Slovenian Association for Conservation Agriculture

Since its establishment in 2015, the Slovenian Association for Conservation Agriculture (SZOK) has been striving to increase the visibility of the concept of conservation farming and its implementation in general agricultural practice. Today, the Association has over 60 members from all over Slovenia and various interest groups or profiles; from university professors, agricultural advisors and colleagues from other professional and research institutions, and last but not least, farmers, who are the most numerous in our environment.

In our work, we pursue the goals of providing interdisciplinary knowledge and exchange of experiences, organizing various events and activities for members, presentations intended for the agricultural profession and the general public, and the general promotion of conservation agriculture.

Since 2018, SZOK has also been a member of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), which brings together related associations from more than 16 EU member states and beyond. In 2019, we had the opportunity to host the ECAF Annual General Meeting in Ljubljana. On this occasion, in cooperation with the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, we organized a high-profile open conference entitled "Conservation Agriculture - the Foundation of Sustainable Agriculture", in which we invited several important high-ranking guests and foreign lecturers to participate. The event received a great response from the public, thereby contributing to the recognition of our activities and the escalation of our efforts at the national level.

In Slovenia, we are recognized as a credible interlocutor on issues of future directions of Slovenian agriculture and, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders, we actively participate in the formulation of measures of the Common Agricultural Policy. The association's activities also extend to the field of professional and scientific research, as we are also involved in several international and domestic research projects.