andino de la Sierra Central del PerĂș. Revista LEISA 33(1): 15.
Vanek, Steven J., Katherin Meza, Raul Ccanto, Edgar Olivera, Maria Scurrah, and Steven J. Fonte 2020 Participatory design of improved forage/fallow options across soil gradients with farmers of the Central Peruvian Andes. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 300: 106933.
Related Agro-Insight blogs
Scientific names
Oat (Avena sativa), ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), vetch (Vicia dasycarpa), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata),
Acknowledgements
The visit to Peru to film various farmer-to-farmer training videos, including this one, was made possible with the kind support of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) of the McKnight Foundation. Thanks to Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, Jhon Huaraca and colleagues of the Grupo Yanapai for introducing us to Quilcas and for sharing their knowledge with us. Steve Vanek and Paul Van Mele read and made valuable comments on an earlier version of this story.
CREATIVIDAD COLECTIVA
Jeff Bentley, 21 de agosto del 2022
LĂłgicamente, los agricultores y los cientĂficos deberĂan poder trabajar juntos para crear nuevas tecnologĂas prĂĄcticas, pero es mĂĄs fĂĄcil decirlo que hacerlo. Por eso, me encantĂł ver un claro ejemplo recientemente, en el PerĂș.
Los agrĂłnomos peruanos Edgar Olivera y RaĂșl Ccanto trabajan en el municipio de Quilcas, cerca de Huancayo, desde el 2002. Los agricultores eran pobres y la tierra no podĂa mantenerlos. Los agricultores cultivaban papas un año, seguidas de otro cultivo como el ulluco, las habas o la avena. Luego, la fertilidad del suelo se agotaba y dejaban la tierra en descanso por varios años, produciendo un forraje de mala calidad que dejaba a las vacas flacas.
Tuve la suerte de ir a Quilcas en el 2013, hace casi diez años, cuando dos cientĂficos de suelo, Steve Vanek y Steve Fonte, se unieron con Edgar y RaĂșl y los agricultores de Quilcas.
RaĂșl y Edgar convocaron un taller comunitario y (gracias a la buena voluntad que habĂan establecido con la gente local) y asistieron muchas personas de Quilcas. Steve y Steve propusieron que despuĂ©s de que se recogiera la segunda cosecha, en lugar de dejarla en descanso, plantaran una mezcla de pastos: gramĂneas y leguminosas, anuales y perennes. En el experimento, algunas de las parcelas se abonarĂan y otras no. Los agricultores respondieron con entusiasmo y aceptaron prestar parte de sus tierras y su tiempo para los experimentos.
Edgar y RaĂșl siguieron trabajando en Quilcas y otras comunidades de la Sierra. Los Steve siguieron visitando desde las universidades donde enseñaban en los Estados Unidos. A menudo traĂan estudiantes de posgrado. Mientras tanto, tras años de duro trabajo y algo de apoyo gubernamental, la comunidad logrĂł cavar un canal de riego en Quilcas, que se terminĂł en el 2018.
Yo no volvĂ a Quilcas hasta este año (2022) y era una sorpresa agradable. Muchas de las familias de la comunidad de Collpar (que forma parte de Quilcas) usaban alguna versiĂłn de la nueva mezcla forrajera. DespuĂ©s de cosechar las papas, sembraban otro cultivo. Luego sembraban una mezcla de varios tipos de gramĂneas (como la avena y el ray gras) y leguminosas (como la vicia y la alfalfa). La avena y la vicia son anuales, mientras que el ray gras y la alfalfa son perennes. La avena y la vicia se cosechan primero, mientras que el ray gras y la alfalfa viven de tres a cinco años mĂĄs. Un poco de riego ayuda a las plantas a prosperar, asĂ como un poco de estiĂ©rcol de cuy o algo de ceniza de leña de la cocina. El forraje se corta y se lleva a los animales, que no pastorean en las pequeñas parcelas.
El agricultor local Marcelo Tiza nos mostrĂł la rica tierra negra que hay donde los cultivos de forraje, llena de lombrices y otros seres vivos. Otra agricultora, Ricardina RodrĂguez, explicĂł que el forraje permitiĂł a las mujeres tener vacas mĂĄs sanas y crear un grupo que hace queso. La mayorĂa de los agricultores se dedican ahora a la crĂa comercial de cuyes y vacas lecheras.
El Ă©xito con los animales se basa en los esfuerzos de la comunidad con el riego y los nuevos sistemas de forraje. Ajustando la carga sobre el camino, los agricultores han adaptado las nuevas ideas a su propio contexto, seleccionando las especies de forraje que les funcionan, y averiguando cĂłmo regar y fertilizar el cultivo de forraje, y cĂłmo convertirlo en productos que puedan comer o vender. Cuando los agricultores y los cientĂficos colaboran bien, cada uno aporta ideas. En este caso, los cientĂficos agrĂcolas propusieron nuevas especies forrajeras y un nuevo estilo de mezclarlas, pero querĂan sembrar el forraje en grandes tierras de secano al comienzo de un largo perĂodo de varios años de descanso. Los agricultores añadieron la idea de regar los nuevos cultivos, abonarlos y sembrarlos en parcelas pequeñas. En otras palabras, la colaboraciĂłn dio lugar a una idea que a ninguna de las partes se le habrĂa ocurrido por sĂ sola.
