Better Farming - August 2016

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Better Farming August 2016 Farm News First > 27
The agrichemical sector also sees
the farmer as an ideal communicator
in this context. There’s even a
smartphone app now available in
Europe (Agrar Dialog from Bayer)
helping farmers give accurate answers
to the common questions about
pesticides and safe food production
fired by members of the public.
One problem: farmers are busy
folk. Only a limited number have the
time, and communication talents for
that matter, to open up their business-
es and explain why crop spraying is
sometimes necessary, but that excel-
lent environment care is still possible
to ensure safe harvests, intact environ-
ment and clean waterways.
In Europe, ways to engage the less
extroverted farmers in spreading the
message have been found too. Experi-
ence in Germany shows that hundreds
are willing to establish well-signposted
demonstration plots on their land
informing about weeds, pest damage
and alternative control methods. In
2015, some 300 farmers got involved
in this form of field education in just
one of many campaigns. This season,
numbers for this campaign alone have
more than doubled.
Bayer’s “ForwardFarming”
demonstration program, highlighting
the possibilities of the integrated
approach in weed and pest control,
features five farms in Germany alone.
On top of these come another 14
farms labelled as demo centres that
are smaller units also open to the
public. Similar demos of sustainable
farming are open in Belgium and
France. Also planned, by Bayer for
instance, are integrated on-farm crop-
protection demonstrations in Asia
and South America.
FEATURE
Other crop chemical giants are
involved. For instance, BASF has its
“Farm Network” with 12 crop
growing demos in Europe.
How do these platform farms
work? To find out, let’s take a look at
Bayer’s first “ForwardFarming”
demonstration unit in Germany, a
250-acre outfit run by Bernd Olligs
and his family at Damianshof, not
too far from Düsseldorf.
Main crops here include winter
wheat and canola. Alongside profit-
able cropping, an important aim is
encouragement of biological diversi-
ty. The first step in communicating
this aim to the public takes the form
of field margins along roadsides
featuring a combination of annual
and perennial flowering plants.
These are not only colourful, but also
provide feed and shelter for insects,
reptiles, birdlife and small mammals.
For example, wild bee numbers on
every few square yards of these
flower margins have risen to more
than 700 in 2015 from 200 in 2012.
Types of wild bees have also in-
creased, and there are now 14
different species regularly counted in
Damianshof fields. Many of these
bees are important fertilisers of crop
plants. And the beetle banks – fur-
rows of soil to encourage in-field
overwintering of beetles – house
natural crop pest predators that
protect plants naturally. In short: the
mechanics of integrated agriculture
are present in the field margin flower
strips and beetle banks.
Wild flower strips on headlands: useful ecology and good for explaining
sustainable farming.
Experience in
Germany shows
that hundreds are
willing to establish
well-signposted
demonstration plots
on their land.