Switzerland
June 2022
Farmers increasingly need to integrate biodiversity into their crop-growing. An ideal way is to plant flowering strips around arable fields to give homes to everything from pollinators to larger species. But often farmers are reluctant to take land out of production, fearing they will lose profit.
In Europe, though, the latest policies are designed to reward farmers for caring for the environment and taking action on climate change. The European Green Deal stresses the need to restore biodiversity and the decline of pollinators. The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plans to restore biodiversity through eco-schemes.
Already some European countries offer environmental schemes with subsidies for creating new habitats through flowering field margins, among other techniques.
The big question for farmers is: “Do flowering strips pay off on my farm?” “It is a simple question which so far was difficult to answer,” says Patrick Sheridan, Digital Sustainability Head, Syngenta Group. To aid farmers in getting a realistic answer, Syngenta has developed a profitability calculator – “a great example of how our digital sustainability products meet farmers where they are,” adds Sheridan. “Intuitive tools that solve practical problems.”
The calculator was developed with farmers in the UK, who can use it free. It shows them the return on investment per hectare when they sow Syngenta’s Operation Pollinator flower seed mixtures at field margins. The calculator takes into account a crop yield loss at the edge, any environmental subsidy schemes available, yields and prices - drawn from the European eurostat database – and contractor costs. Farmers can find not only the current return on investment, but also what would happen if crop values declined or if costs continued to escalate.
The challenge gets easier
Mark Hall, Head of Sustainable and Responsible Business EAME, sums up the value: “The economic challenge of balancing commercial farming with enhancing the environment gets easier,” he says. “Operation Pollinator has shown great environmental results over many years globally and now we can help farmers assess where it’s economically viable to add further strips to their fields. It’s part of our continued and increasing investment in sustainable farming practices.”
It doesn’t stop there. Syngenta wants to bring the calculator to other European countries that have or will have a subsidy scheme under the new CAP, and where the Operation Pollinator seed mix is eligible for this subsidy.
“It proves and raises awareness that it is possible for farmers to make sustainability profitable. It’s also a useful tool for authorities to understand the range of subsidies for the farmer as a reward to benefit biodiversity,” says Vasileios Vasileiadis, Syngenta’s Biodiversity Lead for EAME.
Check out the calculator
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