The inspiration platform “OptiFarm”
Farmers face some huge challenges the coming years. They need to produce food that is more and more sustainable, they have to fulfil all local and European legislations and they still need to succeed in producing crops on a cost-effective way. There is a lot of research that helps them to find the most effective way to produce but it’s not always easy to find a good balance between all the research topics. Therefore Inagro installed in 2022 OptiFarm. OptiFarm is a mini-farm where we will produce on a future proof way and try to find the balance between sustainability and economics.
OptiFarm is a so-called system approach of farming. We are trying to make common agriculture more sustainable but still cost-effective. Based on 4 pilars, we will build up a robust system that is ready for the future.
- The first pilar is soil and fertilisation. We go for minimum tillage and we will try to bring more soil life and organic matter in the soil. A healthy and robust soil is the basis for a healthy crop.
- Because the Green Deal aims for a reduction of 50% of the use of crop protection products, we made this a second pilar. With the help of smart warning systems, innovative spraying techniques like row and spot specific spraying and integration of mechanical weeding, we’ll try to produce as cost-effective as possible with a minimum of crop protection products.
- The thirth pilar is crop rotation. We believe that a smart crop rotation can combine high value crops, give enough rest to the soil and even succeed in bringing extra nitrogen to the soil from where the high value crops can benefit from.
- The last pilar is based on new technologies and robotics. The future is up to precision farming and therefore we need smart sensors that can monitor and check plants on individual level. With the right technology or a smart robot, we will be able to do our weed control autonomously or to spray only where it’s needed.
We have high ambitions with OptiFarm that will act as an inspiration platform for farmers. They will be able to see the newest technologies at work and there is room for their thoughts and ideas. The platform will therefore be in constant evolution and will keep on inspiring.
Contact
Jan Vanwijnsberghe
Researcher crop protection