“Nuestro concepto original era abordar tambiĂ©n las zonas lejanas, sujetas a la degradaciĂłn”, dice Steve Vanek. Por desgracia, las plantas forrajeras que prosperaban cerca de las viviendas no funcionaban bien en las parcelas lejanas. “Los agricultores tambiĂ©n son sensibles a la idea de que para las parcelas mĂĄs grandes y alejadas la erosiĂłn y la degradaciĂłn son un riesgo real. Comprendieron que especies como la dactilis pueden complementar el establecimiento mĂĄs lento de las gramĂneas y leguminosas para proteger mejor los suelos.” Este es un tema que investigadores y agricultores esperan abordar en el futuro.
Las plantas forrajeras se comportan bien en comunidades mixtas, protegiĂ©ndose y apoyĂĄndose mutuamente. Del mismo modo, una mezcla de agricultores, agrĂłnomos y cientĂficos de suelo puede estimularse mutuamente con nuevas ideas, llegando finalmente a soluciones que ninguno de los grupos habrĂa pensado por sĂ solo. Dado el lento ritmo de los cultivos y el ganado, esta colaboraciĂłn puede tardar varios años en dar sus frutos, pero vale la pena.
Ver el video
Suelos fértiles con pastos mejorados
Lectura adicional
Meza, Katherin, Steven J. Vanek, Yulissa Sueldo, Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, MarĂa Scurrah, y Steven J. Fonte 2022 Grass-legume mixtures show potential to increase above-and belowground biomass production for Andean forage-based fallows. Agronomy 12(1): 142.
Meza, Katherin, Steven J. Vanek, RaĂșl Ccanto Retamozo, MarĂa Scurrah, Edgar Olivera Hurtado, y Steven J. Fonte 2017 Importancia de los servicios ecosistĂ©micos en un paisaje andino de la Sierra Central del PerĂș. Revista LEISA 33(1): 15.
Vanek, Steven J., Katherin Meza, Raul Ccanto, Edgar Olivera, Maria Scurrah, y Steven J. Fonte 2020 Participatory design of improved forage/fallow options across soil gradients with farmers of the Central Peruvian Andes. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 300: 106933.
Previamente en el blog de Agro-Insight
Mejores agujeros para sembrar pasto
Nombres cientĂficos
Avena (Avena sativa), ray grass (Lolium multiflorum), vicia (Vicia dasycarpa), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), dactilis (Dactylis glomerata)
Agradecimiento
Nuestra visita al PerĂș para filmar varios videos, incluso este, fue posible gracias al generoso apoyo del Programa Colaborativo de InvestigaciĂłn de Cultivos (CCRP) de la FundaciĂłn McKnight. Gracias a Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, Jhon Huaraca y colegas del Grupo Yanapai por presentarnos a Quilcas y por compartir su conocimiento con nosotros. Steve Vanek y Paul Van Mele hicieron comentarios valiosos sobre una versiĂłn previa de este relato.
Vea la versión en español a continuación
Paul and Marcella and I recently met LucĂa Ăvila in Quilcas, a small town in JunĂn, Peru. After 2013, agronomists from an NGO, Yanapai, began to show her and her neighbors how to raise a mix of fodders, including rye grass, alfalfa, clover and others. Animals like the mix more than just one fodder, but the plants need water. With support from the government of Peru, the farmers of Quilcas dug an irrigation canal from some 7 km away, and the people began growing small patches of fodder which they could cut for several years, fertilizing it with ash and manure until the grass aged. Then the fodder patch would be dug up, and planted in potatoes, which prospered in the soil where the grass had been grown.
Every day, doña LucĂa has been able to cut two large blankets full of fodder, enough for a milk cow, or in her case, enough for 200 guinea pigs.
Doña LucĂa had started cautiously. In 2014 she got her first pair of guinea pigs from an NGO called CEDAL. The rodents reproduce pretty fast, so she soon had dozens of the animals. Every year she gets some new males, to avoid inbreeding. She specializes in a large, meaty breed called Mi PerĂș (my Peru), which is white and reddish, like the Peruvian flag.
As doña LucĂa explains, guinea pigs are easy to sell, so they give her a steady income. Plenty of customers come to her house, and she sells the guinea pigs for 20 soles (over $5). She now has 200 guinea pigs.
She says that before she got the big, red-and-white guinea pigs, she had some other which she describes as âsmall, like rats, and the color of rats.â She adds âWhen you have grass you can have nice, fat guinea pigs, and you can sell them and have a little money. You can improve your standard of living.â While guinea pigs are thought of as pets in many northern countries, in places like Peru they are small livestock. They are easy to raise at home, in the courtyard, under the shade of a porch.
