Suchergebnisse

Work life relevance is emphasized these days in higher education. In addition to domain-specific knowledge and skills, students should learn general work life competencies, such as team work, networking, project work and digital skills. At the University of Helsinki, agricultural science students' work life skills are promoted in a project course. The 5 ETCS course has been held for B.Sc. and M.Sc. students in 2016 and 2017. The course in 2016 had eight students and three supervisors in two project teams; the course in 2017 had 15 students in four teams, and six supervisors (university teachers). Each team had its own external client from businesses and national government departments. The course implementation was examined from a design-based research approach. The aim of the study was to evaluate the summative evaluations made by all groups participating in the course, receive research-based knowledge about improving the course design further, and to try out instruments and methods that can be used in educational practice to assess participant satisfaction and competence development during courses about work life. An online questionnaire was used to examine the evaluations of the supervisors and students about the success of the course and the competencies gained by the students (Collaborative Knowledge Practices Questionnaire, CKP). Interviews were used to examine the views of the clients concerning the realization and development of the course. The data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The project process was mostly graded the same by the evaluators (students, supervisors and clients), but most student groups gave the report a higher grade than the other evaluators did. Students' evaluations were that they had acquired knowledge work competencies well, particularly the development of shared objects, the integration of individual and collaborative working and persistent development of knowledge objects. The students particularly appreciated team work for achieving common goals, development of project work and work life skills, interesting project topics and interaction with the customers. Challenges were the open assignments and related uncertainty of working methods, coordination of group work and students' inadequate skills in relation to project work requirements. The tight schedule of 11 weeks in 2016 led to the course being extended to 16 weeks in 2017. All clients evaluated their participation in the course as being positive. They appreciated being able to help students to practice work life skills and the university to develop teaching. Collaboration was seen as a good way to create contacts with students from the viewpoint of future workplaces. Project work outcomes provided new information for the development of the client organizations or supplemented and strengthened earlier views. As targets for improvement, the clients mentioned better definition of appropriate assignments for student teams and the development of interaction practices, e.g. by organizing virtual meetings. For the supervisors, the motivated working of the students and finishing of the projects in time were positive aspects. It was challenging to define appropriate topics for the client assignments, requirements of the course in relation to the skills of the students and timing of the course as well as their own time management. All parties experienced work life-oriented project courses as necessary and rewarding for all parties. Research-based evaluation provided useful information for developing the course design further. ; Non peer reviewed

Agriculture is a primary driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and several expensive schemes have been designed to make modern farming landscapes more hospitable for wildlife. One such market-based mechanisms is the agri-environment-climate schemes (AES) in the European Union (EU). AES compensate farmers for reducing land-use intensity and maintaining or introducing biodiversity-rich habitats. Despite their high costs, impacts of AES vary by measure, region and taxonomic group considered, and have rarely been studied over large areas covering an entire country. Here we assess the country-wide impact of several AES measures on bird abundance using citizen science data on birds and detailed information on AES take up from across Finland. We report a positive impact of organic animal farming on abundance of all farmland associated birds. This effect was particularly strong for insectivorous species, species that are associated to farmyards and long-distance species. None of the other AES measures considered for study did show any relationship with bird abundance. Overall, these findings highlight the potential positive impact that some compensatory measures, such as organic animal farming, may have on wildlife. Traditional animal husbandry is based on grazing of animals and restriction on external inputs, similarly to what is stipulated under organic production contract. As such, traditional animal husbandry may represent an effective landscape management tool for restoring or maintaining threatened species and ecosystems in rural areas of the EU. Ultimately, the apparent lack of a measurable effect of the other AES considered here supports the current move towards evidence-based regional targeting of compensatory measures, so as to concentrate scarce resources to where they can yield the highest ecological benefits. ; Peer reviewed

What could be a functioning food system model for a food secure and sustainable world. This project studies a pilot case - 'Palopuro Agroecological Symbiosis' (Palopuro AS) - for restructuring the food system in Palopuro village in the Finnish countryside. The project challenges the present linear, globalizing food chain and suggests a global network of localized cyclical systems. A local food cycle highlights reconnection of farmers and consumers, minimizes nutrient loss, and relies on local (bio)energy. This project investigates the cultural, social, political, ecological, and spatial changes in Finnish agricultural landscapes as a result of implementation of an ecological symbiosis . We use the term 'agro-ecological symbiosis' to describe the cooperation between producers, processors, other businesses, and consumers in an effort to build an integrated food system. ; Peer reviewed

