SYNOPS WEB Norway – a new environmental tool

Norway’s Regulations Concerning Pesticides require users to take into account the risk of unintended environmental effects. In integrated pest management, there is also a general requirement to choose products and methods that present the lowest possible risk to health and the environment. All professional farmers must justify and document the choices they make in a special pest management journal.

In the new tool, SYNOPS WEB Norway, these choices are now brought together.

“Here, the environmental impact of protection measures can be assessed along with site-specific information about soil and weather conditions and the characteristics of pest management products, for example degradation, sorption and transport in the soil,” explains Marianne Stenrød, department head at NIBIO.

This way, several different crop protection strategies can be compared, making it possible to choose the strategy with the lowest possible environmental risk.

The tool’s model simulations make it possible to assess the effect of different measures to reduce the spread of plant protection products in the environment. Measures for reducing surface runoff, such as reduced tillage and vegetation zones, and measures for reducing drift can be simulated.

Because SYNOPS WEB Norway is linked to other data sources, the tool also provides useful information about topography, soil type and soil properties. This is important for identifying areas subject to surface runoff and calculating the distance to open water, which is critical to environmental risk in terms of pesticide drifting.