About the project

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Biomass-based, circular, closed-chain farming is the basis of ancient agricultural activity. In the old farming system, the farmers used organic matter of animal and vegetable origin produced on the farm: what they could not consume, they fed it to the animals and returned it to the soil. There was no excess, no waste. With the agricultural revolution that took place in the 20th century, the key elements of which were mechanization and the use of artificial fertilizers, this view gradually faded into the background. Instead of closed-chain farming, the economy relies on external input materials, the use of synthetic agents instead of biomass is increasing. The circularity is broken, as instead of organic carbon replacement in the soil, NPK fertilizers will dominate.

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In this process , Ernő Kemenesy recognized the following ideas: "Let's seize every opportunity to produce more and better quality organic manure, and the goal should be that not a single strand of straw or other organic material goes to waste, but that all organic residues are included." into the plant's organic matter cycle." /Guidelines for farming/. So already 60 years ago, agriculture walked in similar shoes and almost the same ideas are expressed in the directives of biomass-based farming by the European Union from the 2010s.
Today, farm sizes have continued to grow, plant cultivation and animal husbandry have basically been separated. Although regenerative agriculture once again recognizes and articulates the importance of the practical integration of the two areas, mainstream conventional farming has drifted far from this. Yield expectations are high, which farmers base almost exclusively on synthetic solutions and intensive tillage. Such an environment can only be entered with competitive biotechnologies whose materials and processes are able to compete with conventional results in some way. This aspect certainly cannot be the quantity, because it has already been shown that biotechnology cannot compete with synthetic materials. The quality of the crop and the improvement of the farmland can therefore be considered. The project set itself the goal of developing organic fertilizer processing methods that are capable of improving crop quality and soil quality compared to conventional methods.
Well-managed, high-quality organic manure greatly contributes to stable soil organic carbon replenishment and balanced soil microbiological processes. Only treated manure can achieve this result, because raw manure rots, which results in a significant loss of carbon and nitrogen and unregulated, toxic by-products and harms the healthy cycles of the soil. Therefore, it is necessary to bring the decomposition and subsequent reconstruction of manure into a regulated process.
During the implementation of the project, we implemented such regulated treatment procedures on a large-scale scale. In the project, the agricultural members used the treated manure on their own land to produce fodder for their farm animals. Our goal is to achieve a high internal content in the feed in order to improve the health of the animals, their productivity, and the quality of the resulting litter and manure. Year after year, the quality of litter, manure and crop yield has proven the effectiveness of the closed-chain, circular farming model.
The demand for processing organic manure can be said to be general for both animal breeders and plant growers. However, economic and feasible methods are hardly available to farmers. Knowledge is sporadic and incomplete. As a result of the project, farmers were able to get to know a complete fertilizer management portfolio, from which they can choose the right one according to their own needs and possibilities. These criteria are the amount of organic manure, its rate of production, seasonality, space available for manure treatment, time, personnel, mechanical infrastructure and the targeted quality result. The result of the methods is a much more valuable - microbiologically and nutritionally - fertilizer than the current one, which in all cases is free of weed seeds. In this way, a given amount of fertilizer can be used in a larger area and the treated fertilizer can be immediately absorbed by the plant, even providing a starter effect. The uniform spreadability of the manure is significantly improved , as the result of each method is a homogeneous, loose, crumbled material. Another advantage of litter treatment methods is the significant improvement of animal health conditions (litter stability, humidity, reduction of odors, flies, pathogens)!

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4 types of methods for handling fertilizers:

 

2 methods of litter management:

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1. feeding animals with bentonite and litter treatment with EM anaerobic microbiological preparation,

2. feeding animals with biochar and treating litter with aerobic compost tea.

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4 treatment methods for the manure carried in the prism:

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1. creation of rotational aerobic manure compost,

2. treatment of manure with aerobic compost tea in a static prism (without rotation),

3. treatment of manure with humus compost in a static prism (without rotation).

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Each treatment method was followed by an untreated, control activity by measuring and recording initial and end-of-process conditions.

 

The goal of the project was not only to develop manure treatment technologies, but also to learn about the effect of treated manure on soil and plants. In two years, treated manure was applied to the experimental sites designated by the 3 farms on areas ranging from 3 to 10 Ha. In all cases, a control panel accompanied the experimental tests.

•    2019 control status
•    2021. treated and untreated condition
•    2022. treated and untreated condition

 

As a result, we were unable to perform an impact assessment on the plants, as the yield of the plants sown in 2021 and 2022 was extremely low, and in several cases the fields were completely damaged.

 

The results are really exciting . The chemical and nutrient content of the litter/manure/compost samples treated with experimental manure treatment methods is typically higher in the control litter/manure than in the control/untreated litter, while the microbiology cell count is also much higher. In the case of litter treatments, supplementing the feed with biochar and spraying the litter with compost tea proved to be the most successful. With the technology of rotational manure management, the treated manure brought an exceptionally high improvement in internal content and microbiology compared to the untreated control. We tried three methods for the static manure prism treatments: compost tea treatment, treatment with Humusline Humus compost and treatment with the Bacteriolite product. The Humus compost treatment brought the best results.

 

Based on the analysis of the literature and partly on the basis of our own investigations, we came to the conclusion that the results so far related to the topic are extremely encouraging, however, the effect of different preparations and treatments cannot always be clearly judged. In practice, the experiences gained with different treatments are often favorable, which shows that the possibilities inherent in the treatment of manure are only partially used today.

 

In the first year, we used organic manure from the litter treatment treated with biochar + compost tea for field spreading, while in the second year we used manure from the rotational manure treatment. The soil test results showed a slight increase in nutrients compared to the initial state.