Introduction

Precision Mineral Supplementation is Use Case 2.6 of the Internet of Food and Farming 2020 (IoF2020) project. IoF2020 has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 731884.

IoF2020 is dedicated to make precision farming a reality by promoting data-driven technology, that can improve the comptetitiveness and sustainability of food and farming. IoF2020 is designed to generate maximum impact right from the outset and in the long-run, bringing closer together and integrating the supply and demand sides of IoT technologies in the agri‐food sector. Read more at the IoF2020 webpage - www.iof2020.eu.

Pitstop^PLUS

The idea of precision mineral supplementation of dairy cows is completely novel and unique, and no other technology similar to Pitstop^PLUS is found. The use of electronic ear tags for dairy farm management purposes is spreading, and Pitstop^PLUS uses the open standards HDX or FDX for electronic ear tagging based on ISO standard 11784 and 11785 according test methods given by point 7 in ISO standard 24631-1. Furthermore, Pitstop^PLUS uses LoRa wireless networks for communication between the feeders and the master unit, and a management and supervision interface, Pitstop^PLUS Manager, happen e.g. on basis of WiFi connected mobile phones, and cloud-based data storages with synchronisation with Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) data. The whole systems shall work in an environment with high variations in temperatures in a dusty, humid atmosphere with high concentrations of ammonia and other aggressive gases.

The Use Case activities are designed to mature Pitstop^PLUS for exploiting its advanced features as well as its synergies with the existing UC2.3 HERDSMAN+. Establishing test beds in three different regions ensures a range of location-sensitive issues to be clarified, given their diversity in pre-conditions for use of IoT based farming systems. The central goal is to showcase and optimise the Pitstop^PLUS system for commercial use in these three countries / regions to pave the way for access to markets worldwide, or in specific at the main target markets that are specified in our Feasibility Study, whereof Germany potential is one of the largest key markets.

Some facts

The Use Case project runs for two years in 2019 and 2020. Organe Institute ApS is coordinator of the Use Case with Zemnieku Saeima, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and Lehr- und Versuchszentrum Futterkamp under Landwirtschaftskammer Schleswig-Holstein as partners.

The Use Case is implemented in close contact with stakeholders, first of all the six dairy farms, where Pitstop^PLUS is demonstrated and trialed, but as well mineral feed suppliers, farm advisory organisations, research, dairies, representatives of IACS registers holding information about dairy cows, and consumers. A central stakeholder is MicroFeeder, which is the company that develops the Pitstop^PLUS technology and will market it in the future.

Information about Use Case activities will be availble from the Pitstop^PLUS webpage as well as from https://www.iof2020.eu/trials/dairy/precision-mineral-feeding and social media.

Introduction

SuMaNu, which is an abbreviation for the Interreg-Baltic co-funded platform project "Sustainable manure and nutrient management for reduction of nutrient loss in the Baltic Sea Region", has started with participation of Organe Institute.

Interreg-Baltic has supported SuMaNu as well as five other platform projects, which all aims to follow-up on earlier projects in their repective priority area in order to strengthen project impacts and sustainability of project results, in particular by better linking of project results with policies.

The aim of the SuMaNu project platform is to enhance the capacity of authorities, policy makers, farmers and advisors to use and govern the use of nutrients, especially from manure, in a sustainable way and to reduce nutrient leaching. The project also aims to enhance the capacity of the target groups to understand the concept of nutrient recycling. This will be done by summarizing the project results to sciencebased recommendations that will be created in close cooperation with the target groups and communicated via the wide networks of the partnership.

Get a short project presentation sheet here: 

Some facts

The project runs until March 2021, it is led by Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), has a budget of app. € 1 million and has 9 partners.

You find some additional project facts here: 

Our role

The SuMaNu project, being highly related to policies in the area of nutrient management in farming, including manure management, fits highly the competences of Organe Institute, who participates broadly in the project activities. In specific, Organe Institute will clarify key messages and recommendations of earlier projects, and evaluate the degree of their implementation and reasons for that in the different Baltic Sea Region countries.

Organe Institute's participation in SuMaNu has its basis in our role as work package leader in 'Baltic Slurry Acidification', and Director of Organe Institute, Henning L. Foged, has also been work package leader in the earlier strategic project BalticCOMPASS, been involved in BalticManure, and had a close cooperation with BalticDEAL.

The photo is from BalticCOMPASS, which recommended a wider use of slurry separation, and therefore supported a cooperative of pig-farmers at Bornholm to establish a mobile slurry separation unit.

