Jan Cukor received a prestigious award

Our colleague Ing. Jan Cukor, Ph.D. (FGMRI, Department of Game Management) bring home a significant award from this year’s Země živitelka (Earth Provider Fair) in České Budějovice.

This award was given him by Zdeněk Nekula, Minister of Agriculture, for 2nd place in the 2022 Minister of Agriculture Award for Young Scientists.

He received the award for the peer-reviewed professional article “Biomass productivity, forest stability, carbon balance, and soil transformation of agricultural land afforestation: A case study of suitability of native tree species in the sub montane zone in Czechia“ (Produkce biomasy, stabilita lesních porostů, sekvestrace uhlíku a změny v půdním profilu po zalesnění zemědělské půdy původními dřevinami v podhorském pásmu České republiky).

The afforestation of unproductive agricultural land represents a huge potential for the production of wood as a renewable raw material, and it provides other non-production functions of the forest at the same time, which include carbon sequestration. Biomass production and carbon accumulation is demonstrably higher on forested agricultural land than on permanent forest land and it is fundamentally influenced by the tree species. The production of forest stands of native tree species, such as maple or linden, is stable and sustainable compared to fast-growing tree species. Therefore, the afforestation of agricultural land can represent one of the key tools in mitigating effects of global climate change, with their manifestations we are encountering more and more frequently, in current turbulent times.