Nederlandse versie hieronder
The European Union, along with most countries across the world, has agreed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to curb the negative effects of climate change, which are already apparent. Under the Green Deal, the EU aims to be climate neutral by 2050. Besides investments in more sustainable energy production and consumption (transport, housing …), further improvements are also needed in the food sector. But there is little consensus on how farmers should be supported.
Looking at the demographic trends in rural Europe, the proposed solutions will need to consider farm size. From 2005 to 2013, across Europe the number of farms with less than 50 hectares of land steadily decreased, while those between 50 and 100 hectares remained more or less stable. Those over 100 hectares slightly increased. Yet more than half of the farming population in Europe is older than 55 years (EuroStat, 2021). Meanwhile, the younger farmers have invested in labour-saving equipment, for example to work the larger holdings, acquiring high debts along the way. Further investment in climate mitigation will require proper support so that when the older farmers retire, the next generation will be able cope with the ever-increasing pressure of bank loans.
The war in Ukraine has triggered a sharp rise in the price of artificial fertilizers, making chemical-based farming less profitable. It is estimated that globally only one third of the applied nitrogen from chemical fertilizers is used by crops. Combined with the mounting pressure on farmers to help mitigate climate change by reducing carbon and nitrogen emissions, farmers are keen to optimise the use of animal manure.
While animal and human manure has been used to keep soils fertile for thousands of years, something has gone wrong in the recent past.
In a German documentary on the Aztecs, called Children of the Sun, ethnologist Antje Gunsenheimer describes some ancient human manure management. The central market in Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, had public toilets where urine and faeces were collected separately in clay pots. Dung traders sold the composted dung as fertilizer, while the urine was used for dying fabric and leather tanning.
From the earliest days of farming in Europe, animals were kept on deep bedding of straw. But nowadays most animals in Europe are kept on a metal grid, and the mix of urine and dung is collected in large, underground reservoirs. When excrement and urine from cows or pigs mix, a lot of methane gas (CH4) and ammonia (NH4) is produced. The old practices of using straw as bedding, as well as innovative designs to separate the dung form the urine, is getting some renewed attention in livestock farming, because when separated, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by up to 75%.
Bedding with crop residues such as wheat straw may provide substantial benefits.
Engineers in the Netherlands, the USA, Israel and various other countries are researching how best to adjust modern livestock sheds. Some promising examples include free walk housing systems that operate with composting bedding material or artificial permeable floors as lying and walking areas. Other sustainable techniques that are being explored include the CowToilet, which separates faeces and urine. As converting housing systems may be costly and therefore only adopted slowly by farmers, it is important to also experiment with better ways of applying liquid manure.
In modern livestock systems, urine and manure are mixed with the water used to wash the pens. Getting rid of this slurry, or liquid manure, has become a main environmental concern. When liquid manure is applied to the soil, much of the nitrogen evaporates as nitrous oxide or N2O, a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Another fraction is converted to nitrates (NO3), which seep through the soil and pollute the ground water. While manure used to be a crucial resource, it has now become a waste product and an expense for farmers.
Making better use of animal waste will be crucial for the future of our food. One key factor is the lack of soil organic matter and good microbes, that can help capture nitrogen and release this more slowly to benefit crops.
Solutions that are financially feasible for farmers will require the best of ideas, with inputs from farmers, soil scientists, microbiologists, ecologists, chemical and mechanical engineers, as well as social scientists.
Practices that help to build up soil carbon will be crucial to reduce the environmental impact of animal manure and fertilizers. Ploughing is known to have a detrimental effect on soil organic matter, as it induces oxidation of soil carbon. Reduced tillage or zero tillage for crop cultivation, and regenerative farming to make animal farming more sustainable, has been promoted and used in the USA and other parts of the world, and could be explored more intensively in Europe.
Also, there will be a need to revive soil micro-organisms, as these have been seriously affected by the use of agrochemicals and the reduced availability of soil organic matter. The expensive machines that are currently used by service providers to spread or inject liquid manure in farmers’ fields could equally be used to inject solutions with good micro-organisms that will help to capture nitrogen to then release it to crops, and build up a healthy soil.
Human creativity will be required to help come up with solutions that are economically feasible for farmers in the near future. To make this happen as fast as possible, more investments are required in research that truly addresses the fundamentals of the problems. Still, far too much public money is invested in research on new crop varieties, livestock feed, and the application of agrochemicals, all of which are to the benefit of large corporations.
Photo credit: The photo on the straw bedding is by Herbert Wiggerman.
More reading
Galama, P. J., Ouweltjes, W., Endres, M. I., Sprecher, J. R., Leso, L., Kuipers, A., KlopÄiÄ, M. 2020. Symposium review: Future of housing for dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science, 103(6), pp. 5759-5772. Available at: Â https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030220302988
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Inspiring platforms
Access Agriculture: hosts over 220 training videos in over 90 languages on a diversity of crops and livestock, sustainable soil and water management, basic food processing, etc. Each video describes underlying principles, as such encouraging people to experiment with new ideas.
