News
Gelderlander, 15 September 2012
DOFCO tests the use of fertilizer pellets in potato production in Poland
From 2008 to 2011, DOFCO laid out field trials with various fertilizer pellets at an arable farm in Poland. The poultry fertilizer pellets came from the Netherlands and the pig fertilizer pellets came from Flanders (Belgium). The pellets were tested on potato plants. The aim of the trials was to gain insight into all aspects that may influence competitors who use chemical fertilizers. This concerns the mineral composition of the pellets, the effect of nitrogen, the application of pellets and any additional effects. Furthermore, DOFCO examined the economic feasibility of the use of fertilizer pellets in agriculture.
Poultry manure: solving environmental problem in Turkey with Dutch technology and know-how
In late 2009, DOFCO drew up a report commissioned by the Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency (EVD) for a pilot project to tackle environmental problems caused by poultry manure in Turkey. On 27 May 2010, Jaap Uenk explained the opportunities of using poultry manure to approximately 200 poultry farmers at a seminar in Ankara. The Ankara department of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Product Organization for Poultry Meat (BESDBIR) jointly organized this seminar.
Meanwhile the pilot has been realized by DORSET Greenmachines in Aalten and DOFCO is involved in the marketing of the natural fertilizer pellets produced in Turkey. Turkey has a rapidly increasing poultry population with an equally increasing manure production. Based upon the findings of this pilot project, a great deal of work is currently being carried out to find sustainable solutions for the environmental problems in poultry farming.
DOFCO partner in BioEcoSIM (see www.bioecosim.eu)
BioEcoSIM consists of an R&D and a demonstration programme of an integrated technological processing of animal manure. The objective is to develop sustainable products from animal manure by means of innovative techniques to be applied as high-quality fertilizers and soil conditioners in European agriculture. Fourteen European institutions and companies are working together within this EC Seventh Framework programme, headed by the Stuttgart Fraunhofer Institute. DOFCO’s role concerns the marketing and sales of end products from this process, and in particular that of the produced biochar.
DOFCO contractor in Energy land-Biores project (see www.biores.info)
Energy land-Biores is an innovative Dutch-German Interreg IV project that examines and promotes possible cross-border applications of biogas. Project partners are the Nordrhein-Westfalen Provincial Chamber of Agriculture, the Münster/Steinfurt University of Applied Science, PlanET Biogastechnik, DNL-contact Steinfurt, the Niedersachsen Provincial Chamber of Agriculture, the East Netherlands Agricultural Education Centre, Bioenergy cluster Eastern Netherlands and the Biogas Association for the Achterhoek region. Commissioned by the Biogas Association, DOFCO has mapped the possibilities of separating manure and digestate and has brought this in line with the usages of the separated fractions. An inventory has also been made of further processing and new sales opportunities of the fractions. One of the key objectives of this project is exchanging knowledge and experience.