Getting more from less – how agtech is working to solve the world’s fertiliser crisis
The shaker box technique allows a much more precise approach to fertiliser application.
With the cost of basic inputs like seed, fuel and fertiliser breaking new record prices on an almost monthly basis, it hasn't taken agtech long to hone in on its key selling point of getting more from less, with one of the newest machines on the ground even promising to reduce farm fertiliser use by up to 25%.
“We have a very different approach to fertiliser spreading from other companies,” Anne Walsh from Kverneland Ireland explained.
“People often get their spreader application chart and just check the name of the fertiliser, but that’s not always consistent. Fertiliser can be different sizes, even from batch to batch.
“The size and the density is the most important aspect of any projectile so we really stress the importance of using a shaker box instead to establish what your settings should be.”
To use a shaker box, an operator can take a sample of the fertiliser or seed mix, put it in the clear Perspex box and shake it up. The size and weight of the pellets will determine where they fall within the box and, as a result, what application settings should be used.
Kverneland is not the only company taking environmental efficiency seriously. Amazone has also launched border spreading deflector plates for its new fertiliser spreaders, while in the ploughing world, the concept of an “Ecoplough”, which ploughs at a shallower depth, has been taking root. Major rival Lemken also announced it was unveiling the world’s first “carbon plough” just last year.
But one of the most exciting innovations, Kvernerland's PUDAMA precision drill, has yet to make its way to Ireland.
In other parts of the world, it offers the precision of placing the precise number of granules of fertiliser needed right beside each seed at the time of planting.
The dual technology means that fertiliser is no longer wasted where there are no seeds. As a result, loss and leaching are avoided, and the production of fertiliser raw materials can also be reduced.
The machine uses a puff of air to deposit the fertiliser 5cm to the side of the seed at the time of sowing where the roots can reach it and only as much as needed. Synchronised with the seed application at high speeds, a cloud of fertiliser is placed under each maize corn during maize seeding.
It's so effective, Kverneland boasts it can achieve the same yield up to 25% less fertiliser than conventional sowing and fertilising.
The award-winning design was developed in cooperation with the TH Cologne, Institute for Construction and Agricultural Machinery Technology of Cologne.
The firm's research and development manager Volker Schanzenbach explained: “Key for farming now and in the future is to reduce the environmental and climate impact of how we produce and consume food.
"Conventional band application places a continuous band of fertiliser also between the plants, where the roots cannot reach it. This is the amount of fertiliser simply wasted and washed out.
"With PUDAMA, we can save 25% of the fertiliser. That means it does not go into the soil and it is not washed out. At the same time, we are talking about saving 81,000 tonnes of fertiliser per year in Germany, fertiliser which does not even have to be produced."
