International workshop spotlighted landscape filters
Researchers from AGRO shared knowledge and experience about landscape filters with colleagues from other countries at an international workshop in Slagelse in April.
Landscape filters will become an important feature of the Danish landscape and farmers’ fields in the future – and they will be paid for by Danish society as a whole. It is therefore crucial to generate thorough knowledge about and experience with the pros, cons, effects and costs of the various systems before they are introduced in a big way all over the country.
It is also important that we share our knowledge and experience with each other in Denmark and other countries and that results from pilot systems and models that calculate upscaled results are tested in large systems and over a long period of time so they copy conditions in the “real world” as well as possible.
The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark has given AGRO the task. As an initial part of the solution, AGRO and DCA organized an international workshop, which was held April 20, 2017 in Slagelse with the aim of sharing knowledge, experience and views with international colleagues.
At the workshop various landscape filter and other solutions that aim to reduce nutrient emissions to the aquatic environment were presented and discussed. Constructed wetlands, mini-wetlands with or without biofilters, intelligent buffer zones and controlled drainage were among the measures presented to the approximately 55 participants from authorities, universities, advisory services and commercial companies from the USA, Sweden, Czech Republic, Netherlands and Denmark.
Highly topical area
Senior researcher Finn Plauborg, KLIMA, is the leader of the new and very topical four-year project funded by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. The aim of the project is to strengthen the knowledge base for assessing the nitrogen effect and cost efficiency for mini-wetlands with biofilters.
Read Biofilters and mini-wetlands can reduce nitrogen leaching.
Finn Plauborg initiated the meeting by observing that before the end of 2021 Denmark must gradually reduce its nitrogen emissions to coastal waters by 7,000 tons nitrogen per year but that there are ongoing political discussions about a need for further reductions to the tune of 6,000 tons nitrogen per year before the end of 2027.
- Denmark uses a relatively large portion of its land area to produce food but there are big differences with regard to where in the country the requirement for reduction is greatest. Catch crops have a good effect but they are not sufficient. It is therefore necessary to find a range of efficient offsite measures, such as natural wetlands, forests, controlled drainage and mini-wetlands with filters, he said.
Over and above a wealth of data, knowledge and experience, the workshop also pinpointed several important points, much of which will be written about in upcoming articles on AGRO’s external website and a theme site on DCA’s website.