Historical wheat landraces are rich sources of genetic diversity offering untapped reservoirs for broadening the genetic base of modern varieties. Using a 20K SNP array, we investigated the accessible genetic diversity in a Central European bread wheat landrace collection with great drought, heat stress tolerance and higher tillering capacity. We discovered distinct differences in the number of average polymorphisms between landraces and modern wheat cultivars, and identified a set of novel rare alleles present at low frequencies in the landrace collection. The detected polymorphisms were unevenly distributed along the wheat genome, and polymorphic markers co-localized with genes of great agronomic importance. The geographical distribution of the inferred Bayesian clustering revealed six genetically homogenous ancestral groups among the collection, where the Central European core bared an admixed background originating from four ancestral groups. We evaluated the effective population sizes (Ne) of the Central European collection and assessed changes in diversity overtime, which revealed a dramatic similar to 97% genetic erosion between 1955 and 2015. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract Making agriculture sustainable is a global challenge. In the European Union (EU), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is failing with respect to biodiversity, climate, soil, land degradation as well as socio-economic challenges. The European Commission's proposal for a CAP post-2020 provides a scope for enhanced sustainability. However, it also allows Member States to choose low-ambition implementation pathways. It therefore remains essential to address citizens' demands for sustainable agriculture and rectify systemic weaknesses in the CAP, using the full breadth of available scientific evidence and knowledge. Concerned about current attempts to dilute the environmental ambition of the future CAP, and the lack of concrete proposals for improving the CAP in the draft of the European Green Deal, we call on the European Parliament, Council and Commission to adopt 10 urgent action points for delivering sustainable food production, biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation. Knowledge is available to help moving towards evidence-based, sustainable European agriculture that can benefit people, nature and their joint futures. The statements made in this article have the broad support of the scientific community, as expressed by above 3,600 signatories to the preprint version of this manuscript. The list can be found here (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3685632). A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. ; Peer reviewed

Simple Summary Welfare requirements from an animal point of view are the same regardless of the country. However, differing requirements of animal welfare schemes make it hard for consumers to make informed choices. Therefore, an open and coherent labeling scheme that provides information on farm animal welfare will be beneficial from the consumer perspective. We reviewed 12 pig welfare schemes. We aimed to identify consistencies and differences in welfare requirements between these schemes. The studied welfare requirements were heterogeneous in the potential each scheme had to advance pig welfare. Certain requirements barely exceeded the minimum standards for the protection of pigs in European Union (EU) legislation, but the more demanding tiers of multitier schemes had the potential to enhance animal welfare. The most ambitious tiers could improve animal welfare substantially and, in terms of resources available to the animal, they often were convergent with organic animal farming standards. Because of variation of welfare requirements between the labels, it was challenging to compare existing labeling schemes. Adopting a harmonized labeling terminology and standard, increased use of animal-based measures, and open communication will make labeling more reliable and transparent, which will contribute to the availability of standardized animal-friendly products and will be equitable from an animal welfare perspective. Animal welfare labeling schemes have been developed to respond to consumers' expectations regarding farm animal welfare. They are designed to certify that labeled products comply with certain animal welfare standards. In this study, 12 pig welfare labeling schemes were reviewed, and their criteria related to pig welfare were compared. Information regarding farrowing criteria, space allowance, outdoor access, mutilations, and provision of enrichments and bedding material were gathered from the labels' internet pages and documentation. The results indicated a substantial variation between the labels in terms of the level of animal welfare they ensure. While certain schemes barely exceeded the minimum standards for the protection of pigs in the European Union, more demanding tiers of the multitier schemes had the potential to improve animal welfare substantially. The most ambitious tiers of multistage schemes were often comparable to organic standards providing outdoor facilities and additional space. The heterogeneity of the labels' standards complicates the comparison of labels. ; Peer reviewed

The current animal-based food systems are being challenged by environmental, social and economic sustainability issues. A systemic transformation from conventional agriculture to a more sustainable cellular agriculture utilising cell-cultivation technologies to produce animal products has been proposed. The aim of this study is to explore the political and policy stakeholders' perceptions about cellular agriculture; how they perceive of the current food system and its potential transformation into a cellular agricultural system. The qualitative data comprises 13 interviews conducted with representatives of German stakeholders. The data were analysed with the Transformative Innovation Policy approach. Perceptions of the transformative potential of cultured products were classified into drivers and bottlenecks that either advance or hinder the progress of cellular agriculture in Germany. The results show that the political and policy stakeholders are aware of the changes that are needed, but anticipate that large-scale transformation to the cellular agriculture system may not be a plausible solution in the near future. ; Peer reviewed

