CROP CARE ▶▶▶
Use waste streams as fertilisers
Herre Bartlema has spent his whole life working with fertilisers and fertilisation. He has been working for years as an advocate of band application and using residual waste streams. Band application has since become widely accepted, and it seems that the tide is now turning in favour of those waste streams.
BY JOOST STALLEN “Y
ou don’t need to buy a broadcast spreader ever again. That equipment has had its day.” Herre Bar- tlema has a breezy way of expressing himself. But the underlying message is serious: in his view, the
conventional centrifugal spreader for granular fertilisers can be eas- ily replaced with a contemporary, sustainable method. From Bartle- ma’s viewpoint, the way to improve sustainability and precision fer- tilisation is to use minerals from residual waste streams originating in the agricultural sector and in the industry. “From a technological and logistical perspective, there are no insurmountable problems. It benefits the soil, the environment, and the overall yield.”
“We have sufficient residual waste and the application technologies”
Educated at Wageningen University, Bartlema has spent a hard- working life being responsible for research into fertilisers at DSM (now OCI Nitrogen), making him an expert in the field. Over the past few years, he has been promoting the use of residual waste streams through the Netherlands’ Centre for Development of Band Application, which he set up, and through events such as the annual ‘Precision Fertilisation Day’.
32 ▶ FUTURE FARMING | 22 February 2019
‘Messing about’ with broadcast spreaders Bartlema compares precision fertilisation using band application to picking low hanging fruit. “It’s efficient, with positive results for the crop and for the grower’s wallet. But look at what I regard as messing about with large-scale broadcasting spreaders. What ha- ven’t they invented for even grain distribution? Fertiliser spread- ers have become expensive and complicated. And yet corners of plots are still under-fertilised, and it’s still not possible to finish off your headlands neatly and to avoid creating ruts.” “Band application of liquid fertilisers is possible during planting or while working the soil. Without the carry-on you get with grains that behave unpredictably. What you do have is certainty of even dosing, even in the side rows, and certainty that the min- erals will be delivered directly to the roots.”
Four truths Bartlema substantiates his claim with the vision of Meststoffen Netherlands, the association of producers and distributors of min- eral fertilisers, with regard to sustainable fertilisation. It includes what he calls the four truths of skilled fertilisation in the 21st
cen-
tury. ‘Fertilisers need to be applied in the right place’, is the first truth. The other three concern the time of dosing, the choice of fertiliser, and attuning dosing to the needs of the crop and soil supply.
As far as the right dosing is concerned: “With band application, you can almost always reduce the amounts compared with broadcast fertilising.” For beans, potatoes, sugar beet, and onions, he suggests reducing phosphate by up to 50% and nitrogen by up to 15% compared with recommendations from soil sample analyses.
PHOTO: PETER ROEK
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