Read the latest news regarding Permanent Grasslands Grassland activity SLU The 27th of September, 120 school pupils (about 11-12 years old) visited SLU´s campus in Uppsala to participate in SciFest activities. One activity was to find habitats for species (butterflies, birds and plants) in two landscapes. In one landscape there are still cattle in the pasture lands – in the other one the farmer has switched Read More SUPER-G second European Summer School “Ecosystem services and disservices of Alpine grasslands” From September 26th to 28th, in Grugliasco & Travesella, Italy, the second SUPER-G European Summer School will be held under the topic “Ecosystem services and disservices of Alpine grasslands“. The first day will be focused on the Introduction to Alpine Permanent Grasslands (APG) and an Overview of APG soil features, while the second day will be about topics such as: APG plant diversity Read More Forage day at the Research Station in Vatin Last 1st of April, the Brno University, of the Czech Republic organized a workshop with 18 farmers, at the Research station in Vatín, district Žďár nad Sázavou. In this workshop several topics related with the Permanent Grasslands management were discussed, with presentations from different speakers: “War at Ukraine and its possible impacts on agrarian trade” presented by Read More SUPER-G awarded the Photo Competition winners! SUPER-G launched a Photo Competition in 2019, that lasted one year and ended with nearly 170 photos selected from 5 categories: biodiversity; farmlands; cultural values; landscape and recreation and threats. The Photo Competition ended in 2020, with 3 awarded overall winners – 1st Alan Hopps; 2nd Tobias Nilsson and 3rd Jantine van Middlekoop and a wonderful Photo Book that gathered photos from Read More SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar – April 2022 The SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar ocurred on the 26th of April, adressing the Permanent Grasslands in the Continental biogeographic region. This webinar presented the role and main tasks of Biebrza National Park in active protection of PG and the richness of its fauna, the ecosystems services and PG management as well as the agricultural production in Read More SUPER-G 4th Consortium Annual Meeting in Bled! In the last two and a half years the SUPER-G Consortium kept up the good work, with several online meetings, including the annual ones. But surely, we were missing to meet, to discuss in-person and to enjoy the networking that these meetings can provide. So, two weeks ago, from the 7th to the 9th of June, we were Read More EU Green Week Webinar: “Grasslands as carbon sinks” organised by GO-GRASS At the occasion of the EU Green Week 2022, which focuses on the European Green Deal, the GO-GRASS project organised a Partner Event focusing on the potential of grasslands for carbon sequestration and its benefits for biodiversity, climate neutrality, circular economy and water quality. In this event, it was presented practices and resources that can promote the Read More Permanent Grasslands in the Continental biogeographic region (Webinar) The first SUPER-G webinar for stakeholders in the Continental biogeographic region will be held online on 26th April 2022. Our discussions will focus on how permanent grasslands can be managed for biodiversity and for food production with specific reference to the Biebrza National Park – http://www.biebrza.org.pl/, one of the largest parks in Europe – 60,000 Read More SUPER-G news from Switzerland SUPER-G partners from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) made a special summary of their activities in 2021 within the framework of the project activities: “Our SUPER-G permanent grassland site where we measure the ecosystem exchange of three major greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) experienced an indeed turbulent year: Lots of snow in the beginning of 2021 (Figure 1), Read More ETH Zurich is looking for a doctoral student with a passion for science to join their team The Grassland Sciences Group is a vibrant and international working group at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich and they are looking for a “reliable, enthusiastic and highly motivated doctoral student with a passion for science” to join their team. The research will focus on “process- and system-understanding of the biosphere-atmosphere greenhouse Read More “Improving permanent grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity” - Super-G stakeholder webinar (update) On the 17th of January, the SUPER-G project organized a stakeholder webinar on the theme “Improving permanent grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity”. Well-managed permanent grasslands are of great importance for food production, nature conservation and other ecosystem services such as regulating water flow and mitigating climate change. “Covering about 40% of the terrestrial world Read More Improving Permanent Grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity – SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar The SUPER-G project is organising a Stakeholder webinar on January 17th, 2022. The webinar will approach the topic of “Improving Permanent Grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity”. Well-managed