Der Dauerbeobachtungsversuch Trenthorst - Konzeption und Versuchsaufbau

Summary

Although the crop rotation is an essential element of organic farming, only few long-term trials exist which compare different crop rotations under temperate climate. The long-term monitoring Trenthorst was established in 2003 and comprises the different crop rotations of two cash crop farms and three livestock farms specialised in dairy, pigs and goats/oil seeds respectively. In addition to the comparison of crop rotations under practical farm conditions the long-term monitoring study aims to analyse the development of soil parameters, yields and crop qualities after the conversion to organic agriculture. On each arable field four monitoring points were established, where the relevant parameters are measured. The yields of the first three years are presented in a separate paper (SCHAUB et al. 2007).