EcoAgtube: a social media video platform where anyone from across the globe can upload their own videos related to natural farming and circular economy.
De stikstofcrisis
De Europese Unie heeft, samen met de meeste landen in de wereld, afgesproken de uitstoot van broeikasgassen te verminderen om de negatieve gevolgen van de klimaatverandering, die nu al merkbaar zijn, te beperken. In het kader van de Green Deal streeft de EU ernaar tegen 2050 klimaatneutraal te zijn. Naast investeringen in duurzamere energieproductie en -consumptie (vervoer, huisvesting …) zijn ook verdere verbeteringen nodig in de voedselsector. Maar er is weinig consensus over hoe landbouwers moeten worden ondersteund.
Als we kijken naar de demografische tendensen op het Europese platteland, moet bij de voorgestelde oplossingen rekening worden gehouden met de omvang van de landbouwbedrijven. Tussen 2005 en 2013 is in heel Europa het aantal landbouwbedrijven met minder dan 50 hectare gestaag gedaald, terwijl het aantal bedrijven tussen 50 en 100 hectare min of meer stabiel is gebleven. Het aantal bedrijven met meer dan 100 hectare is licht gestegen. Toch is meer dan de helft van de landbouwbevolking in Europa ouder dan 55 jaar (EuroStat, 2021). Ondertussen hebben de jongere boeren geïnvesteerd in arbeidsbesparende apparatuur, bijvoorbeeld om de grotere bedrijven te bewerken, waarbij ze onderweg hoge schulden hebben gemaakt. Voor verdere investeringen in klimaatmitigatie is goede ondersteuning nodig, zodat wanneer de oudere boeren met pensioen gaan, de volgende generatie het hoofd kan bieden aan de almaar toenemende druk van bankleningen.
De oorlog in Oekraïne heeft geleid tot een sterke stijging van de prijs van kunstmest, waardoor landbouw op basis van chemische stoffen minder winstgevend is geworden. Bovendien wordt naar schatting wereldwijd slechts een derde van de stikstof uit kunstmest door de gewassen gebruikt. In combinatie met de toenemende druk op landbouwers om de klimaatverandering te helpen beperken door de uitstoot van koolstof en stikstof te verminderen, zijn landbouwers erop gebrand het gebruik van dierlijke mest te optimaliseren.
Hoewel dierlijke en menselijke mest al duizenden jaren wordt gebruikt om de bodem vruchtbaar te houden, is er in het recente verleden iets misgegaan.
In een Duitse documentaire over de Azteken, genaamd Children of the Sun, beschrijft etnologe Antje Gunsenheimer hoe men in de oudheid met menselijke mest omging. De centrale markt in Tenochtitlán, de Azteekse hoofdstad, had openbare toiletten waar urine en uitwerpselen gescheiden werden opgevangen in kleipotten. Mesthandelaren verkochten de gecomposteerde mest als meststof, terwijl de urine werd gebruikt voor het verven van stoffen en het looien van leer.
Vanaf de begindagen van de landbouw in Europa werden dieren gehouden op een diep strobed. Maar tegenwoordig worden de meeste dieren in Europa op een metalen rooster gehouden, en wordt het mengsel van urine en mest opgevangen in grote, ondergrondse reservoirs. Wanneer uitwerpselen en urine van koeien of varkens zich vermengen, ontstaat er veel methaangas (CH4) en ammoniak (NH4).
De oude praktijk van het gebruik van stro als strooisel en innovatieve ontwerpen om de mest van de urine te scheiden, krijgt hernieuwde aandacht in de veehouderij, omdat bij scheiding de uitstoot van broeikasgassen tot 75% kan worden verminderd.
Bedding with crop residues such as wheat straw may provide substantial benefits.
Ingenieurs in Nederland, de VS, Israël en diverse andere landen onderzoeken hoe moderne stallen het best kunnen worden aangepast. Enkele veelbelovende voorbeelden zijn huisvestingssystemen met vrije uitloop die werken met composterend strooiselmateriaal of kunstmatige doorlaatbare vloeren als lig- en loopruimte. Andere duurzame technieken die worden onderzocht zijn onder meer het CowToilet, dat uitwerpselen en urine scheidt. Aangezien het ombouwen van stalsystemen kostbaar kan zijn en daarom slechts langzaam door boeren wordt overgenomen, is het belangrijk om ook te experimenteren met betere manieren om vloeibare mest toe te dienen.
In moderne veeteeltsystemen worden urine en mest vermengd met het water dat wordt gebruikt om de boxen te wassen. Het wegwerken van deze gier, of vloeibare mest, is een belangrijk milieuprobleem geworden. Wanneer vloeibare mest op de bodem wordt gebracht, verdampt een groot deel van de stikstof in de vorm van stikstofoxide of N2O, een broeikasgas dat 300 keer krachtiger is dan koolstofdioxide. Een ander deel wordt omgezet in nitraten (NO3), die door de bodem sijpelen en het grondwater verontreinigen. Terwijl mest vroeger een cruciale hulpbron was, is het nu een afvalproduct en een kostenpost voor de landbouwers geworden.
