Good grassland management includes optimised processing schedules, targeted reseeding, shallower cutting depths and an adapted number of animals on the pasture.
Depending on which grassland is considered, different short and long term adaptation strategies will result. In the short term, intensively and medium-intensively used grassland must be restored by means of reseeding. Ideal is to have grassland with a diverse mixture of grasses and legumes and not pure grass mixtures. The creation of fodder stocks is useful in order to overcome fodder shortages. Extensive grassland can only be improved to a limited extent by reseeding.
In the long term, it is increasingly important to adapt grassland management to the efficiency and quality of the locations. It is certainly worthwhile to reducethe mineral N input, avoiding ammonia emissions as far as possible and sowing legumes. In the extensive sector, the main task will be to develop suitable utilisation systems that will allow for future use. In difficult locations, there will inevitably be a shortage of farmers and one of the biggest challenges will probably be to preserve certain habitat types, such as mountain meadows, in the long term.
Biodiverse grassland areas are more resistant - and can produce higher yields
Diverse grasslands are better off to cope with extreme events such as droughts or floods, he explains, because different plant species react differently to such environmental influences, which partially compensates for any losses arising.
Sources:
<https://www.ktbl.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Allgemeines/Download/Tagungen_2019/KTBL-Tagung/KTBL-Tage_2019_Folien.pdf from p. 135>
https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/02/biodiversity-yields-financial-returns.html
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