Arable weeds belong to the group of plants with the largest proportion of endangered species in Germany. According to experts, over 30 percent in Bavaria are endangered to severely endangered, some even threatened with extinction. In a cooperation project with the Bavarian Cultural Land Foundation, the Wrzburg Landscape Conservation Association (LPV) and the Lower Wrzburg Nature Conservation Authority, seeds of rare and endangered arable weeds from the region’s own origin were planted on suitable fields in the Leinach and Neubrunn area. The district office informed about this in a press release.
Seeds from various species were used, for example the round-leaved hare’s ear or the field stone seed, some of which are threatened with extinction throughout Germany. The areas were selected together with Marion Lang from the Bavarian Cultural Land Foundation and the biodiversity advisor for the district of Wrzburg, Jasmin Fidyka, and planted by Christiane Brandt (area manager at the LPV) and Jessica Tokarek (district garden consultant) together with the farmers. The focus was particularly on banks with low credit ratings. Arable weeds take on important tasks in the natural balance. For example, they promote the biodiversity of soil organisms and thus contribute to the mineralization of the soil, says biodiversity consultant Fidyka.
20,000 square meters of space were planned
According to the notification from the district office, the areas had to meet a number of requirements: the field should have been part of a contractual nature conservation program for at least a year or be farmed extensively on a permanent basis, which means, among other things, worked without or only with reduced fertilization and without pesticides. In addition, the species intended for sowing should not yet occur in the field. The arable weed seeds come from the southern half of the Main-Franconian plains in the districts of Main-Spessart and Würzburg. A total of four fields in the Leinach and Bttigheim districts covering an area of around 20,000 square meters were planted in consultation with the respective farmers.
The protection of arable weeds is a successful example of how agriculture can contribute to the preservation of biodiversity. Jasmin Fidyka is quoted in the press release as saying that farmers receive a premium for the extensive cultivation of the areas and the loss of yield via the contractual nature protection program. Information signs have been put up on some fields to provide information for those who are interested.
More information and an interview with Jasmin Fidyka and farmer Rainer Gersitz can be found at www.landkreis-wuerzburg.de/Biodiversittsberatung
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