Een beter gebruik van dierlijk afval zal van cruciaal belang zijn voor de toekomst van ons voedsel. Een belangrijke factor is het gebrek aan organisch materiaal en goede microben in de bodem, die kunnen helpen stikstof vast te leggen en langzamer vrij te geven ten voordele van de gewassen.
Om oplossingen te vinden die voor de landbouwers financieel haalbaar zijn, zullen de beste ideeën moeten worden uitgewisseld, met bijdragen van landbouwers, bodemwetenschappers, microbiologen, ecologen, chemische en mechanische ingenieurs en sociale wetenschappers.
Praktijken die helpen bij de opbouw van koolstof in de bodem zullen van cruciaal belang zijn om de milieueffecten van dierlijke mest en meststoffen te verminderen. Het is bekend dat ploegen een nadelig effect heeft op het organisch materiaal in de bodem, aangezien het de oxidatie van koolstof in de bodem induceert. Verminderde grondbewerking of nulgrondbewerking voor de teelt van gewassen, en regeneratieve landbouw om de veehouderij duurzamer te maken, worden in de VS en andere delen van de wereld gestimuleerd en toegepast, en zouden in Europa intensiever kunnen worden onderzocht.
Ook zullen de micro-organismen in de bodem nieuw leven moeten worden ingeblazen, aangezien deze ernstig zijn aangetast door het gebruik van landbouwchemicaliën en de verminderde beschikbaarheid van organisch materiaal in de bodem. De dure machines die momenteel door dienstverleners worden gebruikt om vloeibare mest over de akkers van de landbouwers uit te strooien of te injecteren, zouden ook kunnen worden gebruikt om oplossingen met goede micro-organismen te injecteren die stikstof helpen vastleggen om het vervolgens aan de gewassen af te geven, en een gezonde bodem op te bouwen.
Menselijke creativiteit zal nodig zijn om in de nabije toekomst oplossingen te vinden die economisch haalbaar zijn voor landbouwers. Om dit zo snel mogelijk te laten gebeuren, zijn meer investeringen nodig in onderzoek dat de fundamentele problemen echt aanpakt. Nog steeds wordt veel te veel overheidsgeld geïnvesteerd in onderzoek naar nieuwe gewasvariëteiten, veevoer en de toepassing van landbouwchemicaliën, die allemaal in het voordeel zijn van grote bedrijven.
Vea la versión en español a continuación
Youth around the world are leaving agriculture, but many would stay on the farm if they had appropriate technologies and better social services, as Professor Alejandro Bonifacio explained to me recently.
Dr. Bonifacio is from the rural Altiplano, the high plains of Bolivia. At 4,000 meters above sea level, it is some of the highest farmland in the world. Bonifacio has a PhD in plant breeding, and besides directing an agricultural research station in Viacha on the Altiplano, he teaches plant breeding part-time at the public university in La Paz (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés).
The university attracts many rural youths. Every year Bonifacio asks his new class of students to introduce themselves one-by-one and to tell where they come from, and to talk about their parents and their grandparents.
This year about 20% of the students in Bonifacio’s class are still living on the farm, and taking their classes online. Another 50% are the children or grandchildren of farmers, but are now living in the city. Many of these agronomy students would be more interested in taking over their parents’ farm, if not for a couple of problems.
One limitation is the lack of services in the rural areas: poor schools, bad roads, the lack of clinics, and no electricity or running water. While this is slowly improving, Covid has added a new twist, locking young people out of many of the places they liked to go to, and not just bars and restaurants. One advantage of city life is having access to medical attention, but this past year the students said it was as though the cities had no hospitals, because they were full of Covid patients. Classes were all on-line, and so the countryside began to look like a nicer place to live than the city. Many students went home to their rural communities, where there was much more freedom of movement than in the city.
Dr. Bonifacio told me that even when the youth do go home, they don’t want to farm exactly like their parents did. The youngsters don’t go in for all the backbreaking work with picks and shovels, but there is a lack of appropriate technology oriented towards young, family farmers, such as small, affordable machinery. Young farmers are also interested in exploiting emerging markets for differentiated produce, such as food that is free of pesticides. Organic agriculture also helps to save on production costs, as long as farmers have practical alternatives to agrochemicals.
Fortunately, there are videos on appropriate technologies, and Professor Bonifacio shows them in class. Today’s youth have grown up with videos, and find them convincing. Every year, Bonifacio organizes a forum for about 50 students on plant breeding and crop disease. He assigns the students three videos to watch, to discuss later in the forum. One of his favorites is Growing lupin without disease, which shows some organic methods for keeping the crop healthy. Bonifacio encourages the students to watch the video in Spanish, and Quechua or Aymara. Many of the students speak Quechua or Aymara, or both, besides Spanish. Some feel that they are forgetting their native language. “The videos help the students to learn technical terms, like the names of plant diseases, in their native languages,†Bonifacio says.
