Cooperativa Plana de Vic – Solucions Manresa
Monitoring all the slurry released annually from a farm using Near Infrared
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Total project budget: 212.000,00 €
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Start Date: 01/10/2018
End Date: 30/09/2020
Project Summary:
In Catalonia, 64% of the regions already have areas declared as vulnerable by nitrates, transforming soils where cannot be applied more than 170 kg N/ha per year from livestock manure. One of the tools implemented to monitor the application of N in the soils is the incorporation of a remote-control system (via GPS) in the slurry tanks to record the information regarding the location of the catchment and the application. The new Decree on Livestock Manure implements a new improvement in the system for monitoring and controlling the application of manure through the incorporation of conductivity probes to the tanks to estimate the content of N and K applied, leaving behind the use of the theoretic reference values. However, conductivity is still not an exact or precise measure for determining the concentration of nutrients (N, P, K) in slurry.
The development of a technology, based on NIR sensors (near-infrared Spectroscopy), linked to the already existing GPS monitoring of the tanks, would allow the distribution of the application of nutrients from livestock manure throughout the Catalan territory and especially, the amount of N, P and K that is generated in each of the farms.
Our role in the project:
The BETA Technological Center is responsible for evaluating the technical viability of the technology by carrying out several tests on different farms and different types of slurry (fattening, mothers and closed cycle) during the collection of slurry from a real pond in a tank. In each test, the nutrient content (N:P:K) of several samples from the suction of the slurry catchment was evaluated. The Beta Technological Center was also responsible for determining the economic viability of the system in relation to the quality of the data obtained.
Project funded through Operation 16.01.01 (Cooperation for Innovation) through the Rural Development Program of Catalonia 2014-2020.
Order ARP / 133/2017, of 21 June, approving the regulatory bases for aid for cooperation for innovation through the promotion of the creation of operational groups of the European Association for Innovation in matter of agricultural productivity and sustainability and the realization of innovative pilot projects by part of these groups, and Resolution ARP / 1531/2019, of 28 May, by which summons the mentioned help.