permanent grasslands are of great importance for food production, nature conservation and other ecosystem services such as regulating water flow and mitigating climate change. However, several risk Read More SUPER-G has published two public deliverables recently SUPER-G has recently published two public reports that can now be viewed on our website and our social media channels. One of the reports (Deliverable 2.3) summarises the main Farming Systems (FS) on Permanent Grassland (PG) in Europe (linked to the grassland typology), resulting in conceptual models of the ‘typical’ FS on the main PG Read More SUPER-G will participate in the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021 The H2020 SUPER-G project will participate in the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021 with a presentation titled: ‘Creating sustainable rural spaces: understanding citizens’ perspectives of grassland landscapes and ‘ecosystem services’’. From the 31st of August to the 3rd of September 2021, 2200 delegates will join this virtual event for a programme of more than 475 Read More Investigating the potential of Sentinel-2 configuration to predict the quality of Mediterranean permanent grasslands in open woodlands Fernández-Habas et al. (2021) have published a paper on the assessment of pasture quality in permanent grasslands and how it’s essential for their conservation and management, as it can contribute to making real-time decisions for livestock management. In this study, they assessed the potential of Sentinel-2 configuration to predict forage quality in the diverse Mediterranean Read More The SUPER-G Photobook – LIFE on European Grasslands – a Photographic Look has been published! Covering 34% of the agricultural area in the European Union and around 60 million hectares in total, permanent grasslands are an important and integral part of European landscapes. Within SUPER-G we are trying to better understand how grassland systems are valued for recreation, landscape and culture. From that, the idea of a photographic competition and Read More SUPER-G Webinar – Pros & Cons of Multi-Species Swards Representatives from farm networks in Northern Ireland, northern England and Normandy got together on the evening of Wednesday 23rd June to discuss the pros and cons of using multi-species swards. The discussion confirmed that farmers in contrasting Atlantic regions are experiencing similar challenges and benefits from growing multi-species swards. You can watch the full discussion Read More New launch of Open Access Government July 2021 edition Open Access Government is a UK-based digital publication with a unique perspective, focusing on an interesting plethora of issues from physics to biology, economic development to agriculture, among many others. The bumper July 2021 edition of Open Access Government provides in-depth coverage of policy issues globally, such as COVID-19, health & social care, research & Read More SUPER-G participated in the 3rd ESP Europe Regional conference Sophie Tindale from the University of Newcastle, a SUPER-G partner, participated in the 3rd ESP Europe Regional conference organized by the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP). This event took place in Tartu, Estonia from the 7-10 of June 2021, with the theme “Ecosystem Services Science, Policy and Practice in the face of Global Changes”. On the Read More 1st Joint Meeting of EAAP Mountain Livestock Farming Working Group & FAO-CIHEAM Mountain Pastures Sub-Network On the 7th of June, Paul Newell-Price, coordinator of the SUPER-G project, participated in a joint EEAP & FAO-CIHEAM conference themed “Mountains are agroecosystems for people“ where he presented the 1st Session: Farming systems and global change. On this session Paul introduced a paper on Grassland-based farming systems in Europe, written by Newell-Price P. (ADAS, Read More EGF2021 SYMPOSIUM | Sensing – New Insights into Grassland Science and Practice The EGF2021 Symposium, hosted by Universität Kassel, was held last week (17-19 May). With a special focus on sensing technologies, it addressed three main themes closely related to objectives of the SUPER-G project; “Biomass and quality characteristics”, “Biodiversity and other ecosystem services” and “Management and decision support”. The participants discussed results and provided insights on Read More Webinar series: Permanent Grasslands in Europe – Policies, Services and Management The SUPER-G project is hosting an open access Webinar series in June, to showcase some outputs from the project and contribute to discussions around policy making. Under the theme: Permanent Grasslands (PG) in Europe – policies, services, and management, it aims to engage policy makers, farmer representatives, researchers and students over a course of 3 Read More Decision Support Tools Report Work Package 5 (WP5) of the SUPER-G project will develop Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to assist farmers and policy makers to assess Ecosystem Service (ES) provision on Permanent Grassland (PG). Within WP5, as part of Task 5.1, we undertook a survey and review of existing DSTs used by farmers, advisors, policy makers and others to Read More Euromontana Booklet of Good Practices The European Association