Formal development is often criticized as being prone to failure. So, itâs only fair to recognize its successes. In this case, three different projects happened to come together from different institutions to ensure that people not only had fodder, but water to irrigate it, and guinea pigs to eat it. The innovations worked together, even if they werenât designed that way.
Acknowledgements
The visit to Peru to film various farmer-to-farmer training videos, including this one, was made possible with the kind support of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) of the McKnight Foundation. Thanks to Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, Jhon Huaraca and colleagues of the Grupo Yanapai for introducing us to Quilcas and for sharing their knowledge with us. RaĂșl Ccanto and Paul Van Mele read and made valuable comments on an earlier version of this story.
200 CUYES
Jeff Bentley, 24 de julio del 2022
Hace poco, Paul, Marcella y yo conocimos a LucĂa Ăvila en Quilcas, un pequeño pueblo de JunĂn, PerĂș. A partir de 2013, los agrĂłnomos de una ONG, Yanapai, empezaron a enseñarle a ella y a sus vecinos cĂłmo sembrar una mezcla de forrajes, que incluye ray gras, alfalfa, trĂ©bol y otros. A los animales les gusta mĂĄs la mezcla que un solo forraje, pero las plantas necesitan agua. Con el apoyo del gobierno de PerĂș, los campesinos de Quilcas cavaron un canal de riego a unos 7 km de distancia, y la gente empezĂł a cultivar pequeñas parcelas de 200 metros cuadrados, que podĂan cortar durante varios años, abonĂĄndolas con ceniza y estiĂ©rcol hasta que la hierba envejeciera, y se pudiera desenterrar, plantando papas, que prosperaron en la tierra donde habĂa crecido la hierba.
Doña LucĂa descubriĂł que cada dĂa podĂa cortar dos grandes mantas llenas de forraje, suficiente para una vaca lechera, o en su caso, suficiente para 200 cuyes.
Doña LucĂa habĂa empezado con cautela. En 2014 consiguiĂł su primer par de cuyes de una ONG llamada CEDAL. Los roedores se reproducen bastante rĂĄpido, asĂ que pronto tuvo decenas de estos animales. Cada año consigue algunos machos nuevos, para evitar cruzar animales parientes. EstĂĄ especializada en una raza grande y carnosa llamada Mi PerĂș, que es blanca y rojiza, como la bandera peruana.
Como explica doña LucĂa, los cuyes son fĂĄciles de vender, por lo que le dan unos ingresos constantes. A su casa llegan muchos clientes y vende los cuyes a 20 soles (mĂĄs de 5 dĂłlares). Ahora tiene 200 cuyes.
Dice que antes de tener los cuyes grandes, rojos y blancos, tenĂa otros que describe como “pequeños, como ratas, y del color de las ratas”. Añade: “Cuando tienes pasto puedes tener cuyes bonitas y gordas, y puedes venderlas y tener un poco de dinero. Puedes mejorar tu nivel de vida”. Mientras que en muchos paĂses del norte se considera a los cuyes como mascotas, en lugares como PerĂș son ganado menor. Viven en el corredor de la casa de la gente, y son fĂĄciles de criar.
A menudo se critica el desarrollo formal por siempre fracasar. Es importante reconocer tambiĂ©n sus Ă©xitos. En este caso, se unieron varios esfuerzos para garantizar que la gente no sĂłlo tuviera forraje, sino tambiĂ©n agua para regarlo y cuyes para alimentarlos. Las innovaciones funcionaron conjuntamente, aĂșn si no se diseñaron juntos.
Agradecimiento
Nuestra visita al PerĂș para filmar varios videos, incluso este, fue posible gracias al generoso apoyo del Programa Colaborativo de InvestigaciĂłn de Cultivos (CCRP) de la FundaciĂłn McKnight. Gracias a Edgar Olivera, RaĂșl Ccanto, Jhon Huaraca y colegas del Grupo Yanapai por presentarnos a Quilcas y por compartir su conocimiento con nosotros. RaĂșl Ccanto y Paul Van Mele hicieron comentarios valiosos sobre una versiĂłn previa de este relato.
Nederlandse versie hieronder
The European Union, along with most countries across the world, has agreed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to curb the negative effects of climate change, which are already apparent. Under the Green Deal, the EU aims to be climate neutral by 2050. Besides investments in more sustainable energy production and consumption (transport, housing âŠ), further improvements are also needed in the food sector. But there is little consensus on how farmers should be supported.
Looking at the demographic trends in rural Europe, the proposed solutions will need to consider farm size. From 2005 to 2013, across Europe the number of farms with less than 50 hectares of land steadily decreased, while those between 50 and 100 hectares remained more or less stable. Those over 100 hectares slightly increased. Yet more than half of the farming population in Europe is older than 55 years (EuroStat, 2021). Meanwhile, the younger farmers have invested in labour-saving equipment, for example to work the larger holdings, acquiring high debts along the way. Further investment in climate mitigation will require proper support so that when the older farmers retire, the next generation will be able cope with the ever-increasing pressure of bank loans.
