The Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) has received funding from the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability (EIP-AGRI) for the research project "BoDi - Soil sensor-based optimised fertilisation management as an interoperable agricultural service". The project at HNEE will develop new approaches in precision farming.

The aim of the new project is to develop usable models suitable for practical agriculture from previously developed and tested prototypes of sensory functions and nutrient calculations. This includes a software package for precise, high-resolution fertiliser requirement determination, including new functions for precise humus assessment, a functionally enhanced soil sensor platform for texture mapping and, finally, a user-friendly web-based workflow that avoids media disruptions and information loss. With this development, it will be possible in future to develop fertiliser requirement models adapted to local conditions and local climatic conditions using precise site information.

Agriculture with very different locations, such as in Brandenburg, will benefit from these developments for precision farming. With optimised nutrient management, farms can increase their yields, lower their costs and reduce nutrient losses. Economic effects totalling 80 million euros per year are expected in Brandenburg.

For project manager Prof. Dr.-Ing. Eckart Kramer from HNEE, one thing is clear: "Moving away from 'having to' to 'wanting to' when determining fertiliser requirements: we want to help shape this path for our farms in Brandenburg. It's worth it for everyone: for the farms, for the soil and ultimately for more sustainable agriculture as a whole."

The EIP projects "Precise Liming pH-BB" and TONIA have already developed solutions for precise liming and fertilisation. TONIA stands for "Sub-area differentiated-optimised nutrient management in arable farming". The aim here was to develop algorithms for calculating the amount of fertiliser required on a sub-area. The results for precise liming were honoured by the EU last year with the EIP-AGRI Innovation Award.

The new research project has 3.89 million euros at its disposal over a period of four years. It is being funded as part of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the state of Brandenburg under the 80277544 label. Ten partners are working together on the project:

* the agricultural co-operative Wesenberg,

* the Trebbin agricultural co-operative,

* the Petra Philipp agricultural co-operative in Booßen,

* Fürstenwalder Agrarprodukte GmbH Beerfelde,

* Landwirtschaftliche Beratung der Agrarverbände Brandenburg GmbH in Ruhlsdorf and Müncheberg,

* Bodenprobetechnik Peters GmbH from Quakenbrück,

* geo-konzept Gesellschaft für Umweltplanungssysteme mbH, Adelschlag,

* VisDat geodatentechnologie GmbH from Dresden,

* the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops Großbeeren and

* Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development.

With 17 employees, BoDi will make an important contribution to sustainable agriculture.

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