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Project properties |
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| Title | Service crops in the rotation
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| Group | Farming Systems Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Dirk van Apeldoorn or Walter Rossing
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| Examiner(s) | |
| Contact info | koen.klompe@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2018/03/01 |
| End date | 2020/03/31 |
| Description | Many arable farms have a quite intensive crop rotation, consisting of as much high income crops as possible. In the Netherlands and in other countries, this causes problems with soil-borne pests and diseases, weeds, soil fertility and soil compaction. This is also reducing the profitability of the crops.
In several research projects, solutions are developed and tested, such as the addition of new crops to the rotation. For instance, Tagetes is used in the North-eastern part of the Netherlands to reduce nematode populations that cause damage to potatoes. In several cases in Europe, leguminous crops such as grass-clover leys, soybean or alfalfa are introduced to improve soil fertility and soil structure. The problem for these crops is their low profitability, compared to the other crops in the rotation. In some cases (Tagetes), nothing is harvested and sold, in other cases the product has low value (feed, fodder). The benefit of such crops has to be realised in the next crops in the rotation, e.g. in a higher yield or better quality. Research data from our experiments already shows some of these benefits. Would you like to work on some Dutch and European cases to assess the economic viability in a Master thesis (could result in a scientific paper)? Then you are the person we are looking for! We from Applied Arable and Vegetable Research in Lelystad, think that this topic could be a Master thesis on the edge of plant sciences/organic agriculture and business economics. We are looking for a motivated student, interested in the economics of service crops in a rotation, with a practical viewpoint. |
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