Biodiversity - an elemental part of sustainable plant production

In plant production, the goal is to develop cultivation methods to be increasingly sustainable and to ensure yields in a changing climate. Enhancing biodiversity in agricultural environments is a means to strengthen both the sustainability and resilience of production. Halting biodiversity loss is also an important societal issue, in which farmers have a lot of opportunities to have an impact locally. This project aims to reinforce and highlight the role of farmers as guardians of biodiversity. The project seeks to address farmers’ information needs related to different aspects of biodiversity and to methods for increasing biodiversity in the farming environment. Existing knowledge and experiences of biodiversity measures applicable to different kinds of plant production farms will be compiled. In addition, demonstrations of methods that enhance biodiversity in the farming environment will be carried out. The importance of biodiversity, its various dimensions, and the results obtained in the project will be communicated in diverse ways. The project is implemented in Southwest Finland in collaboration between the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and Livia College.