Naslov
Status, perspectives and sustainability of cropping systems practices in Croatia

Autori
Jug, Danijel

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
Summer School / Sona Duškova - Brno : Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Agronomy, 2013, 158-166

ISBN
978-80-7375-835-6

Skup
Current Trends in Agronomy for Sustainable Agriculture

Mjesto i datum
Brno, Češka Republika, 09.09.2013. - 13.09.2013

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
Croatia ; crop production ; average yields ; reduced tillage ; conservation tillage

Sažetak
Croatian part of Pannonia region has approximately 48% of agricultural land and 75% of arable land in total land of Croatia. Croatia has favourable agro-climatic conditions which enable diverse agricultural production. In a relatively narrow agricultural area, due to diverse climatic conditions, relief and soil, a large number of agricultural crops, starting from wheat and industrial crops to wine grapes and Mediterranean fruits and vegetables, are successfully cultivated. Croatia has a three main Crop Production Regions (Pannonian, Mountain and Adriatic) and eleven sub regions, and mainly because of that, in different regions are applied different approaches to crop production. The most important region for crop production are Pannonian region with approximately 70% of total Croatian cereal production. Average yields of major crops in Croatia, such as maize, wheat, sunflower, soybean, sugar beat etc., are relatively low. Average crop yields vary from year-to-year mainly because of climate aberrations, but also because of many other problems, which every single or/and all together lead to reduction of production and low productivity, for example: - Irrigated area is less than 1% of the total arable land - Large fragmentation of agricultural land (property - estate) - Not defined Inheritance of farmland (further fragmentation) - A large proportion of the agricultural population in total of active population - Aging of the agricultural households - The low level of applied knowledge of farmers (education) - the traditional approach - Low level of science implementation - Low and inadequate investment Out of the total registered farms, 63% avail of less than three hectares of land, and medium to large farms (from 20 to 300 hectares) avail about 32% of agricultural land. The number and importance of these farms is increasing in the last decade, which applied three main systems of crop production: conventional, organic and integrated production. Soil tillage, as a one of the main technology operations in crop production, in Croatia are mostly conventional. With proper application of appropriate soil tillage systems, yields could be significantly improved. In the Pannonian region, reduced or conservation tillage is not a novelty (the first survey conducted in the mid-70s of last century). Unfortunately, this technology is still used very occasionally and in small areas, with rarely examples in practice, but with tendency to grow in last ten years. Reduced/conservation tillage in most cases apply only from economic reasons (cheaper production) or as an alternative system. Unfortunately, the other positive effects arising from the application of reduced/conservation tillage systems are still in the background, such as: reduction of soil erosion, increase biogenity and quality of soil, less traffic and soil compaction alleviation, nutritional status an quality traits of crops, weed infestation etc. Main reasons for this situation can be divided on two different group: Economic and social development (knowledge, tradition, technics, technology, science implementation etc.) and Agro-ecological conditions (climate, soil, water, crop, biology etc.). In this regard, investigations of conservation/reduced tillage should be extended to all the main soil types and crops, especially to those who are expecting a positive response from conservation tillage.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Poljoprivreda (agronomija)

POVEZANOST RADA