Eco Hvar

The information has been gathered anonymously, and we thank everyone who filled in the questionnaire. The survey was completed between 2019 and 2020.

Number of completed questionnaires: 62.

1. Land owned (or rented): 569,296 square metres (m2), 56.9296 hectares (ha)

- Land under cultivation: 494,211 m2, (49.4211 ha) (2 not specified)

2. Crops cultivated (farmer numbers): vines 45; olives: 50; fruit: 24; vegetables: 39 ; lavender: 12; asparagus: 2; wheat: 0; almonds: 1; exotic fruits/vegetables (tomatillos, aronia / chokeberries): 1; flowers- limonium (sea lavender): 1

3. Number keeping animals on the Plain: 4: (dog, 1; horses, 1; chickens, 1; goats, 1)

4. Registered farm businesses (OPG): 43

5. Registered (certificated) to use pesticides (so-called "plant protection products"): 43

6. Organic certificated: 3

7. Number using herbicides: 30

Specifically: Cidokor (Roundup), Boomefekt, Uragan/Ouragan (all glyphosate-based); "glyphosate-based"; "Cidokor and other glyphosate-based herbicides";

How often and when? variously: once a year; 1-2 times a year; "as needed"; "once during the season"; "once around the vines to avoid getting scratched"; "once a year in the places the rotavator can't get to"; "a little"

8. Number using insecticides: 26

      - including: naturally-based substances according to organic rules; organic teas (nettle etc.); fastac; actara; affirm; bordeaux mix; "against beetles"; "I ask the professionals"; cuprablau (copper with zinc); laser; "various"; "those needed for vines and olives"; rogor; mospillan; yellow sticky traps for olive fly; what's available; nordox

How often and when? variously: as needed; occasionally, according to the season; once a year; during blossom time; twice a year; three times a year; in June, as needed; rarely; a little; very rarely, when needed for a major infestation

9. Number using fungicides: 38

Specifically: naturally-based substances according to organic rules; cuprablau (copper with zinc); sulphur-based products; bordeaux mixture; copper-based products; sulphur; nordox; antrakol; mikal; luna; ridomil; topas; falcon; "everything"; cabrio top; "contact/ copper based / systemic / all types"; "those recommended for protecting grapes"; "various"; "the ones needed for vines"; "contact (sulphur, cuprablau)"; Universalis; pyrus; cadillac; chromosul; "against powdery mildew and downy mildew"; pergardo

How often and when? variously: when needed; occasionally, depending on the season; once a year; twice a year; 5-6 times a year; up to 6 times a year; 6-7 times a year; in May and June; "during the vine vegetation phase"; "during the vine spraying time"; from May to July; "when I have to"; "preventively"; "during the spraying season"; "without them, there's nothing"; "2-4 times spraying during vegetation"; twice a year in May and July; 7 - 10 times during vine vegetation time.

10. Actively follow information on agriculture: yes: 44; no: 17 (one non-reply)

      -Sources of information: Education / courses: 17; from professionals / experts: 23; Internet: 33; advertisements: 11; fellow-cultivators: 38; radio 1;

11. Follow information (including bans) about chemical pesticides: yes 47, no 14 (one non-reply)

12. Follow information about alternative organic plant protection products: yes 42, no 18 (two non-replies)

SUGGESTIONS, CRITICISMS, COMMENTS:

•  I would be grateful to know where i can obtain information and courses about protecting my olive trees, correct ways to prune them and organic cultivation.
•  The Ager is shameful, 80% neglected land, only 20% cultivated by my estimate. The rough tracks with no asphalt are a catastrophe (making access to land plots difficult), store sheds should be within set dimensions and proportions (not containers and wooden shacks); they should have stone walls, or be clad in stone. Before, there were stone huts (trimovi) for equipment and shelter, but now that's impossible. Sadly, young people are not going into agriculture, they're not interested in grapes and wine, sadly they drink BEER!
• How can farmers be steered towards strimming instead of using chemical pesticides? Organic agriculture should be promoted on the island.
• There needs to be a survey about irrigation, according to the National Programme for Irrigation in the Republic of Croatia, i.e. the Croatian Water Board
• We want water
• Allow the main roadways to be mended, and make it possible to renovate the access paths to the land plots - by widening the paths etc.
• A way needs to be found to encourage owners of neglected land plots to tidy them up. The macadam tracks need to be put right to make them easier and safer to use. Encourage people not to allow their animals to roam everywhere, they should take care of them. Find a way of providing water over the whole Ager.
• Forbid every form of Herbicide / Fungicide and above all Insecticide!!!
• There is lots of uncultivated land and the reason for it is our political policy for agriculture for the islands about which all I can say is that of the grapes which we produce 80% of the producers don't know what to do with them.
• I would keep animals on my land, but I am not allowed to make an animal shelter for them!
• There should be more support and encouragement for the land users on the Ager, so that it does not get overrun by brambles and trees, then the story about the thriving parcelized Stari Grad Plain will not be a "pipe-dream"!
• The roadways and tracks are in a very bad state. Please pave the main roads at least with asphalt.
• It should be possible for farmers with a registered business (OPG) to erect on their land a building with at least the minimum technical requirements for wine-tasting.
• If restrictions were relaxed and rules were more flexible, it would be better for everyone and there would be less untended land.
• I think it is necessary to do a reconnaissance of the situation on the ground. To get to my land I cross other plots where, without let or hindrance, various little buildings have been erected, and old vehicles and rubbish dumped. I think the type of any buildings should be limited. If small buildings for tools are approved, their size and appearance should be precisely defined as a condition for approval.
• Motivate owners of neglected land plots to bring them into function. Farmers could be motivated by having a certain market for their produce from the Ager. The tracks across the Ager should be restored.
• If you want agriculture on the Stari Grad Plain, pave the tracks across the Ager with asphalt.
• The Association responsible for the Ager should be more flexible towards the farmers. We live off our agriculture and our work, we don't live off you.
• No earthly use up to now, just plenty of messing around.
• I recommend that even on these small land plots we should be allowed to build small buildings.