of mountain areas (EuroMontana) has published a booklet of good management practices in mountain grasslands, gathered across 18 European countries, through OREKA MENDIAN, a seven-year project funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme, Grasslands cover 15.9 % of the EU-28 area and are Europe’s third most dominant ecosystem. As well as being central to Read More The effectiveness of policies promoting sustainable permanent grassland across five European countries (representing five biogeographic regions) The report on the topic “The effectiveness of policies promoting sustainable permanent grassland across five European countries (representing five biogeographic regions)” – developed under the Task 4.1c of the SUPER-G project – is now available on our website. The report investigates the maintenance and sustainable management of permanent grassland in Europe and sets out to Read More Grazing season: top start! SUPER-G project partners from the Chambres d’agriculture de Normandie recently launched an article, related with the beginning of grazing season, in Normandy local press, about the project. After the heavy rainfall of the last few months, the grass has been slow to grow. However, tools are already available to farmers for a smooth grazing season. Read More Super-G article on AGROTEJO annual magazine The project was featured in an article in the annual magazine AGROTEJO. AGROTEJO – União Agrícola do Norte do Vale do Tejo is a non-profit Portuguese association of farmers, whose main area of focus is the North of the Tagus Valley: To promote regional agricultural development; To articulate the associative structures of the region; To Read More SUPER-G Northern England Farm Network Webinar Back in September, The SUPER-G Northern England farm network held a webinar with the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Beef and Lamb and ADAS. During the webinar we heard from James Drummond from Lemmington Hill Head farm in Northumberland, who has set up a grass-herb trial with ADAS to look at sward and Read More BSAS webinars – Precision Livestock Farming and Sensing Technology in Extensive Grassland Systems British Society of Animal Science held a webinar regarding the Precision Livestock Farming and Sensing Technology in Extensive Grassland Systems. The first part of the webinar was held on the 17th November, was chaired by Ilan Halachmi and speakers included Paul Greenwood, Claire Morgan-Davies, Andres Cibils and Andrew Dowsey. The second webinar, held on the 19th November, Read More The increasing in the floristic diversity of the abandoned Arrhenatherion elatioris meadows by dicotyledonous species oversowing Many meadow and pasture habitats and their plant species are currently highly endangered. One of such habitat are species-rich, extensively used, lowland, semi-natural Arrhenatherion elatioris meadows (code 6510 in the NATURA 2000 network). These meadows are classified in the EU Habitat Directive as “lowland hay meadows”. In central Poland they are vulnerable (VU) components of Read More SUPER-G poster on threats to permanent grasslands presented at EGF meeting Paul Newell Price presented our recent assessment of threats to permanent grassland across Europe. We carried out a survey among agronomists, ecologists, soil scientists, foresters and agri-environmental consultants to assess the threats for permanent grasslands within their countries. All permanent grassland types were considered to be under some kind of threat. Abandonment, heat and drought Read More EGF-Symposium 2021 – Call for Abstracts – EXTENDED until 15 October 2020 The 21st EGF Symposium “Sensing – New Insights into Grassland Science and Practice” will be held between May 17th and 19th of 2021. The online event organized by the University of Kassel (Germany) will be filled with scientific programs and interactive presentations and discussions. The registration for the 21st EGF Symposium is expected to open Read More Professor Piotr Stypiński was interviewed for the Polish Weekly Agricultural Guide Professor Piotr Stypiński, a member of the Faculty of Agriculture and Biology at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, a project partner, has been interviewed about SUPER-G, for this month’s polish agriculture magazine (TPR- Tygodnik Poradnik Rolniczy – Weekly Agricultural Guide). Read the full article here. Read More SLU publises an article about SUPER-G in Svenska Vallbrev 2020 Our colleagues at SLU published, this month, an article in the 4th issue of the magazine Svenska Vallbrev 2020 produced by the Swedish Grassland Society. The article presents the SUPER-G project to about 2000 members, mainly farmers, advisors and researchers in Sweden, who read this magazine. Read the full article here. Read More 2nd Stakeholder Seminar Postponed to Spring 2021 Due to the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic, the second SUPER-G Stakeholder’s Seminar will be postponed to Spring 2021. Project members have decided to postpone the Stakeholder Seminar that was due to be held in Goniadz, Poland on 19-22 April. The Seminar is now planned for Spring 2021, updates on the details of this will be shared on Read More SUPER-G 2nd Year Meeting During last week, SUPER-G partners came together, in their own homes, to