During the Covid lockdown, Prof. Bonifacio moved his forum online and sent the students links to the videos. In the forum, some of the students said that while they were home they could identify the symptoms of lupine disease, thanks to the video.
Bonifacio logs onto Access Agriculture from time to time to see which new videos have been posted in Spanish, to select some to show to his students, so they can get some of the information they need to become the farmers of tomorrow.
Kids who grow up on small farms often go to university as a bridge to getting a decent job in the city. But others study agriculture, and would return to farming, if they had appropriate technology for family farming, and services like electricity and high-speed internet.
Related Agro-Insight blogs
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Videos from Access Agriculture
Check out these youth-friendly videos with appropriate technology. Besides videos in English, www.accessagriculture.org has:
ENSEÑAR A LOS AGRICULTORES DEL MAÑANA CON VIDEOS
Por Jeff Bentley, 23 de mayo del 2021
Por todas partes del mundo, los jóvenes abandonan la agricultura, pero muchos seguirÃan cultivando si tuvieran tecnologÃas apropiadas y mejores servicios sociales, como me explicó recientemente el docente Alejandro Bonifacio.
El Dr. Bonifacio es originario del Altiplano de Bolivia. A 4.000 metros sobre el nivel del mar, es una de las tierras agrÃcolas más altas del mundo. Bonifacio tiene un doctorado en fitomejoramiento y, además de ser jefe de una estación de investigación agrÃcola en Viacha, en el Altiplano, enseña fitomeoramiento a tiempo parcial en la universidad pública de La Paz (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés).
La universidad atrae a muchos jóvenes rurales. Cada año, Bonifacio pide a su nueva clase de estudiantes que se presenten uno por uno y digan de dónde vienen, y que hablen de sus padres y sus abuelos.
Este año, alrededor del 20% de los estudiantes de la clase de Bonifacio siguen viviendo en el área rural, desde donde se conectan a las clases virtuales. Otro 50% son hijos o nietos de agricultores, pero ahora viven en la ciudad. Muchos de estos estudiantes de agronomÃa estarÃan más interesados en trabajar el terreno sus padres, si no fuera por un par de problemas.
Una limitación es la falta de servicios en las zonas rurales: colegios deficientes, carreteras en mal estado, la falta de clÃnicas, luz y agua potable. Aunque esto está mejorando poco a poco, Covid ha introducido cambios, porque los jóvenes ya no pueden ir a muchos de los lugares que les gustaban, y no sólo las discotecas y los restaurantes. Una de las ventajas de la vida urbana es tener acceso a la atención médica, pero este último año los estudiantes dijeron que era como si las ciudades no tuvieran hospitales, porque estaban llenos de pacientes de Covid. Las clases eran todas en lÃnea, por lo que el campo empezó a parecer un lugar más agradable para vivir que la ciudad. Muchos estudiantes se fueron a sus comunidades rurales, donde habÃa más libertad de movimiento que en la ciudad.
El Dr. Bonifacio me dijo que, incluso cuando los jóvenes vuelven a casa, no quieren trabajar la tierra tal como lo hacÃan sus padres. Los jóvenes no se dedican al trabajo agotador con palas y picotas, pero hace falta la tecnologÃa adecuada orientada a los jóvenes agricultores familiares, por ejemplo, la maquinaria pequeña y asequible. Los jóvenes agricultores también quieren explotar los mercados emergentes de productos diferenciados, como los alimentos libres de plaguicidas. La agricultura orgánica también ayuda a ahorrar costes de producción, siempre que los agricultores tengan alternativas prácticas a los productos agroquÃmicos.
Afortunadamente, existen videos sobre tecnologÃas adecuadas, y el Dr. Bonifacio los muestra en clase. Los jóvenes de hoy conocen los videos desde su infancia, y los encuentran convincentes. Cada año, Bonifacio organiza un foro para unos 50 estudiantes sobre el fitomejoramiento y las enfermedades. Asigna a los alumnos tres videos para que los vean y los discutan después en el foro. Uno de sus favoritos es Producir tarwi sin enfermedad, que muestra algunos métodos orgánicos para mantener el lupino sano. Bonifacio anima a los estudiantes a ver el video en español y en quechua o aymara. Muchos de los estudiantes hablan quechua o aymara, o ambos, además del castellano. Algunos sienten que están olvidando su lengua materna. “Los videos ayudan a los alumnos a aprender términos técnicos, como los nombres de las enfermedades de las plantas, en sus idiomas nativos”, dice Bonifacio.
Durante la cuarentena de Covid, el Dr. Bonifacio trasladó su foro a Internet y envió a los estudiantes enlaces a los videos. En el foro, algunos de los estudiantes dijeron que mientras estaban en casa podÃan identificar los sÃntomas de la enfermedad del tarwi (lupino), gracias al video.
Bonifacio entra en la página web de Access Agriculture de vez en cuando para ver qué nuevos videos se han publicado en español, para seleccionar algunos y enseñárselos a sus alumnos, para que aprendan algo de la información que necesitan para ser los agricultores del futuro.