Researchers globally identify pesticides as one of the main reasons for pollinator decline. In the European Union (EU), extensive legislation is implemented to protect pollinators from harmful pesticide exposure. The aim of our study was to discover whether the pesticide residue levels in honeybee matrices, such as nectar and pollen, exceeded the chronic or acute toxicity levels when beehives were located next to fields treated with specific insecticides. The insecticides were used according to the EU legislation and its national implementation. The experiments were conducted in turnip rape, oilseed rape, and caraway fields in southern Finland during the years 2019 and 2020. The pesticides used in the experiments contained the active substances lambda-cyhalothrin (2019), esfenvalerate (2020), and tau-fluvalinate (2020). However, the honeybee-collected pollen and nectar were analyzed for residues of more than 100 active substances. The results showed that the pesticide residue levels clearly remained under the oral acute toxicity for honeybees, although we found high levels of thiacloprid residues in the pollen collected in 2019. The pesticide residues in nectar were below LOQ values, which was most likely due to the rainy weather conditions together with the chosen sampling method. No statistically significant differences were observed between the insecticide-treated and untreated fields. In light of our research, the EU legislation protected honeybees from oral acute toxicity during the years 2019 and 2020. However, potential sublethal effects of thiacloprid and other pesticide compounds found in the collected pollen cannot be ruled out. In the future, constant monitoring of pesticide exposure of honeybees and wild pollinators should be established to ensure that pesticide legislation, and its implementation across the EU successfully protects pollinators and their services in agricultural environments. ; Peer reviewed

This article canvasses the current definitions and framings of "agroforestry" in different academic literature and policies. Three key framings of "agroforestry" are identified in the scholarship and explored for their differences. The findings suggest that the distinct schools of research on "agroforestry" focus on distinct points of departure, and these baseline situations from which transitions to what is called "agroforestry" occur vary in distinct ways from monoculture plantations to primary forests. Political-economic analysis is used to scrutinize three key "agroforestry" transition categories: agroecological, agribusiness, and forest degradation, which the article identifies as agroecoforestry (the good), agrobizforestry (the bad), and agrodeforestry (the ugly) transitions, respectively. Examples of each type are provided based on field research in Brazil, and the results are put into a global perspective. The categories are helpful in identifying the "agroforestry" transitions that are currently marketed as good solutions but might also have negative impacts and in highlighting the agroecological agroforestry transitions that would help simultaneously increase global food production, adapt to and mitigate the climate crisis, and achieve equity and social justice. ; Peer reviewed

This work is a historic analysis of the use of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) in Mexico since the 1940s and its implications for the then nascent domestic agrochemical industry and the social development programs boosted by the Mexican State. DDT was introduced to Mexico at the beginning of that decade as one of the main technological inputs of the agrarian and health models designed by the Rockefeller Foundation, which identified both malaria and low agricultural production as critical problems for this country. The adoption of these models by the Mexican political and economic system encouraged the creation of public institutions and a national agrochemical industry as well, which allowed the persistent DDT use and production for more than 50 years in Mexico. ; Peer reviewed

Context The current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union includes three greening measures, which are partly intended to benefit farmland biodiversity. However, the relative biodiversity effects of the greening measures, including joint effects of landscape context, are not well understood. Objectives We studied the effects of increasing crop diversity, proportions of production grasslands and fallows, corresponding to CAP greening measures, on open farmland bird diversity, whilst controlling for the effects of distance to forests, field edge density and proportion of built-up areas. Methods We surveyed open farmland birds using territory mapping in Southern Finland. We modelled effects of greening measures and landscape structure on farmland birds (7642 territories) using generalised linear mixed models. Results Increasing proportions of grasslands increased farmland bird species richness and diversity in open farmland, whereas increasing proportions of fallows increased bird diversity. Increasing crop diversity benefited individual species, but not species richness or diversity. Increasing field edge densities consistently increased the species richness of all farmland species, in-field nesters and non-crop nesters, as well as total farmland bird diversity. The relative effect of edge density was much stronger compared to the three greening measures. Conclusions Our results show that promoting fallows and grasslands, in particular grazed grasslands and various types of semi-natural grasslands, has the highest potential to benefit farmland bird diversity. Maintaining or increasing field edge densities, currently not supported, seems to be of even more benefit. In open farmland, with little or no field edges, fallows and grasslands are particularly beneficial. ; Peer reviewed

A large proportion of European biodiversity today depends on habitat provided by low-intensity farming practices, yet this resource is declining as European agriculture intensifies. Within the European Union, particularly the central and eastern new member states have retained relatively large areas of species-rich farmland, but despite increased investment in nature conservation here in recent years, farmland biodiversity trends appear to be worsening. Although the high biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland has long been reported, the amount of research in the international literature focused on farmland biodiversity in this region remains comparatively tiny, and measures within the EU Common Agricultural Policy are relatively poorly adapted to support it. In this opinion study, we argue that, 10years after the accession of the first eastern EU new member states, the continued under-representation of the low-intensity farmland in Central and Eastern Europe in the international literature and EU policy is impeding the development of sound, evidence-based conservation interventions. The biodiversity benefits for Europe of existing low-intensity farmland, particularly in the central and eastern states, should be harnessed before they are lost. Instead of waiting for species-rich farmland to further decline, targeted research and monitoring to create locally appropriate conservation strategies for these habitats is needed now. ; Peer reviewed