celebrate the second year of the project. A trip to Bled was planned for this meeting, but due to the current COVID-19 situation in Europe, the meeting was held online instead. A series of progress meetings were carried out, to share each partner’s Read More Report on Decision Support Tools – Published (D5.1) The final version of our Review of Existing Tools Available for Use on Permanent Grassland has been finished this week! The review had previously been published in November 2019. The review identified a total of 127 DSTs from 16 countries used by farmers, advisors, policymakers and others to support permanent grassland management in Europe. Click here to Read More 1st International Joint Congress on “Sustainable Management of Cultural Landscapes in the contest of the European Green Deal” | Postponed In light of the developing coronavirus outbreak, ESSC, EURECYS and the Organising Committee of the International Congress on “Sustainable Management of Cultural Landscapes in the context of the European Green Deal”, that was going to take place at 07-10 October 2020, have decided to postpone the conference until 09 – 13 September 2021. More details available soon Read More Activity for Children: “Citykollo” – Summer activities | Sweden On June 18th, SLU organized an activity for children from 11 to 15, as part of “Citykollo”, a week of summer activities organised by Uppsala Konsert och Kongress and Uppsala Municipality. The theme of the event was Agriculture and had a total of 60 participants. One of the challenges organised by SLU, was to place Read More Seminar: “How to produce enough grass forage of high quality from grasslands?” | Czech Republic On February 26th, Mendel University organized a seminar entitled “How to produce enough grass forage of high quality from grasslands?” with Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, DLF Seeds company and local co-operative farm Senagro. The event had a total of 150 participants. The seminar had the following speakers, L. Pavlata (Mendelu), M. Drgáč (consultant for organic farming), Read More Greenhouse gas budgets of permanent grasslands Greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) from agriculture are important due to their impact on climate change. Permanent grasslands can act as a carbon sink, but they can also be an important source of greenhouse gases due to livestock and fertilization. SUPER-G members from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, measure greenhouse gas emissions Read More Seminar: “How to manage grass to get the most out of it? – innovation in PG management” | Poland On February 7th the Polish Society for Agronomy organized a seminar entitled “How to manage grass to get the most out of it? – innovation in PG management” with the Pasture to Profit Consultant Sean Chubb from LIC (Livestock improvement), New Zeeland. During this seminar, participants discussed the possibilities of using pastures as an important, Read More Permanent grassland: pilot farms involved in the European SUPER-G project are all set to optimise their production systems! After two meetings in 2019, the SUPER-G farm network in Normandy has set its work priorities for the next 4 years. Read More 2nd SUPER-G stakeholder Seminar The second SUPER-G stakeholder seminar will be held in April 2020, in Poland. This second seminar aims to cover the continental region. Read More International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (IS-CRAES) The International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (IS-CRAES) organized by the Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems Read More IPCC Climate Change and Land Report An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, food security, sustainable land management and greenhouse gas fluxes Read More Agroforestry training event – September 5th AFBI and CAFRE hosted an agroforestry training event on 5th September 2019 in AFBI Loughgall, Co. Armagh. The event, according to the article, have provided farmers and agroforestry practitioners with the opportunity to learn more about the practicalities as well as the socio-economic and environmental benefits of adopting agroforestry systems as an option under the Read More Strategies for managing Permanent Pasture On an EIP-AGRI brochure related to the sustainable livestock farming, the importance of a strategy for managing permanent pasture was highlighted. Permanent Grasslands represent several benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and animal health. Read More Profitability of Permanent Grassland (EIP-AGRI) The final report of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group – “Profitability of Permanent Grassland” – addressed the challenge of evaluating the current situation of permanent grassland and identified approaches and future research actions to increase their productivity in a sustainable way. Read More Super-G 1st Stakeholders’ Seminar Overview The first Stakeholder Seminar of the EU Horizon 2020 project SUPER-G – Developing Sustainable Permanent Grassland systems and policies – took place in the Europa Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland on 12th December 2018. This Seminar covered the Atlantic Region with 52 delegates discussing permanent grassland management and policies around Europe. Read More
