Water management as a resilience solution in horticulture

Water is one of the most important growth factors in plant production. Climate change increases the incidence of severe drought periods, risking the yield production especially in southern Finland where the horticultural production is concentrated. On the other hand, heavy rains are expected to increase, causing a risk of nutrient leaching and erosion.

VESILIENSSI project aims to enhance the development and use of good water management methods. The project works on three levels, forming together a holistic approach to increase the resilience via water management:

- Plant level: optimization of irrigation, by monitoring soil moisture or through a modelling approach.

- Farm level: efficiency of water management solutions, e.g. irrigation ponds, integrated buffer zone, water retention by swales-berms demonstrations.

- Society level: policy instruments to enhance the use of integrated water management.