The war in Ukraine has triggered a sharp rise in the price of artificial fertilizers, making chemical-based farming less profitable. It is estimated that globally only one third of the applied nitrogen from chemical fertilizers is used by crops. Combined with the mounting pressure on farmers to help mitigate climate change by reducing carbon and nitrogen emissions, farmers are keen to optimise the use of animal manure.
While animal and human manure has been used to keep soils fertile for thousands of years, something has gone wrong in the recent past.
In a German documentary on the Aztecs, called Children of the Sun, ethnologist Antje Gunsenheimer describes some ancient human manure management. The central market in TenochtitlĂĄn, the Aztec capital, had public toilets where urine and faeces were collected separately in clay pots. Dung traders sold the composted dung as fertilizer, while the urine was used for dying fabric and leather tanning.
From the earliest days of farming in Europe, animals were kept on deep bedding of straw. But nowadays most animals in Europe are kept on a metal grid, and the mix of urine and dung is collected in large, underground reservoirs. When excrement and urine from cows or pigs mix, a lot of methane gas (CH4) and ammonia (NH4) is produced. The old practices of using straw as bedding, as well as innovative designs to separate the dung form the urine, is getting some renewed attention in livestock farming, because when separated, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by up to 75%.
Bedding with crop residues such as wheat straw may provide substantial benefits.
Engineers in the Netherlands, the USA, Israel and various other countries are researching how best to adjust modern livestock sheds. Some promising examples include free walk housing systems that operate with composting bedding material or artificial permeable floors as lying and walking areas. Other sustainable techniques that are being explored include the CowToilet, which separates faeces and urine. As converting housing systems may be costly and therefore only adopted slowly by farmers, it is important to also experiment with better ways of applying liquid manure.
In modern livestock systems, urine and manure are mixed with the water used to wash the pens. Getting rid of this slurry, or liquid manure, has become a main environmental concern. When liquid manure is applied to the soil, much of the nitrogen evaporates as nitrous oxide or N2O, a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Another fraction is converted to nitrates (NO3), which seep through the soil and pollute the ground water. While manure used to be a crucial resource, it has now become a waste product and an expense for farmers.
Making better use of animal waste will be crucial for the future of our food. One key factor is the lack of soil organic matter and good microbes, that can help capture nitrogen and release this more slowly to benefit crops.
Solutions that are financially feasible for farmers will require the best of ideas, with inputs from farmers, soil scientists, microbiologists, ecologists, chemical and mechanical engineers, as well as social scientists.
Practices that help to build up soil carbon will be crucial to reduce the environmental impact of animal manure and fertilizers. Ploughing is known to have a detrimental effect on soil organic matter, as it induces oxidation of soil carbon. Reduced tillage or zero tillage for crop cultivation, and regenerative farming to make animal farming more sustainable, has been promoted and used in the USA and other parts of the world, and could be explored more intensively in Europe.
Also, there will be a need to revive soil micro-organisms, as these have been seriously affected by the use of agrochemicals and the reduced availability of soil organic matter. The expensive machines that are currently used by service providers to spread or inject liquid manure in farmersâ fields could equally be used to inject solutions with good micro-organisms that will help to capture nitrogen to then release it to crops, and build up a healthy soil.
Human creativity will be required to help come up with solutions that are economically feasible for farmers in the near future. To make this happen as fast as possible, more investments are required in research that truly addresses the fundamentals of the problems. Still, far too much public money is invested in research on new crop varieties, livestock feed, and the application of agrochemicals, all of which are to the benefit of large corporations.
Photo credit: The photo on the straw bedding is by Herbert Wiggerman.
More reading
Galama, P. J., Ouweltjes, W., Endres, M. I., Sprecher, J. R., Leso, L., Kuipers, A., KlopÄiÄ, M. 2020. Symposium review: Future of housing for dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science, 103(6), pp. 5759-5772. Available at: Â https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030220302988
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Inspiring platforms
Access Agriculture: hosts over 220 training videos in over 90 languages on a diversity of crops and livestock, sustainable soil and water management, basic food processing, etc. Each video describes underlying principles, as such encouraging people to experiment with new ideas.
EcoAgtube: a social media video platform where anyone from across the globe can upload their own videos related to natural farming and circular economy.
De stikstofcrisis
De Europese Unie heeft, samen met de meeste landen in de wereld, afgesproken de uitstoot van broeikasgassen te verminderen om de negatieve gevolgen van de klimaatverandering, die nu al merkbaar zijn, te beperken. In het kader van de Green Deal streeft de EU ernaar tegen 2050 klimaatneutraal te zijn. Naast investeringen in duurzamere energieproductie en -consumptie (vervoer, huisvesting …) zijn ook verdere verbeteringen nodig in de voedselsector. Maar er is weinig consensus over hoe landbouwers moeten worden ondersteund.