Grassland activity SLU The 27th of September, 120 school pupils (about 11-12 years old) visited SLU´s campus in Uppsala to participate in SciFest activities. One activity was to find habitats for species (butterflies, birds and plants) in two landscapes. In one landscape there are still cattle in the pasture lands – in the other one the farmer has switched Read More
SUPER-G second European Summer School “Ecosystem services and disservices of Alpine grasslands” From September 26th to 28th, in Grugliasco & Travesella, Italy, the second SUPER-G European Summer School will be held under the topic “Ecosystem services and disservices of Alpine grasslands“. The first day will be focused on the Introduction to Alpine Permanent Grasslands (APG) and an Overview of APG soil features, while the second day will be about topics such as: APG plant diversity Read More
Forage day at the Research Station in Vatin Last 1st of April, the Brno University, of the Czech Republic organized a workshop with 18 farmers, at the Research station in Vatín, district Žďár nad Sázavou. In this workshop several topics related with the Permanent Grasslands management were discussed, with presentations from different speakers: “War at Ukraine and its possible impacts on agrarian trade” presented by Read More
SUPER-G awarded the Photo Competition winners! SUPER-G launched a Photo Competition in 2019, that lasted one year and ended with nearly 170 photos selected from 5 categories: biodiversity; farmlands; cultural values; landscape and recreation and threats. The Photo Competition ended in 2020, with 3 awarded overall winners – 1st Alan Hopps; 2nd Tobias Nilsson and 3rd Jantine van Middlekoop and a wonderful Photo Book that gathered photos from Read More
SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar – April 2022 The SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar ocurred on the 26th of April, adressing the Permanent Grasslands in the Continental biogeographic region. This webinar presented the role and main tasks of Biebrza National Park in active protection of PG and the richness of its fauna, the ecosystems services and PG management as well as the agricultural production in Read More
SUPER-G 4th Consortium Annual Meeting in Bled! In the last two and a half years the SUPER-G Consortium kept up the good work, with several online meetings, including the annual ones. But surely, we were missing to meet, to discuss in-person and to enjoy the networking that these meetings can provide. So, two weeks ago, from the 7th to the 9th of June, we were Read More
EU Green Week Webinar: “Grasslands as carbon sinks” organised by GO-GRASS At the occasion of the EU Green Week 2022, which focuses on the European Green Deal, the GO-GRASS project organised a Partner Event focusing on the potential of grasslands for carbon sequestration and its benefits for biodiversity, climate neutrality, circular economy and water quality. In this event, it was presented practices and resources that can promote the Read More
Permanent Grasslands in the Continental biogeographic region (Webinar) The first SUPER-G webinar for stakeholders in the Continental biogeographic region will be held online on 26th April 2022. Our discussions will focus on how permanent grasslands can be managed for biodiversity and for food production with specific reference to the Biebrza National Park – http://www.biebrza.org.pl/, one of the largest parks in Europe – 60,000 Read More
SUPER-G news from Switzerland SUPER-G partners from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) made a special summary of their activities in 2021 within the framework of the project activities: “Our SUPER-G permanent grassland site where we measure the ecosystem exchange of three major greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) experienced an indeed turbulent year: Lots of snow in the beginning of 2021 (Figure 1), Read More
ETH Zurich is looking for a doctoral student with a passion for science to join their team The Grassland Sciences Group is a vibrant and international working group at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich and they are looking for a “reliable, enthusiastic and highly motivated doctoral student with a passion for science” to join their team. The research will focus on “process- and system-understanding of the biosphere-atmosphere greenhouse Read More
“Improving permanent grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity” - Super-G stakeholder webinar (update) On the 17th of January, the SUPER-G project organized a stakeholder webinar on the theme “Improving permanent grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity”. Well-managed permanent grasslands are of great importance for food production, nature conservation and other ecosystem services such as regulating water flow and mitigating climate change. “Covering about 40% of the terrestrial world Read More
Improving Permanent Grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity – SUPER-G Stakeholder Webinar The SUPER-G project is organising a Stakeholder webinar on January 17th, 2022. The webinar will approach the topic of “Improving Permanent Grasslands for ecosystem services and biodiversity”. Well-managed permanent grasslands are of great importance for food production, nature conservation and other ecosystem services such as regulating water flow and mitigating climate change. However, several risk Read More
