International competitiveness and further development of production systems in arable farming

Background and Objective

In this project, the three primary agronomic issues of intensive wheat production systems for selected case-studies are identified and prioritized together with primary stakeholders. Further, the influence of the challenges on farm economics will be analyzed. Presumably, both increasing resistances and nutrient leaching will play a formative role in the analysis. On that basis, technical and crop management options which can help to sustainably overcome challenges identified will be evaluated. Besides the development of feasible adoption strategies, a second objective of the project is to test whether such ex-ante evaluation of adaptation options can be used to prepare and guide practical production engineering research more efficiently.

Approach

Based on a list of key-criteria, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Canadian prairies are used as case studies. The key questions to be addressed are:

1. Which are the main production related challenges and what influence do they exert on the production system?
2. Which legal reforms require an adaptation of the production system in the mid-term?
3. Which innovations (technology, processes, crops) make it possible to overcome the previously identified challenges and operate profitably at the same time?

Data and Methods

Economic data and production system challenges will be gathered using the typical farm approach of the agri benchmark CashCrop network. Potential adaption strategies and innovations from science, industry and practice are integrated based on literature research, expert interviews, and workshops. Identification and evaluation of feasible strategies is done in collaboration with the focus groups mentioned above.