Crop nutrition, precision agriculture and soil health – VGR4

This is the fourth of a series of collaborative initiatives between SLU and Västra Götaland Region. VGR1 started in 2015. The common thread is precision agriculture and previous projects have focused on improving the infrastructure for field research and sensor technology development, digital support systems development, dissemination and benefit evaluation. The present project consists of three parts presented below. 

Soil health and nutrient use efficiency

Analytical systems and decision support within precision agriculture are typically crop oriented with a time horizon of the present cropping season. In the first, research-oriented part, one goal is to expand the use of sensors to assess soil biological functions from a soil health perspective. By investigating and potentially managing soil health, including soil biodiversity, in relation to within field variation and yield potential we introduce a long-term perspective to precision agriculture. 

The plant nutrients in manure are largely bound in organic matter, and their availability to plants is difficult to predict. There is therefore a risk of significant nutrient losses. Through improved methods, there are good opportunities to significantly increase the utilization rate of the plant nutrients in manure and reduce emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases. The current project focuses primarily on measures to reduce gas losses and increase nitrogen utilization from digestate from biogas production. 

Newly developed technology offers opportunities to produce mineral fertilizer locally with significantly reduced use of fossil energy. In the project we investigate how different forms of locally produced mineral fertilizers perform in practical crop production to achieve a more circular supply of plant nutrients.  

Precisionsskolan.se

In the second part, we are developing Precisionsskolan.se into a hub for the implementation of precision farming and a more interactive source of knowledge and information. It is only when knowledge about soil and crops becomes available to the agricultural sector in a usable format that it can make a difference through locally adapted measures. In all three VGR projects, great emphasis has been placed on communicating precision farming and the projects’ results to the agricultural sector. Not least through Precisionsskolan.se in collaboration with Agroväst. Precisionsskolan.se was developed already in VGR1 and is used in teaching. It also serves as the basis for the Focus on Nutrients precision agriculture module. The material is primarily text-based. Our ambition now is for Precisionsskolan to serve as a hub for the implementation of precision agriculture. We have moved it to SLU’s learning platform to facilitate its development into an interactive educational resource with a broad target audience that includes the agricultural administration and SLU’s educational programs, as well as the majority of agricultural stakeholders.  

Communication and dissemination

Finally, the third part consists of communication and collaboration with stakeholders, which has accompanied the VGR projects since the start with the installation of the external collaboration specialists in precision agriculture (Mats Söderström). Parts of collaboration is formalised in the collaborative research platform LADS, focused on developing agricultural decision support systems for practical precision agriculture.