GYPREG: experience exchange from Swedish farmers

Fredrik Andersson sharing his experiences to our project manager Elsa Bertils. © Jens Blomquist

The first of three years of the GYPREG project has past and many project activities are running. Field trials, research screening, calculations of potential and dialogues with farmers, advisories and Swedish authorities are some of them. Next up is to dig deeper into potential gypsum suppliers in Sweden and arrange partner meeting with all project partners.   

Experience of gypsum treatment in Sweden  

Gypsum treatment is a rather unknown measure in Swedish agriculture, while it is wider spread in Finland. We have been searching for Swedish farmers using gypsum and have started to collect the existing experience. 

In the end of October, we visited Fredrik Andersson in Gamleby, Västervik. He is an ecological farmer with beef cattle and 80 hectares of farmland. Fredrik used gypsum as an alternative to structural lime, which is prohibited in ecological farming, on all his land in 2011-2014. The gypsum treatment was one of several measures Fredrik implemented to decrease nutrient runoff from his fields. Still today he experiences better soil structure and less problems with drowned fields, more than ten years after the treatment.  

Information and dialogue through webinars  

In December, we arranged a webinar with project updates for Swedish stakeholders. Together with RISE, we described the function of gypsum on farmlands and the ongoing project activities. The webinar also worked as a platform for us to collect valuable input from the stakeholders, regarding what to focus on in the coming year. Many stressed the need to understand the long-lasting effect of gypsum treatment, effect on crop yield and cost effectiveness compared to structural liming. 

Interested to know more? See full webinar here: https://www.raceforthebaltic.com/gypreg-reports