Los hijos de agricultores suelen usar a la universidad como puente para conseguir un buen trabajo en la ciudad. Pero otros estudian agronomÃa, y volverÃan al agro, si tuvieran tecnologÃa apropiada para la agricultura familiar, y servicios como electricidad e Internet de alta velocidad.
Historias relacionadas en el blog de Agro-Insight
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Vea algunos de estos videos apropiados para agricultores jóvenes en https://www.accessagriculture.org/es. Incluso, Access Agriculture tiene:
When knowledge is blocked from being freely shared, humankind can lose a lot of precious time to make the world a better place. This dawned on me once more after I stumbled upon The Secrets of Water, a video documentary about the life of Viktor Schauberger.
Born in 1885 as the son of an Austrian forest superintendent, Viktor spent many hours in nature observing and reflecting upon what he saw, always trying to keep an open mind. Later, he went on to study forestry and got inspired by poets like Goethe who instilled in him the importance of making full use of our senses to better understand the Ur-phenomenon or the essential quality of what one observes.
Wikipedia describes Schauberger as a naturalist, pseudoscientist, philosopher, inventor and biomimicry experimenter. While pseudoscientist sounds like a dishonest version of a scientist or someone who stands for “fake science”, Schauberger’s insights from nearly a century ago have proven far more influential than what most modern-day scientists could aspire to achieve in a life-time, even with the help of advanced technologies and nanosecond computing devices.
Science  ̶ and technological innovations ̶ have often ignored local knowledge and even obstructed its dissemination. In 1930, the Austrian Academy of Sciences confirmed the receipt of a sealed envelope entitled “Turbulenceâ€. In it, Schauberger described his theory of interdependency of water temperature and movement. The Academy kept it concealed for 50 years, probably partly because Schauberger continued to criticise their water resource management strategies. His work became the basis for many eco-technological innovations.
For instance, instead of protecting river banks with boulders, Schauberger explained that it makes more sense to control the flow of the river from the inner part of the river, not from the sides. Some unconventional engineers have taken this to heart and have meticulously placed lines of boulders like a funnel inside the river to convert the energy of the river from the sides to the middle. When water accelerates in the middle rather than on the sides, it is a far more cost-effective way to control river bank erosion. Besides controlling floods, it also improves the quality of the water and creates perfect habitats for different fish species.
Schauberger’s writings carefully explained the underlying principle of his theory on turbulence, namely that it is influenced by differences in temperature. The warmer layers of river water flow faster than the colder ones, creating friction, which is the source of turbulence. According to Schauberger: “a river doesn’t just flow, but winds itself forward. It rotates in its bed, or put simply, it swirls.†This principle applies to any moving water, even to a raindrop running down a window.
By understanding that the swirl or turbulence of water is the most natural way in which water flows with least resistance, Schauberger applied this to many prototype technologies for which he registered patents. He developed a machine to replicate spring water, which later formed the basis for water vitalising equipment. Among the many benefits, some are more unexpected than the others. For instance, when vitalised water is used in bakeries it retards the development of moulds.
Instead of letting water simply enter a pond through a pipe, Schauberger made it pass through a specially designed funnel to let the water whirl and gain energy. The water quality in the pond improved and algae growth reduced.
Schauberger reflected on many things. He claimed that crop productivity was declining because of the use of iron tools, saying that the rust destroys soil life. Instead, tools made from copper and copper alloys do not disturb soil magnetism and contain useful trace elements which are brought into the soil through abrasion. This improves soil micro-organisms and apparently also reduces problems with snails.
In 1948, Schauberger developed a copper bio plough, known as the Golden Plough, to loosen the soil without disturbing soil layers and micro-organisms. By copying the mole, he designed a plough that pulls the soil inward rather than pushing it outward. While this technology currently attracts quite some attention on social media, it is still not available on the market.
Jane Cobbald’s book Viktor Schauberger. A Life of Learning from Nature gives some interesting insights as to why the bio plough never made it. Apparently Schauberger wanted to go into commercial production, but he had poor negotiation skills. Fertilizer companies realized that the new plough would diminish the need for chemical fertilizers, so they approached Schauberger, asking him if he was willing to share profits if they would promote the plough. Being a convinced environmentalist his answer was a definite “noâ€, saying he did not want to make deals with criminals. According to his son, shortly after that Schauberger faced problems obtaining copper, so he had to abandon the project.
Using the whirl or vortex principle Schauberger also suggested that electricity could be generated without losing energy, making use of just air and water. These and many other ideas tested by a careful observer of nature, and documented in detailed writings, drawings and photographs, have continued to inspire later generations of scientists and engineers. Until today, for instance, innovators continue to deposit patents for energy-efficient desalination systems, including Schauberger’s vortex principle.
Schauberger’s guiding principle for experimentation was his intuition, which was based on his own observations of nature, his reading of old philosophers and poets, as well as on the deep knowledge of the mountain men who had spent their lives in the forests. As the story of Schauberger has shown, technological breakthroughs are often the result of holistic thinking that incorporates ideas from different disciplines and people, including artists, philosophers, farmers, foresters and engineers.