SUPER-G has published two public deliverables recently SUPER-G has recently published two public reports that can now be viewed on our website and our social media channels. One of the reports (Deliverable 2.3) summarises the main Farming Systems (FS) on Permanent Grassland (PG) in Europe (linked to the grassland typology), resulting in conceptual models of the ‘typical’ FS on the main PG Read More
SUPER-G will participate in the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021 The H2020 SUPER-G project will participate in the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021 with a presentation titled: ‘Creating sustainable rural spaces: understanding citizens’ perspectives of grassland landscapes and ‘ecosystem services’’. From the 31st of August to the 3rd of September 2021, 2200 delegates will join this virtual event for a programme of more than 475 Read More
Investigating the potential of Sentinel-2 configuration to predict the quality of Mediterranean permanent grasslands in open woodlands Fernández-Habas et al. (2021) have published a paper on the assessment of pasture quality in permanent grasslands and how it’s essential for their conservation and management, as it can contribute to making real-time decisions for livestock management. In this study, they assessed the potential of Sentinel-2 configuration to predict forage quality in the diverse Mediterranean Read More
The SUPER-G Photobook – LIFE on European Grasslands – a Photographic Look has been published! Covering 34% of the agricultural area in the European Union and around 60 million hectares in total, permanent grasslands are an important and integral part of European landscapes. Within SUPER-G we are trying to better understand how grassland systems are valued for recreation, landscape and culture. From that, the idea of a photographic competition and Read More
SUPER-G Webinar – Pros & Cons of Multi-Species Swards Representatives from farm networks in Northern Ireland, northern England and Normandy got together on the evening of Wednesday 23rd June to discuss the pros and cons of using multi-species swards. The discussion confirmed that farmers in contrasting Atlantic regions are experiencing similar challenges and benefits from growing multi-species swards. You can watch the full discussion Read More
New launch of Open Access Government July 2021 edition Open Access Government is a UK-based digital publication with a unique perspective, focusing on an interesting plethora of issues from physics to biology, economic development to agriculture, among many others. The bumper July 2021 edition of Open Access Government provides in-depth coverage of policy issues globally, such as COVID-19, health & social care, research & Read More
SUPER-G participated in the 3rd ESP Europe Regional conference Sophie Tindale from the University of Newcastle, a SUPER-G partner, participated in the 3rd ESP Europe Regional conference organized by the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP). This event took place in Tartu, Estonia from the 7-10 of June 2021, with the theme “Ecosystem Services Science, Policy and Practice in the face of Global Changes”. On the Read More
1st Joint Meeting of EAAP Mountain Livestock Farming Working Group & FAO-CIHEAM Mountain Pastures Sub-Network On the 7th of June, Paul Newell-Price, coordinator of the SUPER-G project, participated in a joint EEAP & FAO-CIHEAM conference themed “Mountains are agroecosystems for people“ where he presented the 1st Session: Farming systems and global change. On this session Paul introduced a paper on Grassland-based farming systems in Europe, written by Newell-Price P. (ADAS, Read More
EGF2021 SYMPOSIUM | Sensing – New Insights into Grassland Science and Practice The EGF2021 Symposium, hosted by Universität Kassel, was held last week (17-19 May). With a special focus on sensing technologies, it addressed three main themes closely related to objectives of the SUPER-G project; “Biomass and quality characteristics”, “Biodiversity and other ecosystem services” and “Management and decision support”. The participants discussed results and provided insights on Read More
Webinar series: Permanent Grasslands in Europe – Policies, Services and Management The SUPER-G project is hosting an open access Webinar series in June, to showcase some outputs from the project and contribute to discussions around policy making. Under the theme: Permanent Grasslands (PG) in Europe – policies, services, and management, it aims to engage policy makers, farmer representatives, researchers and students over a course of 3 Read More
Decision Support Tools Report Work Package 5 (WP5) of the SUPER-G project will develop Decision Support Tools (DSTs) to assist farmers and policy makers to assess Ecosystem Service (ES) provision on Permanent Grassland (PG). Within WP5, as part of Task 5.1, we undertook a survey and review of existing DSTs used by farmers, advisors, policy makers and others to Read More
