Answered by: Експерт по земеделие

In short: Mostoften, flexible sowing according to moisture, conservation treatments and rootless farming, precise disease forecasting and cooperation are applied.
Southern Dobrudzha is thedriest region of Bulgaria and production is mostly irrigable.
Therefore, good practices are aimed at preserving moisture and moreprudent use of fertilizers and detergents.
Flexible sowing norm.
ET "Agro-Svetlozar Dichevski" (Varna) has switched from fixed to flexible sowing norms according to soil moisture, with drought-resistant varieties.
The result is a morestable drought yield and less seed costs.
Rootless farming and minimal cultivation.
The technology has developed in Bulgaria since 2000, mainly in Dobrudzha: first in small areas, then with the gradual exclusion of ploughing.
Fewer passes in the field.
Bomar Trade combines operations in one pass, which protects the structure and moisture of the soil.
Disease prognosis.
"Agromate" (Yambol) uses a weather station and a disease model to spray at the right moment.
This reduces the use of pesticides by up to 30%.
Cooperation.
Motor 93 Insurance Company (Babuk) shows how sharing equipment gives access to technology without much investment.
The Help Center can connect you to these farms for hands-on experience.
Material: Good Practices 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Training Module 1 and 2; Report "Innovative Approaches in Agriculture".

The climate in the region brings not so much lower as more unstable yields — good and bad years alternate more sharply. The damage is greatest when heat or drought coincides with a sensitive growth stage.

What you can do:

• Spread the risk — more crops and 2–3 varieties of one crop with different maturity, so that not all of them hit the same heatwave.
• Choose drought-tolerant varieties tested in the region and sow at the optimal date so the crop gets ahead of the summer heat.
• Conserve moisture — crop residues, minimum tillage, more humus (see section F).
• Match nitrogen to moisture — moderate fertilisation gives more stable yields over the years than high rates.
• If you have water — irrigate first in critical stages (for cereals from tillering to flowering and grain filling); timely supplementary irrigation reduces losses in dry years by 20–30%.

Material: Training Module 2, sections 2.1, 2.3 and 3.2; Literature review (Goranova), chapter 4.

Carbon farming means practices that store more carbon in the soil and reduce emissions — cover crops, minimum and no-till, leaving crop residues, agroforestry. They also raise humus and, with it, resilience to drought.

In 2024 the EU adopted a framework for certifying carbon removals (Regulation (EU) 2024/3012). It sets rules under which these practices can be measured, certified and in future earn income through carbon certificates. Common Agricultural Policy eco-schemes for soil protection also support such practices.

What to keep in mind:

• The market is at an early stage — certification schemes and prices are still being built.
• Contracts usually require a commitment over several years and measurement of soil carbon.
• Before signing, check who issues the certificate, who pays for the measurements, what happens in a bad year, and whether the practice overlaps with an eco-scheme you are already paid for.

The certain benefit comes now — from healthier soil and lower costs. Possible income from certificates is an extra opportunity, not the main reason.

Material: Training Module 2, section 2.5; Brochure 1, section 16; presentation "Policy and Regulatory Framework of Climate-Smart Agriculture", 7.07.2026.

The figures are examples and depend on the market and the year. A real example: good practice 2 ("Organic Grain", Varna) — spelt, einkorn, wheat and sunflower with cover crops.

Material: Brochure 1, section 14; Brochure 1 Appendices, "Rada in practice".

1. Sign a contract with an organic control body approved by the MAF; the conversion period starts from that moment.
2. Plan a crop rotation with legumes — for example, a five-year one: lucerne (1–2 years) → wheat → sunflower or chickpea → vetch + oats for green manure.
3. Replace synthetic fertilisers with farmyard manure or compost (2–3 t/daa) and nitrogen from the legumes.
4. Focus on prevention and mechanical weed control (harrowing, higher seeding rate).
5. Apply under the "Organic crop production" intervention (Ordinance No. 9/2023).

Material: Brochure 1 Appendices; good practice 2; Database of financing programmes.

Good practice 4 ("Agromate", Yambol) shows that moving from calendar-based spraying to treatments based on weather station data cuts pesticide use by up to 30%.

How to reduce spraying without risking the harvest:

1. Strengthen the foundation. Six low-cost measures cover most wheat diseases and pests: resistant varieties; destroying volunteers and grass weeds after harvest; crop rotation; balanced fertilisation; optimal sowing date and seeding rate; incorporating residues.
2. Break the "green bridge". Volunteers and grass weeds after harvest carry diseases and pests from the old crop to the new one — destroying them is the cheapest protection.
3. Do not overdo nitrogen. Excess nitrogen makes plants more susceptible to powdery mildew and rusts, while phosphorus and potassium increase resistance.
4. Spray by risk, not by calendar. A weather station and a disease forecasting model show when the risk is real.
5. Reduce step by step. Start with one field, compare yield and costs with the others, and expand once you see results.

Material: Brochure 2 "Sustainable management of diseases and pests"; Brochure 1, section 6.

• Diseases: powdery mildew, rusts (brown, yellow), septoria, fusarium, smuts and bunts, take-all (black root rot), viruses (wheat streak mosaic, barley yellow dwarf).
• Pests: sunn pest, cereal ground beetle, frit fly and Hessian fly, aphids, cereal leaf beetle, voles.
• General preventive measures: resistant varieties; a 2–4-year crop rotation; healthy seed; destroying volunteer plants and grass weeds; optimal sowing date and seed rate; no excess nitrogen, which makes plants more susceptible to mildew and rusts.
• In a warm, wet autumn, move sowing to the second half of the optimal window (against viruses spread by aphids).

Material: Brochure 2, sections "Key diseases" and "Key pests" (with photos of the symptoms).

Yes, by growth stage:

In total about 22–27 €/daa. Interval of 7–14 days in wet weather and at risk. The commercial products named in the brochure are examples only; check that they are authorised in Bulgaria.

Material: Brochure 1 Appendices, Appendix 2; appendix to Brochure 2 "Sample biological protection programme for wheat".

Material: Brochure 1 Appendices "Sustainable protection of barley and wheat" (Prof. Penchev).

Do not increase the dose on your own. First check that the cause was correctly identified, that the treatment was on time and that the sprayer worked evenly. The weather and the condition of the plants also affect the result.

The pest may also have become resistant. Changing the trade name does not help if the products have the same mode of action. Review the products you have used with an agronomist, and include rotation of modes of action and other control measures. Use every product only in line with its authorised use and its label.

Source: UC IPM (University of California). Material: Brochure 2, "Preventing the development of resistant forms".

Beneficial species work for free. Ladybirds, lacewings, beetles and parasitic wasps feed on aphids, mites and other pests, and birds and bats stay in the area if they have somewhere to nest. Pollinators increase yields of oilseed rape, sunflower and legumes. You do not need to take productive land out of use — use the places that are not cultivated anyway.

What the Common Agricultural Policy says: keeping existing hedgerows, trees and field margins is mandatory, and cutting them during the bird breeding season is prohibited. Pollinator strips, non-productive areas and new landscape features are voluntary and can be supported through eco-schemes. Check the current conditions and rates in the guidance of the State Fund "Agriculture" (section A).

Material: Training Module 2, section 5 "Biodiversity and habitat management"; Brochure 2; Brochure 1, sections 3, 6 and 16.