Introduction

Baltic Slurry Acidification promotes the implementation of slurry acidification techniques (SAT's) in the region and mitigates thus airborne eutrophication of the Baltic Sea waters and hazardous aerosol formation in the Baltic Sea Region. Livestock manure is the main source of ammonia-nitrogen emissions in the region and, through atmospheric deposition, these emissions account for a significant amount of nitrogen entering the waters. Ammonia emissions also threaten human health through the formation of particulate aerosols, which as a pollutant is estimated to have a very high negative impact on human health. Slurry acidification techniques (SATs) can be used to reduce ammonia losses from livestock manure in livestock housing, manure storages and from the fields during the application of manure. Several pilot SAT installations and field trials around the Baltic Sea region will provide concrete experiences that will be disseminated to stakeholders via field walks, demonstrations and other activities. The project will further clarify technological aspects of SATs, analyze the environmental and economic implications, conduct market analysis and suggest policy recommendations that could help dissemination of SAT technology in the Baltic Sea region.

Some facts

Baltic Slurry Acidification started in March 2016 and lasts three years, until March 2019.

Baltic Slurry Acidification has status as a flagship project, meaning that it has an acknolwledged role in the implementation of EU's strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Our monogram for the project signals the connection to livestock production.

Get a short project presentation sheet here: 

Read more at the project web site at http://www.balticslurry.eu and follow us at Facebook.

Our role

Organe Institute ApS leads WP6 about policies and market analyses. WP6 will do country specific analyses of related policies, legislation, framework conditions and market potentials and will thus clarify the potential for use of Slurry Acidification Technologies (SATs) in the individual Baltic Sea Region (BSR) countries. Danish policies, legislation and support schemes will be a baseline for policies, legislation and support schemes in other project countries, and potential enablers and barriers for the disseminated use of SATs in the Baltic Sea Region countries will be identified. The activities will include investigation of possible work safety related provisions associated with SATs, and exchange of Danish ways to take ' necessary precautions. Market analyses will especially focus on the farming structure and practices that are favouring the use of SATs, such as slurry’s share of produced livestock manure.

The work from WP 2 (Technical Feasibility Studies), WP 3 (Pilot Installations and Demonstrations), WP 4 (Field Trials), and analyses from WP 5 (Environmental and Economic Implications) will support the studies in WP 6. On basis of that, policy recommendations will be formulated and they will provide the foundation for a qualified dialogue with target groups, including authorities, farmers organisations, research, farm advisory services, business and policy makers in the BSR countries concerning the potentials of SATs as  instruments for reach of national targets for air and water quality as well as for the economic development of the livestock production.

Roundtables geared towards the target groups will be aimed to stimulate cross-sector and policy oriented dialogue, and to rise the capacity to develop national legislation and support schemes for SATs. Dissemination and communication activities will also comprise articles for the project website and various media, newsletters and presentations at international conferences.

Specific objectives include activities like:

• Country-wise policy recommendations and guidelines
• Roundtable meetings

Organe Institute has assisted MicroFeeder to receive funding from the SME Instrument udner EU's Horizon2020 programme for carrying out a Phase 1 Feasibility Study.

Only about 5% of the very best written proposals based on convincing business cases are seleected for funding under the SME Instrument.

Pitstop PLUS is a market disrupting invention that results from rethinking the way dairy cows should be supplemented in the context of increased use of TMR along with increasing productivity.

Click here to read more about Pitstop^PLUS

CropManager is the software for the professional crop farmer, who knows that planning, registration and control of his production is an indisputable condition for the economic return of it. CropManager is an on-line cloud computing tool, which means that you can access it anywhere there is an internet connnection, such as via computer, tablet or smartphone. It is a great advantage, that you can share your access to your CropManager data with anyone you have given the access, such as your adviser or your employees.

CropManager

...is the tool for PLANNING both crop rotation, fertilisation, plant protection and crop production ecocnomy:

• Field history and crop rotation planning
• Calculation of livestock manure production
• Planning fertilising of field crops
• Economic optimisation of mineral fertiliser use; N, P, K, Mg, S elements
• Plant protection planning
• Gross margins for crops, fields and the entire farm
• Calculation of key figures / reporting to authorities
• Preparation of application for EU crop payments (subsidies)

Many farmers have more than one farm, and with CropManager you are able to register as many farms you wish under your login. This is also a great advantage for those who use CropManager as basis for farm advisory activities. Additionally, with CropManager, data that has once been registered remains in ths system, and it is also possible to make electronic import of field data. CropManager is always updated because it is a cloud-computing software, and you don't need wasting your time on tedious program installation. Furthermore, CropManager doesn't require any purchase / investment in the software - access to use the program is free, while printing require a small annual subscription fee.

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Field registration module

CropManager includes a module for accessing prepared plans, for registration of field operations and for keeping journals of plant protection products, thus enabling REGISTRATION and CONTROL.

Click here to start using CropManager today: