Lauri Jauhiainen

Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) · Natural resources and bioproduction

Farmers may promote the cultivation of under-sown cover crops (CCs) in various ways without jeopardizing the yield of a cash crop. With this survey, we aimed to understand how Finnish farmers manage possible challenges with under-sown CCs. A farmer survey was carried out in 2021. We invited 6493 farmers who had selected CCs as a registered measure...

The performance of meteorological data-based methods to forecast plant diseases strongly depends on temporal weather information. In this paper, a data analysis procedure is presented for finding the optimal starting time for forecasting net blotch density in spring barley based on meteorological data. For this purpose, changes in the information c...

Crop diseases may be affected by landscape composition, but limited quantitative information is available. We studied the effects of landscape factors on the incidence of the psyllid-transmitted bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso) haplotype C in carrots in Finland. Samples were collected from 104 carrot fields in 2013 and 2014. Th...

Cover crops (CCs) have aroused a great deal of interest as a multifunctional measure to improve the sustainability of agriculture. Understanding farmers’ views are important for future farm-scale implementation. A farmer survey was carried out in Finland in 2021 with the aims to gather farmers’ views on agronomic performance of CCs, their environme...

Early adopter-farmers form a living lab of farms that have a great deal of hidden knowledge about the cultivation of cover crops (CCs). Understanding of how early adopters use and value CCs provides valuable knowhow to be shared with other farmers. This study gathered information about the most common under-sown CCs in Finland. A structured survey...

Cover crops (CCs) may provide many ecosystem services for crop production systems, and interest has increased in the cultivation of CCs among Finnish farmers. Piloting farmers applied for agricultural payments to support the cultivation of CCs (AP-CCs) in 2020. Novel data with a total of 34,515 field parcels with CCs from 5747 farms was used to ass...

Crop rotation and soil tillage are among key factors impacting cropping system productivity, pest management and soil health. To assess their role in northern cropping systems, we quantified the effects of crop rotation on spring wheat yield in different tillage systems based on a long-term (2005–2017) field experiment in southwestern Finland. In a...

The major elements determining the yield potential of crops during the growing period are temperatures and precipitation patterns. In this study, the effects of temperature and precipitation at key growth phases on yield formation of oats (Avena sativa L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) were compared using the Finnish official variety trial data (...

The aim of this study was to investigate factors responsible for between-herd variation in milk production, when genetic variation is controlled. Quantitative information regarding farms’ production environment and animal welfare, as evaluated annually by veterinarians and health and feeding records, were the factors studied. Principal component an...

Typpitaselaskuri on tarkoitettu työkaluksi, jolla viljelijät ja neuvojat voivat laskea ja tulkita peltolohkojen typpitaseita sekä soveltaa tietoa viljelyn kehittämiseksi ympäristöä ja taloudellista tulosta silmällä pitäen. Peltolohkon typpitase eli lannoitteissa annetun ja sadon mukana poistuneen typen erotus vaihtelee riippuen mm. viljelykasvista,...

Carrot cultivation in Europe is suffering from infections with 'Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum' (CLso), a psyllid‐transmitted bacterial pathogen. In this study field experiments were carried out in Finland to separately measure the effects of psyllid feeding damage and CLso infection on the carrot root growth and to reveal the dynamics of the...

Drones offer entirely new prospects for precision agriculture. This study investigates the utilisation of drone remote sensing for managing and monitoring silage grass swards. In northern countries, grass swards are fertilised and harvested three times per season when aiming to maximise the yield. Information about the grass quantity and quality is...

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In Finland, crop choices are limited, and cultivation is only possible in the regions where production risks and uncertainties are manageable. Climate change progresses rapidly at high latitudes and the thermal growing season is projected to become substantially longer in the future. This study aimed to monitor the regional shifts in major, seconda...

Fusarium head blight (FHB) and the mycotoxins produced by its causal agents in oats (Avena sativa L.) have become a growing problem in northern countries over the last decades. The development of resistant cultivars would offer a highly needed and economical solution to the problem. To tackle the high genotype×environment interaction of FHB, a comb...