Als we kijken naar de demografische tendensen op het Europese platteland, moet bij de voorgestelde oplossingen rekening worden gehouden met de omvang van de landbouwbedrijven. Tussen 2005 en 2013 is in heel Europa het aantal landbouwbedrijven met minder dan 50 hectare gestaag gedaald, terwijl het aantal bedrijven tussen 50 en 100 hectare min of meer stabiel is gebleven. Het aantal bedrijven met meer dan 100 hectare is licht gestegen. Toch is meer dan de helft van de landbouwbevolking in Europa ouder dan 55 jaar (EuroStat, 2021). Ondertussen hebben de jongere boeren geĂŻnvesteerd in arbeidsbesparende apparatuur, bijvoorbeeld om de grotere bedrijven te bewerken, waarbij ze onderweg hoge schulden hebben gemaakt. Voor verdere investeringen in klimaatmitigatie is goede ondersteuning nodig, zodat wanneer de oudere boeren met pensioen gaan, de volgende generatie het hoofd kan bieden aan de almaar toenemende druk van bankleningen.
De oorlog in OekraĂŻne heeft geleid tot een sterke stijging van de prijs van kunstmest, waardoor landbouw op basis van chemische stoffen minder winstgevend is geworden. Bovendien wordt naar schatting wereldwijd slechts een derde van de stikstof uit kunstmest door de gewassen gebruikt. In combinatie met de toenemende druk op landbouwers om de klimaatverandering te helpen beperken door de uitstoot van koolstof en stikstof te verminderen, zijn landbouwers erop gebrand het gebruik van dierlijke mest te optimaliseren.
Hoewel dierlijke en menselijke mest al duizenden jaren wordt gebruikt om de bodem vruchtbaar te houden, is er in het recente verleden iets misgegaan.
In een Duitse documentaire over de Azteken, genaamd Children of the Sun, beschrijft etnologe Antje Gunsenheimer hoe men in de oudheid met menselijke mest omging. De centrale markt in TenochtitlĂĄn, de Azteekse hoofdstad, had openbare toiletten waar urine en uitwerpselen gescheiden werden opgevangen in kleipotten. Mesthandelaren verkochten de gecomposteerde mest als meststof, terwijl de urine werd gebruikt voor het verven van stoffen en het looien van leer.
Vanaf de begindagen van de landbouw in Europa werden dieren gehouden op een diep strobed. Maar tegenwoordig worden de meeste dieren in Europa op een metalen rooster gehouden, en wordt het mengsel van urine en mest opgevangen in grote, ondergrondse reservoirs. Wanneer uitwerpselen en urine van koeien of varkens zich vermengen, ontstaat er veel methaangas (CH4) en ammoniak (NH4).
De oude praktijk van het gebruik van stro als strooisel en innovatieve ontwerpen om de mest van de urine te scheiden, krijgt hernieuwde aandacht in de veehouderij, omdat bij scheiding de uitstoot van broeikasgassen tot 75% kan worden verminderd.
Bedding with crop residues such as wheat straw may provide substantial benefits.
Ingenieurs in Nederland, de VS, Israël en diverse andere landen onderzoeken hoe moderne stallen het best kunnen worden aangepast. Enkele veelbelovende voorbeelden zijn huisvestingssystemen met vrije uitloop die werken met composterend strooiselmateriaal of kunstmatige doorlaatbare vloeren als lig- en loopruimte. Andere duurzame technieken die worden onderzocht zijn onder meer het CowToilet, dat uitwerpselen en urine scheidt. Aangezien het ombouwen van stalsystemen kostbaar kan zijn en daarom slechts langzaam door boeren wordt overgenomen, is het belangrijk om ook te experimenteren met betere manieren om vloeibare mest toe te dienen.
In moderne veeteeltsystemen worden urine en mest vermengd met het water dat wordt gebruikt om de boxen te wassen. Het wegwerken van deze gier, of vloeibare mest, is een belangrijk milieuprobleem geworden. Wanneer vloeibare mest op de bodem wordt gebracht, verdampt een groot deel van de stikstof in de vorm van stikstofoxide of N2O, een broeikasgas dat 300 keer krachtiger is dan koolstofdioxide. Een ander deel wordt omgezet in nitraten (NO3), die door de bodem sijpelen en het grondwater verontreinigen. Terwijl mest vroeger een cruciale hulpbron was, is het nu een afvalproduct en een kostenpost voor de landbouwers geworden.
Een beter gebruik van dierlijk afval zal van cruciaal belang zijn voor de toekomst van ons voedsel. Een belangrijke factor is het gebrek aan organisch materiaal en goede microben in de bodem, die kunnen helpen stikstof vast te leggen en langzamer vrij te geven ten voordele van de gewassen.
Om oplossingen te vinden die voor de landbouwers financieel haalbaar zijn, zullen de beste ideeën moeten worden uitgewisseld, met bijdragen van landbouwers, bodemwetenschappers, microbiologen, ecologen, chemische en mechanische ingenieurs en sociale wetenschappers.
