Incatema Consulting collaborates with the technical workshop on forage harvesting and localised slurries application in Burgos

13 June, 2019

The purpose of this technical workshop is to generate awareness among farmers and farming sector technicians of the innovations in farming equipment and their applications in the fields, and to report on the new regulation on slurry application, intended to reduce ammonia emissions and to ensure a more environmentally-friendly application.

The workshop will comprise several real working demonstrations of latest-technology farming equipment, aimed at showing how this machinery can contribute favourably to the objective of increasing the sustainability of slurry application, by reducing its environmental impact, as required by the European Directive on National Emissions Ceilings (Directive 2001/81/EC, amended by Directive 2016/2284), along with the Geneva Convention’s Gothenburg Protocol.

The event will also comprise two conferences at the “Príncipe Felipe “ Integrated Professional Training Centre in Albillos, regarding the current regulations on slurry application as a fertiliser, and on yield maps and quality in the work of forage-cutting harvesters.

In the words of Sergio de Román, Incatema Consulting & Engineering’s Director of Farming, Fisheries and Rural Development, “these farming demonstrations given by the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food each year are a great opportunity to demonstrate our experience working with and using the best agricultural technology available, so as to favour the task of raising awareness among farmers and technicians in the sector.”

Environmental responsibility in the application of slurries

The issue of environmental commitment has been very present during the Technical Workshop on forage crops and localised slurry application,  given that both the EU Directives and international conventions impose a limit on ammonia emissions, which added to a growing awareness and social sensitivity regarding the environment and climate change are making it necessary to develop policies that contribute to changing behaviours towards increasingly efficient and environmentally-friendly behaviours.

In this regard, towards the end of 2017, Royal Decree 980/2017 of 10 November was published, modifying Royal Decrees 1075/2014, 1076/2014, 1077/2014 and 1078/2014, all of 19 December, issued for the application in Spain of the Common Agricultural Policy, which establish in their Article 4, that the application of manure on farming surfaces may not be carried out using plate or fan, or cannon systems. Nonetheless, the Autonomous Communities can establish exceptions, based on the specific features of the affected terrain, including orographic and climatic conditions, or other reasons, provided that they are duly justified.