While research is needed to develop new technologies that will make our planet a better place to live for us and future generations, we also need an enabling environment that supports experimentation with novel ideas, both technical and social.
Further information
Cobbald, Jane. 2009. Viktor Schauberger. A Life of Learning from Nature, Floris Books, pp. 176.
Schauberger, Viktor – The Fertile Earth – Nature’s Energies in Agriculture, Soil Fertilisation and Forestry: Volume 3. Translated and edited by Callum Coats, 2004. pp. 212.
The Secrets of Water, The Documentary of Viktor Schauberger “Comprehend and Copy Nature”: https://www.ecoagtube.org/content/secrets-water-documentary-viktor-schauberger-comprehend-and-copy-nature
Inspiring platforms
Access Agriculture: hosts over 220 training videos in over 85 languages. Each video describes underlying principles, as such encouraging people to experiment with new ideas.
EcoAgtube: a new social media platform where anyone can upload their own videos related to ecological farming and circular economy.
Honey Bee Network: this platform gives a voice to traditional knowledge holders and grassroots innovators. Primarily based in India, it has sparked products, inventions and innovations in many countries.
Vea la versión en español a continuación
For over ten years, Tiquipaya’s municipal composter has turned some of the city’s trash into the best organic fertilizer. Ing. Denis Sánchez, who runs the city composter, obviously loves his work and is happy to show groups around the tidy (and fly-free) operation.
The first stop is reception, where garbage trucks and cooperating citizens dump off refuse: the garden trimmings from the city’s parks, wilted flowers from the cemetery, waste from the market, and trash from nearly half of the municipality’s households. At reception, Denis’ crew does their most tedious task, separating the plastic from the organic. Cooked food waste is a nuisance because it rots quickly and has “very bad microbes,†as Denis puts it.
Denis is certain that the compost picks up good microbes from its surroundings. Compost’s good microbes smell good and the only slightly bad odor is from the fresh garbage in the reception area. The composter is only four blocks from the town square, so the city government would not tolerate any bad smells. In reception, the fresh, “green†refuse is mixed about half and half with “brown†waste, such as dried tree leaves pruned from city parks. Mixing was easier when the compost plant had a chipping machine that would chop up all the tree branches. The machine broke down a few years ago, so now the crew occasionally gets a caterpillar to come in and roll over the tree branches to break them up. The small bits go into the compost and the big pieces are sold as firewood.
From reception, the blend of brown and green trash goes to the “forced air†section. Compost needs air, which can be provided by turning over the pile, but that’s a lot of work. At the Tiquipaya plant, perforated hoses force air up into each 40-ton pile of compost. The crew waters the compost once a week, for seven weeks, and during that time they do turn it one time, for an even decomposition.
After seven weeks the compost is taken to mature, like a fine wine. It is heaped up and every week it is watered, and also turned with a little front-end loader. The aged compost is then sifted in a rotating drum to remove any big pieces. The resulting fine compost is then sold to the public. The municipality also fertilizes Tiquipaya’s city parks with the compost, so they do not have to buy any fertilizer. The city also uses the compost as potting soil to grow ornamental plants.
Of course, it’s not all easy. One limitation is education. The municipal market has separate bins for organic and plastic garbage, but most patrons toss all their trash into one can or the other. Three of the city’s eight garbage routes send a truck one day a week to collect organic trash from households. On each ride, Denis sends a member of staff along to remind residents to leave out their plastics and cooked food waste. It’s a constant job to educate the public, so sometimes the municipality rewards cooperating families with plants.
A second limitation is labor. Even with some clever machines, the hard-working staff (three full-time and four part-time, besides Denis) can process about 5.5 tons of trash per day, of the 40 tons that Tiquipaya produces. The city could compost 20 tons of rubbish, with a bit more space, additional workers and investment.
Denis says that it costs 312 Bs. ($44) to make a cubic meter of compost, which he sells for 120 Bs. ($17), a loss he has to accept because “no one would pay its true cost.â€
The plant was created with an investment of 1,734,000 Bs. ($246,000) and has an annual labor cost of 185,000 Bs. ($26,000), financed by the municipal government. The compost plant has had financial and technical support from Catalonia and Japan.
The crew seems to be enjoying their morning at the plant. It is light, active work in the glorious Andean sunshine with friendly colleagues.
Tiquipaya’s large neighbor, the city of Cochabamba, has a wretched problem with its landfill, now full and rising like a tower while the surrounding residents often protest by blockading out the garbage trucks, forcing the trash to pile up in city streets.
Cities have to invest to properly dispose of their garbage. People who make trash (including the plastics industry) can be charged for its disposal. The public needs to be taught how to buy food with less plastic wrapping and how to recycle green waste at home. The good news is that cities can recycle much of their rubbish, selling the plastics, and producing compost to improve the soil and replace chemical fertilizer.
Denis thinks of his plant as a school, where others can learn. In fact, several small cities (Sacaba, Vinto, Villazón, and some in the valleys of Santa Cruz) have started similar plants on the Tiquipaya model. Denis is proud to show his work to others.