Agricultural landscapes have become more intensive and monotonous, which may further increase biodiversity loss. Even though Finnish rural landscapes are often heterogeneous, crop choices and rotations lack diversity. The aim of this study was to develop an interactive, multi-step crop rotation tool, which acknowledges farmer’s preferences in land...

A novel data analysis method for the evaluation of plant disease risk that utilizes weather information is presented in this paper. This research considers two different datasets: open weather data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and long-term (1991–2017) plant disease severity observations in different hardiness zones in Finland. Histori...

The official variety trials at Rovaniemi, Finland (66.58°N, 26.01°E) in 1980–2017 show a substantial increase in dry matter yields (DMY) of timothy (Phleum pratense), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea), coinciding with a 156 °Cd increase in the average growing season Tsum and a 461 °Cd decrease in the average wi...

Suomessa kerätään ainutlaatuisen paljon aineistoa lypsykarjoista. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää tuotosseurannan, terveystarkkailuaineiston, ruokinnan päivälaskelmien ja Nasevan terveydenhuoltokäyntien perusteella, mikä selittää maidontuotannon eroja tilojen välillä, ja etenkin, mikä rooli tässä eläinten terveydellä ja hyvinvoinnilla...

A glasshouse experiment was conducted to study if glyphosate spraying has immediate short-term effects on the growth, reproduction and residue incorporation of the earthworm species Lumbricus terrestris L. The experiment simulated post-harvest conditions in no-till cereal cultivation, where L. terrestris often abound, and glyphosate is widely used....

The principle role of agriculture is to produce food for the increasing human population. However, the environmental footprint needs to be simultaneously reduced. Data from the Finnish Food Authority (181,108 parcels in the south-western crop production region of Finland) were used to identify the farming system, farm type, farm size, field parcel...

Cereal-based rotations dominate the prime production regions of Finland without any signs of noteworthy shifts towards more diverse systems. To estimate the potential for the future expansion of more diverse crop rotations we used multinomial logistic regression to model the probability that a field parcel would suit for crops other than cereals by...

Recent studies assessing agricultural policies, including the EU's Agri-Environment Scheme, have shown that these have been successful in attaining some environmental goals. In Finland, however, the economic situation of farms has dramatically fallen and hence, the actions do not result in social acceptability. Sustainable intensification is a mean...

Monocultural land use challenges sustainability of agriculture. Pre-crop value indicates the benefits of a previous crop for a subsequent crop in crop sequencing and facilitates diversification of agricultural systems. Traditional field experiments are resource intensive and evaluate pre-crop values only for a limited number of previous and subsequ...

The objective of the present study was to compare the synchronisation of the lying, feeding and standing behaviour of bulls housed in an uninsulated barn and in a pasture. Dairy (Ayrshire and Holstein-Friesian) and beef (Hereford) bulls were housed in June-July in either partly bedded pens in an uninsulated barn (PEN bulls; five groups of four or f...

Europe accounts for around 20% of the global cereal production and is a net exporter of ca. 15% of that production. Increasing global demand for cereals justifies questions as to where and by how much Europe’s production can be increased to meet future global market demands, and how much additional nitrogen (N) crops would require. The latter is im...

Climate change is projected to prolong Finland’s short growing season at both ends though warming autumns are not expected to benefit arable crops such as cereals, in contrast to warming springs. To test the veracity of this, ex-post and ex-ante approaches were applied to assess the past and future roles of autumns on cereal growth. Long-term multi...

To govern better future landscape planning of high-latitude agricultural systems, it is necessary to understand fully the drivers that currently determine farmers’ land allocation to different crops. The aim of this study was to identify key farm and field characteristics that drive farmers’ land allocation, based on substantial datasets, and to be...

Climate change is triggering adaptation by people and wildlife. The speed and magnitude of these responses may disrupt ecological equilibria and potentially cause further biodiversity losses, but this has rarely been studied. Species inhabiting human-dominated landscapes may be particularly negatively affected by human adaptations to climate change...

