Farmers Gathered for a Cleaner Baltic Sea

Baltic Farmers’ Forum on Environment (BFFE), a network for the farmers’ organizations around the Baltic Sea, organized a science-based conference on Agricultural Water Protection and Sustainable Food Production in Hanasaari, Espoo, Finland on 25-26 February 2015. 

Nine farmers’ organizations from eight countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, German, Norway and Russia) around the Baltic Sea got together to receive the latest knowledge on the protection of the Baltic Sea, and to update the most important research needs for the current policy adaptations.

Farmers designed a declaration where they expressed their care for the environment and willingness to further improve their practices. The outcome remained that farmers are willing to foster water protection as long as food security is not put at risk. Farmers’ ultimate task is to produce food in a profitable way.

Farmers also highlighted that the principles of climate-smart agriculture must also be in line with the agricultural water policy which aims to further improve nutrient management from farming practices. Nutrient loads or greenhouse gas emissions are linked to natural processes that can be partly controlled but those are not completely avoidable. Thus, farmers ask for a realistic approach on water protection and climate mitigation that is based on science and good agronomic sense.

The declaration of BFFE meeting will be published on www.mtk.fi/bffe on 26th February at 14:00.

Contact for more details:

Liisa Pietola, Head of Environmental Affairs, MTK, +358 50 438 4014
Airi Kulmala, Expert, MTK, +358 400 755 454
Rikard Korkman, Senior Advisor, SLC, +358 40 5189 297