Belgium Archives - Page 2 of 3

Open field day at the organic experimental farm of Inagro in Belgium

17 September, 2021

On the 29th of September Inagro organizes an open field day at the organic research farm (‘Biovelddag’). The visit to the trial fields includes a presentation of the SoildiverAgro Case study and some first results. (Case study 7: cover crop mixtures, a promotor of soil biodiversity in potato crops?) This visit will be held in Dutch and starts at 16h at Gabriëlstraat 11, 8800 Rumbeke-Beitem, Belgium). Other topics addressed will include a variety of trials of vegetable crops, reduced soil…

Theme day Water and soil in outdoor vegetables

29 July, 2021

On the next 9th of August our partners from Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt (PSKW) will organize a Theme day related to water and soil in outdoor vegetables that will include a guided visit to one of the SoildiverAgro case studies: Intensive versus extensive versus vegetable organic farming. Atlantic Central (Belgium). The visit will be hold in Dutch and it will start on the organic field (Muilshoek 1, Sint-Katelijne-Waver) followed by a visit to the conventional trial field (Duffelsesteenweg 101, Sint-Katelijne-Waver).…

broccoli organic trial experiment belgium

Trial field with young broccoli in Belgium organic experimental case study

8 July, 2021

On 30 and 31 March, our Belgium partner INAGRO took soil samples for the different analyses (biological, physical and chemical) related to Case study 7: Cover crop mixtures: a promotor of soil biodiversity in potato crops? Atlantic Central (Belgium). At that time the 4 different cover crop mixtures (little to very species-diverse) had mostly died off due to frost. In addition, earthworms were also sampled. The objective was to discover whether choosing a more species-diverse cover crop mixture already after…

Mini symposium “BIO-onderzoek”

22 June, 2021

On the 23th of June 2021, some Flemish organisations in Belgium organise a mini-symposium to present results of ongoing international projects on organic farming, including SoildiverAgro. The symposium is organised by CCBT, NOBL and the Flemish Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, and will take place online from 13h00 till 17h00. CCBT is the coordination centre for applied research and extension on organic agriculture in Flanders and is part of the ‘Strategic Action Plan for Organic Farming’ of the Flemish Government.…

Spring cover crops destroyed by flail mower at Belgium

1 June, 2021

Cover crops are a good practice to enhance soil life and soil quality. After late vegetables, like leek, the circumstances are not always good enough to sow cover crops. When the next main crop is planted late in the following year, it is possible to sow the cover crop in spring. In case study 8 we have sown a mixture of Phacelia (P. tanacetifolia) and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) in the last week of march. These fast growing crops are…

Ghent students get to know Soildiveragro

28 April, 2021

On the 27th of April 2021, a visit to ILVO Plant Sciences Unit was planned by the students from the University of Ghent, Belgium, following the course ‘soil ecology’. Unfortunately, due to the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the excursion was replaced by an online meeting via Teams. Eighteen students participated at the event, where they learned about the organisation of the ILVO Plant Diagnostic Centre (https://www.ilvodiagnosecentrumvoorplanten.be/nl/) and about the research projects, like SoildiverAgro, investigating soil fauna (https://ilvo.vlaanderen.be/nl/onderzoeksprojecten). Especially soil processing…

First results on extensive management to enhace soil life at Flanders

22 March, 2021

Our partner Proefstation voor de groenteteelt made this interesting presentation about the results so far concerning case-study 8 focus on intensive versus extensive versus vegetable organic farming.

Arable farming a success debate at the second Belgian discussion group

17 July, 2020

The Belgian partners of SoildiverAgro organized a second discussion group with stakeholders on the 30th of June. This time for the Flemish case studies that included arable crops. The name of the event was: “Discussion group: soil life and soil quality in arable farming”. Due to the corona crisis this was still in digital format. We used our experience of the first digital event to make also the second discussion group a success. Fifteen participants with different profiles and backgrounds…

Online regional meeting SoildiverAgro partners in Belgium

20 March, 2020

The Belgian SoildiverAgro´s partners celebrated an online regional meeting on 18th March to overview and take decissions about the action plan focuss on the impacts of soil biodiversity on crop production and other ecosystem services. During this meeting a power-point presentation was presented. This presentation provided an updated overview of the planning of this activity, data gathering, setup, coordination and reporting. The update was based on the new agreements obtained during the workshop held in Brussels (28 Jan 2020) with…