Author(s): Franjo Tomić,Ferdo Bašić,Stjepan Husnjak / Language(s): Croatian
Issue: 25/2014
As a conditionally renewable natural resource, the soil has a crucial impact on the sustainable development of the world economy, in particular sustainable agriculture and environmental protection. More than all other we need a Croatian agricultural policy as result of the consensus among all public options, without which there is no the harmonious and sustainable development of the Croatian economy, nor overcome the economic crisis.
CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) is a document which obliges all member states of EU, and hence Croatia, including Varaždin county is created according of MFCAL (Multifuncti-onal Character of Agriculture and Land) concept. The MFCAL concept opens the way to land management system and adaptive agriculture, which means the rejection of stereotypes and adaptation to agro ecological conditions of agricultural regions and narrower growing areas, soil type, and strong reaffirmation of crop rotation.
The paper describes current situation and the most important features of the distribution of soils and indicate measures of soil amelioration and soil protection in the Varaždin County.
Soil are formed on four groups of parent substrates: calcareous (marl, calcareous sand, soft limestone, calcareous fluvial deposits), silicious-calcareous (loess, pleistocene glacial loams), silicious (acidic fluvial deposits of sand and gravel, metamorphic rocks) and Mesozoic limestones and dolomites. All substrates are mixed by erosion, landslides, fluvial transfer and chaotic overlap each other.
A prerequisite of any progress in agriculture of Varazdin county is land consolidation of land parcels and thereafter in the area of mild, especially the steep slope parcel routing and long rows perpendicular to the slope, means contour.
The sequence of factors limit soil for crop growing is: soil acidity > drought during the growing season > high groundwater level > soil erosion > low humus content and quality. Consequently, the sequence of soil amelioration practices of agricultural land is: liming > irrigation > drainage.
Liming and irrigation paves the way of progress agriculture Varazdin county changing structure of farming , the inclusion of attractive market crops, especially vegetables as second crops, for which there are very favorable conditions
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