With some enlightened investment, a city can turn its garbage into useful products and green jobs while avoiding unsustainable landfills, which simply bury the nutrients that farmers have won from the soil.
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COMPOST MUNICIPAL: UNA ESCUELA PARA LAS ALCALDÃAS
Por Jeff Bentley
27 de diciembre del 2020
Mucha de la producción agrÃcola termina en los rellenos sanitarios urbanos, pero con un poco de esfuerzo y unas ideas claras, los municipios pueden reciclar su basura orgánica, como vi hace poco en Tiquipaya, una pequeña ciudad en el eje metropolitano de Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Hace más de diez años, la compostera municipal de Tiquipaya ha convertido parte de su basura en un excelente fertilizante orgánico. El Ing. Denis Sánchez dirige la compostera, y obviamente le encanta su trabajo y el mostrar su planta bien ordenada (y libre de moscas) a grupos de ciudadanos.
En la primera parada, la recepción, los camiones basureros y algunos vecinos colaboradores, dejan su basura, las podas del ornato público, flores marchitadas del cementerio, basura del mercado y de casi la mitad de las familias del municipio. En recepción, los trabajadores realizan lo más tedioso, separando los plásticos de los orgánicos. Los restos de la comida son una molestia porque se pudren rápidamente y tienen “algunos microbios muy malos,†como Denis explica.
Denis afirma que el compost adquiere buenos microbios de su entorno. Los microbios buenos huelen bien y el único olor un poco desagradable viene de la basura fresca en recepción. La planta está apenas a cuatro cuadras de la plaza principal, y la alcaldÃa no tolerarÃa ningún mal olor. En recepción, la basura fresca, la “verdeâ€, se llena mitad-mitad con los desechos “marrones†tales como la hojarasca de los parques urbanos. El mezclarlo era más fácil cuando la compostera tenÃa una máquina que picaba todas las ramas. La máquina se descompuso hace algunos años, y ahora de vez en cuando traen una oruga que pisotea las ramas para quebrarlas. Los pedazos pequeños entran al compost y las piezas grandes se venden como leña.
Después de la recepción, la mezcla de basura verde y marrón pasa a la sección de “aireación forzadaâ€. El compost necesita aire, que se puede proveer con el volteo, pero es mucho trabajo. En la compostera de Tiquipaya, usan tuberÃa perforada para empujar el aire a cada pila de 40 toneladas de compost. Riegan las pilas una vez a la semana, durante siete semanas, y durante ese tiempo las voltean una vez, para lograr una descomposición pareja.
A las siete semanas, llevan el compost a madurarse, como un vino fino. Hacen montones de compost que se riegan y se voltean cada semana con una máquina mini cargadora. El compost madurado es cernido en un dron rotatorio para sacar cualquier objeto grande. El compost fino se vende al público. La alcaldÃa fertiliza los parques de Tiquipaya con el compost, asà que no tienen que comprar fertilizante. Además, usan el compost como sustrato para producir plantas ornamentales.
Claro que cuesta trabajo. Una limitación es la educación. El mercado municipal tiene basureros separados para plásticos y orgánicos, aunque los usuarios a veces mezclan todo. Tres de las ocho rutas del carro basurero recogen solo residuos orgánicos un dÃa de la semana, y cada vez, Denis manda un funcionario de la planta para hacerle recuerdo a la gente que no incluyan sus plásticos ni sus restos de comida. La educación pública es un esfuerzo constante. De vez en cuando regalan plantas para premiar a los buenos vecinos.
Una segunda limitante es la mano de obra. Aun con maquinaria, el esmerado personal (tres a tiempo completo y cuatro a tiempo parcial, además del Ing. Denis) logra procesar unas 5.5 toneladas de basura por dÃa, de las 40 toneladas que Tiquipaya produce. Con un poco más de espacio, personal, e inversión podrÃan compostar 20 toneladas.
Denis cuenta que cuesta 312 Bs. ($44) hacer un metro cúbico de compost, lo cual vende por 120 Bs. ($17), una pérdida que se acepta porque “nadie pagarÃa su costo real.â€
La planta se creó con una inversión de 1,734,000 Bs. ($246,000) y tiene un costo anual de mano de obra de 185,000 Bs. ($26,000), financiada por la alcaldÃa. La compostera ha tenido apoyo financiero y técnico de Cataluña y del Japón.
Parece que los trabajadores municipales disfrutan de su trabajo en la planta. Es trabajo fÃsico, pero liviano al aire libre mientras que permite la charla entre colegas.
La ciudad vecina a Tiquipaya, Cochabamba, tiene un problema severo con su relleno sanitario, que ahora está lleno y crece como una torre, mientras los vecinos frecuentemente protestan, bloqueando la entrada a los camiones basureros, hasta que la basura se deja en montÃculos por toda la ciudad.