The cereal often dominates the grain legume in intercrops, especially when sown in larger amounts. This study assessed yield formation of pea (Pisum sativum L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.) in an intercropping system in high-latitude conditions. Three pea cultivars (Hulda, Karita and Perttu) and one oat cultivar (Roope) were grown as sole crops and in...

Efficient utilization of various phosphorus (P) sources for producing optimum yields in P-deficient conditions requires knowledge of best management under changing weather conditions. In this study, barley (Hordeum vulgare) was grown in an extremely P-deficient soil with variable moisture conditions. During a wet growing period, utilization of P fr...

Land use change is a continuously on-going process that has many impacts on the environmental footprint of agriculture and especially on the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes. This study used field scale data from 1995 to 2011 (165,760 field parcels) on a study region that represents the prime crop production area of Finland, to assess how ag...

Hyötyä taseista -hankkeessa tuotettiin typen peltotaseiden jakaumat Suomen yleisimmille viljelykasveille yhdistämällä kaikki saatavilla oleva ja systemaattisesti kerätty ravinnetasetieto peltoviljelystä. Jakaumien perusteella viljelykasvit luokiteltiin neljään eri ryhmään: (I) säilörehunurmi, (II) kaura, ohra ja tärkkelysperuna, (III) kevätvehnä ja...

Development time of immatures, fecundity, longevity and egg hatching of the predatory bug Macrolophus pygmaeus were studied over three years under artificial lighting in growth chambers to assess if light quality and photoperiod could explain its poor establishment in winter time tomato crops at northern latitudes. In the first year, the effect of...

Diversification of agriculture was one of the strengthened aims of the greening payment of European Agricultural Policy (CAP) as diversification provides numerous ecosystems services compared to cereal-intensive crop rotations. This study focuses on current minor crops in Finland that have potential for expanded production and considers changes in...

Genetic improvements in sensitivity of darkening as raw and boiled of winter potato in 1970–2005 as five-year moving averages (grey line). Black circles indicate the interannual variations of experimental means across all the cultivars of Luke Official Variety Trials. The figure within the panel indicates the mean genetic change in quality traits....

Changes in field area devoted to minor crops crops (symbol for each crop group in the right margin) since 1920 in Finland with spring wheat (in the upper panel with open circle) as a reference of major crop. Data from Luke Statistics Services [26]. (TIF)

The share of fields having none or one to five times different minor crops in their rotations within two five-years periods compared to the dominating crop, spring cereals. The data covers 70 000 fields that are located on the prime crop production region of Finland having thereby the highest potential for cultivation of minor crops. Data from Mavi...

Interannual variations in proportion of yield with acceptable quality in Finland in winter cereals, potato, pea and hay for 1988–2006. Spring wheat is shown as a reference of major crop. The black square is the national mean while the line indicates the spatial variation depending on year. Data from Luke Statistics Services [26]. (TIF)

Changes in land use of cereal crops, grassland and fallow since 1920 in Finland. Symbol indicating each crop group is shown in the right margin next to the end-tail of each trend. Data from Luke Statistics Services [26]. (TIF)

The addition of biochar to agricultural soils is recommended to improve soil functions and plant growth. However, due to high variability in the quality of biochar, its effects on soils and plants are likely to differ. We explored the impacts of pyrolysis temperature on the quality and usability of birch wood biochar as a soil amendment. The impact...

The current study aimed to evaluate breeding effect on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), its components and some agronomic traits and disease resistance in barley by using extensive germplasm covering 72 landraces and 123 cultivars released since 1910. Trials were established in southern Finland with a modified strip-plot experimental design. Prior to...

Occurrence of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (CLso) was studied in field-grown carrots (Daucus carota) in different regions of Finland. In addition, the frequency of CLso in carrots and in the field populations of carrot psyllid (Trioza apicalis), the vector, was studied in Southwestern Finland. CLso was detected in six of the seven regions...

