ABSTRACT
The Lautenbach project started in the fall of 1978 at the private estate of Lautenbach in southwestern Germany. The Lautenbach project is conceived to reach specified goals in reducing inputs, maintaining income, and improving ecological stability. A farming system commonly is established on the results of agricultural research. These include the results of plant breeding, soil science, microbiology, chemistry, and agroecological studies. All chemicals used in the sustainable system of Lautenbach were chosen according to their specific environmental side-effects. Management of nutrients by including a green manure crop is a realistic method to prevent nitrate losses. For groundwater protection, farmers in the State of Baden-Wurttemberg, Federal Republic of Germany, maintain the water-soluble nitrate fraction in their soils below the limit of 45 kilograms per hectare in the fall. Chemical control costs were reduced an average of 36 percent and variable machinery costs an average of 6.7 percent.
