H1 – Reduction of tillage intensity
Description:
Reducing tillage saves fuel and strengthens humus buildup and thus CO2 storage in the fields
Impact | |
|---|---|
CO2 | |
N2O | |
CH4 | |
Energy | |
Resources |
What it does:
If the soil is tilled less about 5-15l of fuel per hectare can be saved and if no longer turned, the humus content can be increased. If a 10% increase can be achieved in 5 years around 13t of CO2 can be stored per hectare
How to get it done | |
|---|---|
What is to be done | Especially with no-till tillage (e.g. no-till), no longer turn the soil but conserve it |
Impact | Medium |
Potential to be realised and possible conflict of interest | Changing tillage needs to be part of the entire cropping system and will need different management and machines to cope with weeds, diseases and crop reminder in order to keep or increase sustainable yield levels |
Roadmap and time horizon | 1-5 years |
Cost | Reduced cost through less tillage. There is going to be a yield dip for a few years to fully establish the new system and mangement |
Investment | New tillage and seeding equipment. If with normal replacement cycle no additional investment, if not can be significant and several €10’000 up to €100’000 for an average European farm |
Financing | Bank loan, leasing, agricultural investment funds, national schemes |
How to measure, assess impact and whom to talk to | |
|---|---|
Impact | Medium impact through fuel savings, savings in gray energy from machines and C storage in soil |
What to measure | Soil carbon content and fuel / machinery use |
How to measure | Fuel measures from machines, soil carbon with sampling and satellite input, gray energy from machines with C-balance tools |
Solution providers | AgriCircle (www.agricircle.com), Treffler (www.treffler.net) and other machinery producers, local extension service |
Farmer acceptance | Medium (16% of farmers in AgroCO2ncept have implement measures by 2020). First steps are rather easy, but the less tillage, the more demanding and the bigger the change |
References | AgroCO2ncept (www.agroco2ncept.ch) |
H2 – Reduction of passages and soil load
Description:
Vehicles should not exceed a maximum contact area pressure and a minimum number of trips should be achieved through optimal equipment, crop rotation, plot structure, etc.
Impact | |
|---|---|
CO2 | |
N2O | |
CH4 | |
Energy | |
Resources |
What it does:
The reduced passes and wheel loads can save energy and prevent soil compaction or denitrification due to lack of oxygen
How to get it done | |
|---|---|
What is to be done | Matching of attachment system (number of trips) and machine park (wheel loads) by means of Terranimo/TIM and carbon balancing tools |
Impact | Medium |
Potential to be realised and possible conflict of interest | Combination of different passages might lead to side effects like soil can not rest / dry before drilling and bigger, heavier machines |
Roadmap and time horizon | 1-5 years |
Cost | Reduced cost through less passages |
Investment | Might need new equipment. To be evaluated case by case |
Financing | Own resources, Bank loan, national schemes |
How to measure, assess impact and whom to talk to | |
|---|---|
Impact | Medium impact through fuel and energy savings and the prevention of soil compaction or denitrification due to lack of oxygen |
What to measure | Soil carbon content and fuel / energy use |
How to measure | Fuel measures from machines, soil carbon with sampling and satellite input |
Solution providers | AgriCircle (www.agricircle.com), Terranimo (www.terranimo.ch – Also directly included in AgriCircle), flotation tyre producers and tyre pressure systems such as from PTG (www.ptg.info) |
Farmer acceptance | Medium (11% of farmers in AgroCO2ncept have implement measures by 2020). First savings are easy. Further optimizations become harder |
References | AgroCO2ncept (www.agroco2ncept.ch) |
H3 – Optimization of spatial utilization structures and use of GPS-technology
Description:
Improvement of cross-farm spatial structures, e.g. through melioration, leasehold land consolidation and land use exchange, as well as improvement of on-farm management structures as well as the use of GPS technology for parallel driving
Impact | |
|---|---|
CO2 | |
N2O | |
CH4 | |
Energy | |
Resources |
What it does:
On optimally shaped and used surfaces, machining is simplified, the distances traveled are reduced, and thus the effort and energy consumption are minimized. Also overlapping / headland in cultivation is minimized and leading to savings in fertilizer, seeds and crop protection
How to get it done | |
|---|---|
What is to be done | Potential analysis based on the plot and management plans and evaluation of best fitting GPS solution |
Impact | High |
Potential to be realised and possible conflict of interest | Exchange of land can also lead to friction amongst the farming community and lead to less collaboration leading to higher emissions |
Roadmap and time horizon | 5-10 years |
Cost | Cost of melioration and h of discussions amongst farmers to agree on changes. Annual licences of GPS-RTK signal of €0-1’500/year |
Investment | Cost of melioration, invest in GPS devices of around €15’000-25’000 per tractor |
Financing | Own resources, National schemes |
How to measure, assess impact and whom to talk to | |
|---|---|
Impact | High impact through reduced fuel and energy consumption and less overlapping / less headland in cultivation minimizing inputs |
What to measure | Fuel and energy use, amount of overlap in cultivation |
How to measure | Fuel and energy measures from machines, overlap with drones or measuring on the ground |
Solution providers | AgriCircle (www.agricircle.com), FMIS and machinery producers, open source GPS solutions such as CEREA (https://cerea-forum.de/forum) or AgOpenGPS (http://agopengps.gh-ortner.com/doku.php), drone producers such as DJI (www.dji.com), Yuneec (www.yuneec.com), Sensefly (www.sensefly.com) |
Farmer acceptance | Medium (32% of farmers in AgroCO2ncept have implement measures by 2020). Needs inter-company approaches |
References | AgroCO2ncept (www.agroco2ncept.ch) |
