Assessment of agriculture impact on water quality with agro-environmental indicators

Dzalbe, I.. Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water ManagementE-mail:inta.dzalbe@defra.gsi.gov.uk; Jansons, V.. Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water ManagementE-mail:lifvide@llu.lv; Busmanis, P.; Sudars, R.. Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water ManagementE-mail:lifvide@llu.lv

Assessment of agriculture impact on water quality with agro-environmental indicators

Dzalbe, I.(Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water Management)E-mail:inta.dzalbe@defra.gsi.gov.uk | Jansons, V.(Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water Management)E-mail:lifvide@llu.lv | Busmanis, P.(Latvia) | Sudars, R.(Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Rural Engineering. Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water Management)E-mail:lifvide@llu.lv

Farmers use many of the natural resources of the world; therefore, monitoring of sustainable resource management and environmentally friendly farming practices should be an important policy aim in Latvia. The changes in market system caused conflicts among sustainable agriculture development dimensions. There is a need, thus, to determine appropriate measuring tools and methods for the evaluation of farm sustainability that would help the policy makers make rational decisions. Nitrogen leaching from intensive agricultural systems is one of major contributors to increased nitrate concentrations in groundwater and eutrophication of surface waters. Most of the changes in water quality indicators can be directly associated with the farm management in the river basin. Our results indicate that the nitrogen balance and share of arable land in a farm have significant on nitrogen losses.

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