Euromontana Booklet of Good Practices The European Association of mountain areas (EuroMontana) has published a booklet of good management practices in mountain grasslands, gathered across 18 European countries, through OREKA MENDIAN, a seven-year project funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme, Grasslands cover 15.9 % of the EU-28 area and are Europe’s third most dominant ecosystem. As well as being central to Read More
The effectiveness of policies promoting sustainable permanent grassland across five European countries (representing five biogeographic regions) The report on the topic “The effectiveness of policies promoting sustainable permanent grassland across five European countries (representing five biogeographic regions)” – developed under the Task 4.1c of the SUPER-G project – is now available on our website. The report investigates the maintenance and sustainable management of permanent grassland in Europe and sets out to Read More
Grazing season: top start! SUPER-G project partners from the Chambres d’agriculture de Normandie recently launched an article, related with the beginning of grazing season, in Normandy local press, about the project. After the heavy rainfall of the last few months, the grass has been slow to grow. However, tools are already available to farmers for a smooth grazing season. Read More
Super-G article on AGROTEJO annual magazine The project was featured in an article in the annual magazine AGROTEJO. AGROTEJO – União Agrícola do Norte do Vale do Tejo is a non-profit Portuguese association of farmers, whose main area of focus is the North of the Tagus Valley: To promote regional agricultural development; To articulate the associative structures of the region; To Read More
SUPER-G Northern England Farm Network Webinar Back in September, The SUPER-G Northern England farm network held a webinar with the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Beef and Lamb and ADAS. During the webinar we heard from James Drummond from Lemmington Hill Head farm in Northumberland, who has set up a grass-herb trial with ADAS to look at sward and Read More
BSAS webinars – Precision Livestock Farming and Sensing Technology in Extensive Grassland Systems British Society of Animal Science held a webinar regarding the Precision Livestock Farming and Sensing Technology in Extensive Grassland Systems. The first part of the webinar was held on the 17th November, was chaired by Ilan Halachmi and speakers included Paul Greenwood, Claire Morgan-Davies, Andres Cibils and Andrew Dowsey. The second webinar, held on the 19th November, Read More
The increasing in the floristic diversity of the abandoned Arrhenatherion elatioris meadows by dicotyledonous species oversowing Many meadow and pasture habitats and their plant species are currently highly endangered. One of such habitat are species-rich, extensively used, lowland, semi-natural Arrhenatherion elatioris meadows (code 6510 in the NATURA 2000 network). These meadows are classified in the EU Habitat Directive as “lowland hay meadows”. In central Poland they are vulnerable (VU) components of Read More
SUPER-G poster on threats to permanent grasslands presented at EGF meeting Paul Newell Price presented our recent assessment of threats to permanent grassland across Europe. We carried out a survey among agronomists, ecologists, soil scientists, foresters and agri-environmental consultants to assess the threats for permanent grasslands within their countries. All permanent grassland types were considered to be under some kind of threat. Abandonment, heat and drought Read More
EGF-Symposium 2021 – Call for Abstracts – EXTENDED until 15 October 2020 The 21st EGF Symposium “Sensing – New Insights into Grassland Science and Practice” will be held between May 17th and 19th of 2021. The online event organized by the University of Kassel (Germany) will be filled with scientific programs and interactive presentations and discussions. The registration for the 21st EGF Symposium is expected to open Read More
Professor Piotr Stypiński was interviewed for the Polish Weekly Agricultural Guide Professor Piotr Stypiński, a member of the Faculty of Agriculture and Biology at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, a project partner, has been interviewed about SUPER-G, for this month’s polish agriculture magazine (TPR- Tygodnik Poradnik Rolniczy – Weekly Agricultural Guide). Read the full article here. Read More
SLU publises an article about SUPER-G in Svenska Vallbrev 2020 Our colleagues at SLU published, this month, an article in the 4th issue of the magazine Svenska Vallbrev 2020 produced by the Swedish Grassland Society. The article presents the SUPER-G project to about 2000 members, mainly farmers, advisors and researchers in Sweden, who read this magazine. Read the full article here. Read More
2nd Stakeholder Seminar Postponed to Spring 2021 Due to the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic, the second SUPER-G Stakeholder’s Seminar will be postponed to Spring 2021. Project members have decided to postpone the Stakeholder Seminar that was due to be held in Goniadz, Poland on 19-22 April. The Seminar is now planned for Spring 2021, updates on the details of this will be shared on Read More