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• In my opinion small buildings should be allowed on the Ager, or at least some kind of appropriate structure for storing tools and sheltering livestock, we can't build stone roundhouses these days but we could have something similar, not wooden portacabins as has sometimes happened, but little stone-clad buildings. And there should be asphalted or concreted access tracks to each land plot.
• The road between Stari Grad and Vrboska should be asphalted, - access tracks should be repaired, - land plots should be cleared of weeds, - plant residues should be dealt with ecologically, - soil fertility should be monitored - fertilizer should be recommended according to the state of the soil - conduct research into the international area, - reduce the amounts of artificial fertilizer.
• Make a road (from white asphalt or some other permitted material) so that tourists, cyclists and we farmers don't have to swallow dust because the whole Hora is under one big fog of dust.
• It would be good if the local authorities considered forming an Association of small-scale farmers, to stop the neglect of the Ager, as it is now it will all be taken over by weeds - this is already happening on the Ager.
• Contact the Agency for the Management of the Starigrad Plain for information about all current and future projects.
• Brambles are rampant on the Ager, ...trees are growing wild... I hope for a Plan and Programme for the Ager, legalization of the field houses, tours (organized) for visitors across the Ager,perhaps the creation of a branded image related to the Ager (to make it easier to market produce), etc. etc.
• There should be more care taken over cleaning the Ager and its lands, and funds should be obtained from the EU to encourage cultivation of crops on the Ager.
• Less brambles and more cultivated land
• Croatia has only a few locations with the status of international heritage, under the protection of UNESCO. Hvar has the Hora, as well as two non-material assets. We can be proud of this. Unfortunately, not, not as the Hora is looking nowadays. Living or owning land on the Hora in this historical heritage site is not pleasant. No apartments, no concrete structures, no asphalt - that's all right! To make the Hora look like the pearl it was in my childhood would take a lot of effort on the part of the farmers, along with support from the State. Without the work and presence of the farmers there are no tidy, beautiful fields. The question is how to motivate them. I see the Hora as vineyards planted with the grape varieties of Pošip, Maraškina, Bogdanuša and Plavac mali. A qualified person should decide where each variety should be planted, and the State should provide seedlings, organize preparation of the land, and the stakes and wires. Interested farmers would establish a Cooperative and winery, where they could work as volunteers alongside two employed professionals, and where they could sell their grapes. The wine produced in this winery would be sold in Stari Grad, which is also part of our historical heritage, and it would be forbidden to sell any other wines until all the Hora wine was sold. So the shops, restaurant and bar owners would be obliged to sell wine made from grapes from the Hora. In this way farming would be made attractive. Because only the farmers can restore the Hora to its proper appearance, and up to now they are the only people who have only losses from the fact that they own land on the Hora. While those who gain from the Hora are the State, people in the hospitality business, shops and those twisted creations called Agrotourism from which animals roam free to ruin the neighbouring vineyards and kill off what little enthusiasm there is of the people who cultivate them.
• Mend the road first of all
• Access roads and paths, asphalt
•  It would be good if local farmers could build small sheds or huts for equipment on the Ager.
•  The road should be asphalted because the Ager attracts tourists and the drystone walls and stone huts should be preserved as our predecessors preserved them
•  The existing roads should be repaired. Regulations should be established about what local people can and cannot do!
• There needs to be better maintenance of the main roads. Consideration should be given to incentives for tidying abandoned fields.
• Asphalt the roads and legalize the buildings.
• Asphalt the roads, paths; farm buildings.
• 1. Our ancestors built huts and stone roundhouses (trimovi in Croatian) for protection against the sun and rain, nowadays that is all consigned to the past and we are not allowed to touch anything, so I wonder what we will be leaving to our successors, a jungle? as young people don't go to the fields any more. The wineries take my grapes and don't pay me, they owe all of use grape-growers about 100,000 kunas, and the State about 4,000,000 kunas. 2. We go to our fields in motor vehicles, macadam is for mules and donkeys. 
• Essential: asphalt the roads for access to the fields, and allow some buildings for equipment.
• Roads should be asphalted. And we need buildings for equipment.
• Asphalt the roads, provide grants (financial assistance), allow buildings for agricultural needs, provide education for the farmers.
•  Give the Ager produce a trade-mark symbol.
• The Ager is too neglected, the uncultivated areas should be cleaned up, as it is, it is a disgrace. And the road from Stari Grad should be asphalted.

For a more comprehensive listing of pesticides in common use in Croatia, please refer to 'Pesticide Products in Croatia'; for a list of pesticide active substances together with their possible adverse effects and the scientific sources of the information, also listings of approved products, see 'Pesticides and their Adverse Effects'

CONTACT for further information:

LAG Škoji: 095/549-5949 (Website, in Croatian www.lag-skoji.hr)

Agencija za upravljanje Starogradskim Poljem: 021 765 275 (Website, in Croatian www.starogradsko-polje.com)

Udruga Eco Hvar, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The survey was completed between 2019 and 2020.