Praktijken die helpen bij de opbouw van koolstof in de bodem zullen van cruciaal belang zijn om de milieueffecten van dierlijke mest en meststoffen te verminderen. Het is bekend dat ploegen een nadelig effect heeft op het organisch materiaal in de bodem, aangezien het de oxidatie van koolstof in de bodem induceert. Verminderde grondbewerking of nulgrondbewerking voor de teelt van gewassen, en regeneratieve landbouw om de veehouderij duurzamer te maken, worden in de VS en andere delen van de wereld gestimuleerd en toegepast, en zouden in Europa intensiever kunnen worden onderzocht.
Ook zullen de micro-organismen in de bodem nieuw leven moeten worden ingeblazen, aangezien deze ernstig zijn aangetast door het gebruik van landbouwchemicaliën en de verminderde beschikbaarheid van organisch materiaal in de bodem. De dure machines die momenteel door dienstverleners worden gebruikt om vloeibare mest over de akkers van de landbouwers uit te strooien of te injecteren, zouden ook kunnen worden gebruikt om oplossingen met goede micro-organismen te injecteren die stikstof helpen vastleggen om het vervolgens aan de gewassen af te geven, en een gezonde bodem op te bouwen.
Menselijke creativiteit zal nodig zijn om in de nabije toekomst oplossingen te vinden die economisch haalbaar zijn voor landbouwers. Om dit zo snel mogelijk te laten gebeuren, zijn meer investeringen nodig in onderzoek dat de fundamentele problemen echt aanpakt. Nog steeds wordt veel te veel overheidsgeld geïnvesteerd in onderzoek naar nieuwe gewasvariëteiten, veevoer en de toepassing van landbouwchemicaliën, die allemaal in het voordeel zijn van grote bedrijven.
Nederlandse versie hieronder
While making farmer training videos, we always learn a lot from rural people. As we spend more days in the same village, farmers get to know us better and share interesting insights, allowing us to adjust and add depth to the video.
For a video on rotational grazing, we spent a week in Canrey Chico, in Ancash, Peru. It was a rich experience. Yet, the greatest insight came from a farmer researcher at the other side of the planet, in Australia.
Pastures need to rest so they can recuperate, but they canât rest if livestock are grazing on them all the time. Overgrazing has become a problem in many parts of the world. With the changing climate, there is often less water available for pasture. So, in the video we say that now more than ever, grazing lands need to rest for the forage plants to recover.
A local farmer, Robert Balabarca, told us: âWhen we have an excess of animals in just one place, the next season the pasture will not grow back the way it should. It is less, and the grass lasts for less time.â This is indeed a sign of overgrazing, with consequences stretching into the following seasons.
As the days passed, we realized we could still not say exactly how one can know when a pasture has been sufficiently grazed.
When interviewing Delia RodrĂguez on camera, she said: âIn case the animals have grazed too much, the grass seed may all be eaten, and the grass takes longer to grow back. That is why we donât want to overgraze.â
I remembered a webinar I attended during covid where a farmer talked about regenerative grazing, a system of managing grazing regimes in a way that plants are given the time needed to recover and store the most carbon in the soil. A few months ago, I also go to know André Leu, former director of IFOAM Organics International, who in the meantime had created a network organisation called Regeneration International. André runs his own cattle farm in Australia, so I decided to contact him and ask for advice.
When André wrote back, he shared an idea that was the missing part of our puzzle. We had not appreciated how grazing the above-ground part of the plant, the roots develop more slowly or may stop growing all together. This piece of scientific background information will surely help farmers as they decide when to move animals to a new paddock.
To curb global warming, we humans must store carbon in the soil, and for this we need as many active roots as possible. When plants absorb carbon from their air through photosynthesis, one third of it is released as sugars through the roots to feed soil microorganisms. These in turn supply nutrients to the plants. Well-managed pastures help soils to store carbon, retain water and nutrients.
At Agro-Insight, our videos combine the best of both worlds and merge scientific with farmer knowledge. In this case, we were fortunate to know a helpful scientist who is also a farmer himself.
Related Agro-Insight blogs
Acknowledgements
The visit to Peru to film various farmer-to-farmer training videos with farmers like doña Delia and don Robert was made possible with the kind support of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) of the McKnight Foundation. Thanks to Vidal Rondån of the Mountain Institute for introducing us to the community.
Videos on how to improve livestock
See the many training videos on livestock hosted on the Access Agriculture video platform.
Rotatiebegrazing
Bij het maken van boerentrainingsvideo’s leren we altijd veel van de mensen op het platteland. Naarmate we meer dagen in hetzelfde dorp doorbrengen, leren de boeren ons beter kennen en delen ze interessante inzichten, waardoor we de video kunnen aanpassen en uitdiepen.
Voor een video over rotatiebegrazing brachten we een week door in Canrey Chico, in Ancash, Peru. Het was een rijke ervaring. Maar het grootste inzicht kwam van een boerenonderzoeker aan de andere kant van de planeet, in Australië.
Weiden moeten rusten zodat ze kunnen herstellen, maar ze kunnen niet rusten als er voortdurend vee op graast. Overbegrazing is in vele delen van de wereld een probleem geworden. Door het veranderende klimaat is er vaak minder water beschikbaar voor weiland. Daarom zeggen we in de video dat weidegronden nu meer dan ooit rust nodig hebben zodat de voedergewassen zich kunnen herstellen.
