Manure analysis and dosing system leads to a reduction in nitrogen emissions from agriculture

Two Twente agriculture producers, Schuitemaker and Veenhuis, merged last year. The Schuitemaker and Veenhuis brand names are both very strong and well-known in the market, so they decided to retain both. The name of the joint holding is SVgroup. Veenhuis’s characteristic mustard-yellow tanks, originally from Raalte, and Schuitemaker’s tomato-red machines from Rijssen are indispensable in the Twente countryside.  Schuitemaker and Veenhuis are both renowned premium brands in their respective market areas, namely, feed extraction and manure solutions respectively. Schuitemaker has been in existence for 100 years and Veenhuis for 81, which means they are real traditional Twente manufacturing companies. The companies have decided to merge to be stronger in the future. SVgroup is now fully housed in Rijssen.

Farmers must comply with Dutch legislation. There is, among other things, a maximum amount of manure that may be used. It is, therefore, important for farmers to use their resources efficiently. This efficiency boost and focus on precision farming started 30 to 35 years ago at Veenhuis. They designed systems whereby manure is no longer spread above ground but in the soil at the root of the crop. This made manure use more efficient and accurate. By now, the development of precision systems for spreading and using manure has continued to grow. The newest product is the super-efficient Nutriflow

The Nutriflow consists of an infrared sensor that analyses the manure real-time during application. In other words, the farmer measures the level of nutrients that are in the manure when he spreads it across his field. He can adjust the dosage based on this because he can determine exactly how much manure is needed. “Dutch law states that a farmer can only apply a limited amount of nitrogen and phosphate on his land. Samples of the nutrient levels in manure could already be made, but these are average values in a manure storage and do not represent the value that is released at a certain place and point in time. With the Nutriflow, you can see what the levels in the manure are in real-time, so you know how much manure you have to spread depending on the needs of the crop”, says Hans Huisjes, product manager at SVgroup. “The farmer does not determine how many cubic meters of manure he wants to spread per hectare, but how much nitrogen or phosphate he wants to apply. That is the importance of the Nutriflow. You apply manure based on how many kilograms of nutrients, instead of cubic metres of manure”. If a tractor is equipped with GPS, it can register how much fertiliser has been applied to a specific location.

Veenhuis’s Nutriflow system is useful for the farmer and good for the world. Ultimately, the total amount of nitrogen emissions is also limited by this system. By working as efficiently as possible, you can still provide the necessary nutrients to your crops with a minimum amount of fertiliser. Innovative farmers and agricultural businesses from Twente thus provide solutions to problems that their sector is struggling with. Not only to comply with legislation but above all with a heart for our world and nature. Want to know more about future-proof innovative farmers from Twente? Then click here.