The soil is a crucial production tool, particularly for open-air crops.
Producers are taking measures to retain soil structure and nutrient content, which is essential for sustainable production. In the last years, several initiatives were put in place to curb soil erosion.
For years, the VBT cooperatives have supported their producers in the correct application of integrated crop management and protection. This means that through prevention, monitoring and observation, interventions are prevented or reduced. If an intervention is needed, different methods for crop protection are combined to ensure the quality of fruit and vegetables is preserved, all the while minimising the ecological and economic impact.
Biodiversity is important, and the preservation thereof is farm dependent. Four fifths of open-air producers maintain ditches and woods beside the fields as well as flora, sow in parcel boundaries or maintain the natural vegetation.
Natural pollination is essential for good fertilisation and production. Four fifths of producers have put measures in place to improve natural pollination by introducing insect hotels or bumble bees, by installing fields of flowers or by collaborating with beekeepers.