Een lokale boer, Robert Balabarca, vertelde ons: “Wanneer we een teveel aan dieren op Ă©Ă©n plaats hebben, groeit de weide het volgende seizoen niet meer zoals het zou moeten. Het is minder, en het gras gaat minder lang mee.” Dit is inderdaad een teken van overbegrazing, met gevolgen die zich tot in de volgende seizoenen uitstrekken.
Naarmate de dagen verstreken, beseften we dat we nog steeds niet precies konden zeggen hoe men kan weten wanneer een weide genoeg begraasd is.
Toen we Delia RodrĂguez voor de camera interviewden, zei ze: “Als de dieren te veel hebben gegraasd, kan het graszaad allemaal zijn opgegeten en duurt het langer voordat het gras weer aangroeit. Daarom willen we niet overbegrazen.”
Ik herinnerde me een webinar dat ik bijwoonde tijdens covid waar een boer sprak over regeneratieve begrazing, een systeem om begrazingsregimes zo te beheren dat planten de tijd krijgen die nodig is om zich te herstellen en de meeste koolstof in de bodem op te slaan. Een paar maanden geleden heb ik ook André Leu leren kennen, voormalig directeur van IFOAM Organics International, die intussen een netwerkorganisatie had opgericht onder de naam Regeneration International. André runt zijn eigen veehouderij in Australië, dus besloot ik contact met hem op te nemen en hem om advies te vragen.
Toen André terugschreef, deelde hij een idee dat het ontbrekende deel van onze puzzel vormde. We hadden niet begrepen dat door het grazen van het bovengrondse deel van de plant, de wortels zich langzamer ontwikkelen of zelfs helemaal stoppen met groeien. Dit stukje wetenschappelijke achtergrondinformatie zal boeren zeker helpen wanneer ze beslissen wanneer ze hun dieren naar een nieuwe weide moeten verplaatsen.
Om de opwarming van de aarde tegen te gaan, moeten wij mensen koolstof in de bodem opslaan, en daarvoor hebben we zoveel mogelijk actieve wortels nodig. Wanneer planten via fotosynthese koolstof uit de lucht opnemen, komt een derde daarvan als suikers via de wortels vrij om micro-organismen in de bodem te voeden. Deze leveren op hun beurt voedingsstoffen aan de planten. Goed beheerde weilanden helpen de bodem koolstof op te slaan en water en voedingsstoffen vast te houden.
Bij Agro-Insight combineren we in onze video’s het beste van twee werelden en combineren we wetenschappelijke kennis met boerenkennis. In dit geval hadden we het geluk een behulpzame wetenschapper te kennen die zelf ook boer is.
Vea la versión en español a continuación
Ideas for agricultural development are a bit like fads. They come and then fade away, for no apparent reason. One such idea was the local agricultural research committee, or CIAL, which has been largely ignored in recent years. But where the CIAL has survived, it is still be quite functional. I mentioned in a previous blog (The committee of the commons) that the CIAL has led to lots of innovation in the community of Cordillera Blanca, in the Peruvian Andes, where this committee continues to function after more than 20 years.
Every functional innovation we saw in the community seemed to be related to the CIAL. For example, Paul and Marcella and I met community member Trinidad LeĂłn (see Paulâs blog Farming as a lifestyle) while she was herding her sheep home through the bofedales, the high Andean wetlands.
We found a place to get out of the wind behind doña Trinidadâs stone cottage, where she explained that 30 years ago, overgrazing was a problem in the community. Back then, there was no grass like what we see now. This surprised me, because this rocky pasture at 4000 meters above sea level was thick with native needle grass when we saw it. Rotational grazing, moving the animals to let the pasture rest, had allowed this meadow to recover.
Rotational grazing is just one of the ideas that the CIAL and the community have experimented with over the years, working with different extensionists from The Mountain Institute, an NGO.
Doña Trinidad was not a member of the CIAL, but her husband was, and she knew well what the committee researched. Doña Trinidad explained how an agronomist named Doris Chåvez worked with the community for several years, starting in about 2013, to discuss ways to improve pasture.
Previously, the couple would move their corral periodically, and allow it to seed itself in native pasture. Through their interaction with the CIAL, they saw the opportunity to use the corral as a place to grow fodder, not just to allow pasture to grow naturally. At planting time, they plow the soil and plant it with oats or barley, which they cut to feed to their animals. Later, the harvested barley patch grows into natural pasture, which the sheep graze. The following year, the land can be fenced within a corral again, to gather manure. So there is a three-year rotation: corral, oats and barley, pasture, before starting over again with the moveable corrals.
The CIAL is a committee of farmers, men and women, who test new ideas and share the results back with their community. The farmers themselves adapt the ideas, and from what we saw, they can be very successful. The oats and barley field is a healthy, emerald-green patch growing on the site of last yearâs corral. Doña Trinidad takes a sickle and cuts an armful to feed to her cattle later that afternoon.