Global warming is likely to prolong the growing season at high latitudes where the brevity of the growing season currently limits crop growth and yields. A longer growing season, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), dedicated plant breeding, and adjusted agronomic practices could open new avenues to increase yield potential while reducing ris...

The climate in high latitudes is characterized by large variability in the weather, leading to significant and diverse risks in agriculture. This study aimed to ascertain the most harmful weather events for different crops, and identify the potential for improving resilience of high-latitude agricultural systems to climate change and variability th...

Generalist herbivores can face many challenges when choosing their host plant. This can be particularly difficult if their choice and performance are affected by host experience. Greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum Westwood (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is an invasive generalist herbivore, which has established in year-round greenhouses at n...

The Neomehi project studied how neonicotinoid-based plant protection products affected honey bee colonies in oilseed rape and turnip rape cultivations in Finland. The final report combines the results of the growing seasons of 2013 and 2014. The experimental protocol included four trial fields where spring turnip rape was cultivated. Each trial fie...

High latitude agriculture is rainfed. Climate change could, however, increase water deficiency and initiate a call for development of irrigation systems as a part of field water management systems. This study aimed to develop a basic understanding about the current state of irrigation potential according to region by monitoring proximity of fields...

The influence of sulphur (S) application on yield formation, hordein composition and malting quality of 2-rowed spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was studied in Nordic conditions for the first time. In a greenhouse experiment, S deficiency was indicated when 10 mg S/kg soil or less was available, by an increase in the malate:sulphate ratio in leav...

The Finnish agri-environmental program (AEP) has been in operation for 20 years with >90 % farmer commitment. This study aimed to establish whether reduced nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) use has impacted spring cereal yields and quality based on comprehensive follow-up studies and long-term experiments. We found that the gap between genetic yield...

A growing scarcity of freshwater supplies threatens societies and their future wellbeing as demand for water in agriculture increases. Water deficit often interferes with crop growth in temperate regions. However, between season and within season spatial and temporal variations in precipitation are high. Finland has abundant, good-quality freshwate...

Rapeseed soil seed bank development and volunteer plant establishment represent substantial risk for crop infestation and GM contamination. This study was designed to complement such investigations with novel understanding from high latitude conditions. Four experiments were designed to characterise seed loss at harvest, persistence, viability and...

The objectives of this study were to: 1. Determine whether carrot psyllids are capable of phloem feeding on potato. 2. Determine whether there are any differences in feeding behaviour between female and male Trioza apicalis and on carrot and potato plants. EPG was used to measure the time spent by T. apicalis probing each plant tissue type in potat...

Carrot psyllid Trioza apicalis was recently found to carry the plant pathogenic bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (CLs). To confirm the transmission of bacteria by the psyllids and to dissect the symptoms caused in carrot plants by psyllid feeding and CLs infection, a greenhouse experiment with single psyllids feeding on separate pla...

There is evidence for overall spring advancement and phenology shift across the northern hemisphere, including northern Europe, where cereals are grown despite the very short growing season. This study focused on one of the principal risks associated with the short growing season, weather-induced variability in sowing time. The aim was to character...

Soil is an effective barrier to light penetration that limits the direct influence of light on belowground organisms. Variation in aboveground light conditions, however, is important to soil-dwelling animals that are periodically active on the soil surface. A prime example is the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris L. (the dew-worm), an ecosystem engine...

Simulation models are frequently applied to determine the production potential of forage grasses under various scenarios, including climate change. Thorough calibrations and evaluations of forage grass models can help improve their applicability. This study evaluated the ability of the Light Interception and Utilization Simulator-GRAss (LINGRA) mod...

Intensified climate and market turbulence requires resilience to a multitude of changes. Diversity reduces the sensitivity to disturbance and fosters the capacity to adapt to various future scenarios. What really matters is diversity of responses. Despite appeals to manage resilience, conceptual developments have not yet yielded a break-through in...