SUPER-G 2nd Year Meeting During last week, SUPER-G partners came together, in their own homes, to celebrate the second year of the project. A trip to Bled was planned for this meeting, but due to the current COVID-19 situation in Europe, the meeting was held online instead. A series of progress meetings were carried out, to share each partner’s Read More
Report on Decision Support Tools – Published (D5.1) The final version of our Review of Existing Tools Available for Use on Permanent Grassland has been finished this week! The review had previously been published in November 2019. The review identified a total of 127 DSTs from 16 countries used by farmers, advisors, policymakers and others to support permanent grassland management in Europe. Click here to Read More
1st International Joint Congress on “Sustainable Management of Cultural Landscapes in the contest of the European Green Deal” | Postponed In light of the developing coronavirus outbreak, ESSC, EURECYS and the Organising Committee of the International Congress on “Sustainable Management of Cultural Landscapes in the context of the European Green Deal”, that was going to take place at 07-10 October 2020, have decided to postpone the conference until 09 – 13 September 2021. More details available soon Read More
Activity for Children: “Citykollo” – Summer activities | Sweden On June 18th, SLU organized an activity for children from 11 to 15, as part of “Citykollo”, a week of summer activities organised by Uppsala Konsert och Kongress and Uppsala Municipality. The theme of the event was Agriculture and had a total of 60 participants. One of the challenges organised by SLU, was to place Read More
Seminar: “How to produce enough grass forage of high quality from grasslands?” | Czech Republic On February 26th, Mendel University organized a seminar entitled “How to produce enough grass forage of high quality from grasslands?” with Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, DLF Seeds company and local co-operative farm Senagro. The event had a total of 150 participants. The seminar had the following speakers, L. Pavlata (Mendelu), M. Drgáč (consultant for organic farming), Read More
Greenhouse gas budgets of permanent grasslands Greenhouse gas emissions (i.e. carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) from agriculture are important due to their impact on climate change. Permanent grasslands can act as a carbon sink, but they can also be an important source of greenhouse gases due to livestock and fertilization. SUPER-G members from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, measure greenhouse gas emissions Read More
Seminar: “How to manage grass to get the most out of it? – innovation in PG management” | Poland On February 7th the Polish Society for Agronomy organized a seminar entitled “How to manage grass to get the most out of it? – innovation in PG management” with the Pasture to Profit Consultant Sean Chubb from LIC (Livestock improvement), New Zeeland. During this seminar, participants discussed the possibilities of using pastures as an important, Read More
Permanent grassland: pilot farms involved in the European SUPER-G project are all set to optimise their production systems! After two meetings in 2019, the SUPER-G farm network in Normandy has set its work priorities for the next 4 years. Read More
2nd SUPER-G stakeholder Seminar The second SUPER-G stakeholder seminar will be held in April 2020, in Poland. This second seminar aims to cover the continental region. Read More
International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (IS-CRAES) The International Symposium on Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems (IS-CRAES) organized by the Climate-Resilient Agri-Environmental Systems Read More
IPCC Climate Change and Land Report An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, food security, sustainable land management and greenhouse gas fluxes Read More
Agroforestry training event – September 5th AFBI and CAFRE hosted an agroforestry training event on 5th September 2019 in AFBI Loughgall, Co. Armagh. The event, according to the article, have provided farmers and agroforestry practitioners with the opportunity to learn more about the practicalities as well as the socio-economic and environmental benefits of adopting agroforestry systems as an option under the Read More
Strategies for managing Permanent Pasture On an EIP-AGRI brochure related to the sustainable livestock farming, the importance of a strategy for managing permanent pasture was highlighted. Permanent Grasslands represent several benefits for biodiversity, ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and animal health. Read More
Profitability of Permanent Grassland (EIP-AGRI) The final report of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group – “Profitability of Permanent Grassland” – addressed the challenge of evaluating the current situation of permanent grassland and identified approaches and future research actions to increase their productivity in a sustainable way. Read More
Super-G 1st Stakeholders’ Seminar Overview The first Stakeholder Seminar of the EU Horizon 2020 project SUPER-G – Developing Sustainable Permanent Grassland systems and policies – took place in the Europa Hotel, Belfast, Northern Ireland on 12th December 2018. This Seminar covered the Atlantic Region with 52 delegates discussing permanent grassland management and policies around Europe. Read More