Agroecology, with its emphasis on co-construction of knowledge, is now gaining importance across the world. Researchers today might take inspiration from the CIAL, as a way to stimulate community research, especially for agroecology.
Further reading
Ashby, Jacqueline Anne 2000 Investing in farmers as researchers: Experience with local agricultural research committees in Latin America. Cali, Colombia: CIAT.
Acknowledgements
The visit to Peru to film various farmer-to-farmer training videos with farmers like doña Trinidad was made possible with the kind support of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) of the McKnight Foundation. Thanks to Vidal Rondån of the Mountain Institute for introducing us to the community.
Video on another idea for research in rural communities
Jeff Bentley, 5 de junio del 2022
PASTO MOVIBLE
Las ideas para el desarrollo agrĂcola son un poco como las modas. Vienen y luego se desaparecen, aparentemente sin razĂłn. Una de esas ideas fue el ComitĂ© de InvestigaciĂłn AgrĂcola Local (CIAL), que ha sido ignorado en los Ășltimos años. Pero donde el CIAL ha sobrevivido, sigue siendo bastante funcional. En un blog anterior (ComitĂ© campesino) mencionĂ© que el CIAL ha dado lugar a muchas innovaciones en la comunidad de Cordillera Blanca, en los Andes peruanos, donde este comitĂ© sigue funcionando despuĂ©s de mĂĄs de 20 años.
Todas las innovaciones funcionales que vimos en la comunidad parecĂan estar relacionadas con el CIAL. Por ejemplo, Paul, Marcella y yo conocimos a Trinidad LeĂłn, miembro de la comunidad (vĂ©ase el blog de Paul Farming as a lifestyle), mientras arreaba sus ovejas a casa a travĂ©s de los bofedales, los humedales altoandinos.
Encontramos un lugar para salir del viento detrĂĄs de la cabaña de piedra de doña Trinidad, donde nos explicĂł que hace 30 años el sobrepastoreo era un problema en la comunidad. En aquel entonces, no habĂa pasto como el que vemos ahora. Esto me sorprendiĂł, porque este pasto rocoso a 4.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar estaba lleno de ichu nativo cuando lo vimos. El pastoreo rotativo, que consiste en mover a los animales para dejar descansar el pasto, habĂa permitido que esta pradera se recuperara.
El pastoreo rotativo es sólo una de las ideas que el CIAL y la comunidad han experimentado a lo largo de los años, trabajando con diferentes extensionistas del Instituto de Montaño, una ONG.
Doña Trinidad no era miembro del CIAL, pero su marido sĂ era, y ella conocĂa bien lo que investigaba el comitĂ©. Doña Trinidad explicĂł cĂłmo una agrĂłnoma llamada Doris ChĂĄvez trabajĂł con la comunidad durante varios años, a partir de 2013, para discutir formas de mejorar los pastos.
Anteriormente, la pareja movĂa su corral periĂłdicamente, y permitĂa que se auto-sembrara en pasto nativo. A travĂ©s de su interacciĂłn con el CIAL, vieron la oportunidad de usar el corral como un lugar para cultivar forraje, no sĂłlo para permitir que los pastos crezcan de forma natural. En la Ă©poca de siembra, aran la tierra y la siembran con avena o cebada, que cortan para alimentar a sus animales. MĂĄs tarde, la parcela de cebada cosechada se convierte en un pasto natural que las ovejas pastan. Al año siguiente, la tierra puede volver a cercarse dentro de un corral, para recoger el estiĂ©rcol. AsĂ pues, hay una rotaciĂłn de tres años: corral, avena y cebada, pastos, antes de volver a empezar con los corrales mĂłviles.
El CIAL es un comité de agricultores, hombres y mujeres, que prueban nuevas ideas y comparten los resultados con su comunidad. Los propios agricultores adaptan las ideas y, por lo que vimos, pueden tener mucho éxito. El campo de avena y cebada es una parcela sana, una mancha verde esmeralda que crece en el lugar del corral del año pasado. Doña Trinidad toma una hoz y corta un bulto para alimentar a su ganado esa misma tarde.
La agroecologĂa, con su Ă©nfasis en la construcciĂłn conjunta del conocimiento, estĂĄ ganando importancia en todo el mundo. Los investigadores de hoy podrĂan inspirarse en el CIAL, como forma de estimular la investigaciĂłn comunitaria, especialmente para la agroecologĂa.
Lectura adicional
Ashby, Jacqueline Anne 2000 Investing in farmers as researchers: Experience with local agricultural research committees in Latin America. Cali, Colombia: CIAT.
Agradecimientos
Nuestra visita al PerĂș para filmar varios videos agricultor-a-agricultor con agricultoras como doña Trinidad fue posible gracias al generoso apoyo del Programa Colaborativo de InvestigaciĂłn de Cultivos (CCRP) de la FundaciĂłn McKnight. Gracias a Vidal RondĂĄn del Instituto Montaño por presentarnos a la comunidad.
Video sobre otra idea para la investigaciĂłn con las comunidades rurales
