What was the challenge/problem addressed?

The overall nutrient balance for agriculture in Switzerland shows a surplus on nitrogen and phosphorus. Therefore, the Swiss government has taken several measures to reduce these surpluses. Farms were allowed to have a surplus of 10% of nitrogen on the basis of the single farm. This leeway is abolished and forces farms to increase nitrogen efficiency. One possible way is to use variable rate application (VRA) of nitrogen fertilizer. In our specific case, we carry out on-farm research, comparing VRA to the farms usual fertilizing strategy. The results help farmers to evaluate the impact VRA has on their yield. The partnership with farmers is key because VRA is not wide spread in Switzerland and it is necessary to test tools and develop a best practice. For other farmers to take up VRA, it is crucial to see that the technique works on neighbouring farms. Neighbourhood effects for new techniques are well established in the scientific literature.

How did you solve the problem?

We carry out on-farm research on different farms in two different cantons. Therefore, the results are specific to these regions and are more likely to be viewed as transferrable by other farmers to their own farm.

The farm structure in Switerland is rather small. Hence, large investment costs for VRA techniques represent a major obsticle for taking up these techniques. Therefore, we work with different technology levels from an application map on an ordinary tablet up to GPS steering system with an ISOBUS fertilizer spreader.

What is innovative in your practical case?

A technical innovation is the inclusion of comparatively low tech solutions (application map on a tablet). An organizational innovation is the co-creative approach. In the project farmers, advisors and researchers work together in a project and benefit from the different experiences and perspectives.

What are the success factors in solving the problem?

Farmers that are willing to provide parts of their wheat acreage for the on-farm research and support actively the dissemination by giving speeches for other farmers and are available for interviews in agricultural news papers.

Lessons learned

The problems with ISOBUS could be overcome by ag dealers. For some farms we organized other farmers for fertilizer spreading. Because of the problems finding combines equipped with yield mapping, we compared the yield mapping results with samples taken by hand. The results responded very well to the yield mapping. Therefore, if it really wasn’t possible to harvest with a yield mapping combine, the hand samples could be used for analyzing.

What role does the advisor or advisory service play with the practical case?

The advisors contacted the farms and checked their interest and the technical prerequisites. Furthermore, they advised the farms during the season. They built a bridge between researchers and farmers and took

Can your approach be transferred and/or adapted for other innovation challenges and regions?

Yes

Estimated transferability on a scale from 1 to 5

(where 1 is easy and 5 very difficult)

3

 

For sharing the experience on the good practice, please contact

Benedikt Kramer

benedikt.kramer@agridea.ch; +41 52 354 9734

Link to external information

https://www.agroscope.admin.ch/agroscope/de/home/ueber-uns/standortstrategie/versuchsstationen/versuchsstation-smarte-technologien.html