Las ciudades tienen que invertir para deshacerse correctamente de su basura. Se puede cobrar impuestos a la gente que genera la basura, incluso a las industrias de los plásticos. Hay que enseñar al público a comprar comida con menos envases plásticos, y cómo reciclar la basura verde en casa. La buena noticia es que las ciudades pueden reciclar gran parte su basura, vendiendo los plásticos y produciendo compost para mejorar el suelo y para reemplazar a los fertilizantes quÃmicos.
Denis piensa en su planta como una escuela, donde otros pueden aprender. De hecho, varias ciudades pequeñas (Sacaba, Vinto, Villazón, y algunas en los valles de Santa Cruz), han construido plantas similares, usando el modelo de Tiquipaya. Denis está dispuesto a compartir sus conocimientos con otra gente interesada, sintiendo mucho orgullo por lo logrado.
Con un poco de inversión inteligente, una ciudad puede convertir su basura en productos útiles e Ãtems de trabajo verde, mientras evita los rellenos no sostenibles, que simplemente entierran los nutrientes ganados con tanto esfuerzo por la producción agrÃcola.
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Written with Paul Van Mele
In the opening scenes of the film, “Living Soil,†we see the Dust Bowl: the devastated farmland of the 1930s in the southern plains of the USA. Thirty to fifty years of plowing had destroyed the soil, and in times of drought, it drifted like snow.
As the rest of this one-hour film shows, there is now some room for optimism. Nebraska farmer Keith Berns starts by telling us that most people don’t understand the soil, not even farmers. But this is changing as more and more farmers, large and small, organic and conventional, begin to pay attention to soil health, and to the beneficial microbes that add fertility to the soil. Plants produce carbon, and exchange it with fungi and bacteria for nutrients.
A few scientists also appear in the film. Kristin Veum, USDA soil scientist, says that soil organisms are important because they build the soil back up. Most people know that legumes fix nitrogen, but few know that it’s the microbes in association with the plants’ roots that actually fix the nitrogen from the air.
Indiana farmer Dan DeSutter explains that mulch is important not just to retain moisture, but also to keep the soil cool in the summer. This helps the living organisms in the soil to stay more active. Just like people, good microbes prefer a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. When it gets either too hot or too cold, the micro-organisms become less active. Cover crops are also important, explains DeSutter, “Nature abhors a mono-crop.†DeSutter plants cover crops with a mix of three to 13 different plants and this not only improves the soil, but keeps his cash crops healthier.
Nebraska’s Keith Berns plants a commercial sunflower crop in a mulch of triticale straw, with a cover crop of Austrian winter pea, cowpeas, buckwheat, flax, squash and other plants growing beneath the sunflowers. This diversity then adds 15 or 20 bushels per acre of yield (1 to 1.35 tons per hectare) to the following maize crop. Three rotations per year (triticale, sunflower and maize), with cover crops, build the soil up, while a simple maize – soy bean rotation depletes it.
Adding carbon to the soil is crucial, says DeSutter, because carbon is the basis of life in the soil. In Indiana, half of this soil carbon has been lost in just 150 to 200 years of farming, and only 50 years of intensive agriculture. No-till farming reduces fertilizer and herbicide costs, increases yield and the soil improves: a win-win-win. This also reduces pollution from agrochemical runoff.
As Keith Berns explains, the Holy Grail of soil health has been no-till without herbicides. It’s difficult to do, because you have to kill the cover crop to plant your next crop. One option is to flatten the cover crop with rollers, and another solution is to graze livestock on the cover crop, although he admits that it’s “really hard†to get this combination just right.
USDA soil health expert Barry Fisher, says “Never have I seen among farmers such a broad quest for knowledge as I’m seeing now.†The farmers are willing to share their best-kept secrets with each other, which you wouldn’t see in many other businesses.
Many of these farmers are experimenting largely on their own, but a little State support can make a huge difference. In the 1990s in Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay had an outbreak of Pfiesteria, a disease that was killing the shellfish. Scientists traced the problem to phosphorous, from chemical fertilizer runoff. Maryland’s State Government began to subsidize and promote cover crops, which farmers widely adopted. After 20 years, as Chesapeake Bay waterman James “Ooker†Eskridge explains, the bay is doing better. The sea grass is coming back. The blue crab population is doing well, the oysters are back and the bay looks healthier than it has in years.
Innovative farmers, who network and encourage each other, are revolutionizing American farming. As of 2017, US farmers had adopted cover crops and other soil health measures on at least 17 million acres (6.9 million hectares), a dramatic increase over ten years earlier, but still less than 10% of the country’s farmland. Fortunately, triggered by increased consumer awareness, these beneficial practices are catching on, which is important, because healthier soil removes carbon from the atmosphere, reduces agrochemical use, retains moisture to produce a crop in dry years, and grows more food. The way forward is clear. Measures like targeted subsidies to help farmers buy seed of cover crops have been instrumental to help spread agroecological practices. Experimenting farmers must be supported with more public research and with policies that promote healthy practices like mulching, compost, crop rotation and cover crops.
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Living Soil directed by Chelsea Wright, Soil Health Institute
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