A Swedish farmer who stopped plowing his land and wants to reuse rainwater for irrigation

Rudolf Tornerhjelm is the fifth generation farmer who takes over Wrams Gunnarstorpfarm with more than 800 hectares dedicated cereal cultivation in southern Sweden. Perhaps because the trade runs in his family, he is very clear that “it is very important to take care of Environment leave it to the next generations. Therefore, following the maxim that “it is best to solve the problem immediately”, he implemented a whole series of measures on his farm to take care of his environment. His land is rarely plowed and he has implemented a system Controlled traffic Agriculture, which prevents soil compaction. But he also built a giant raftto use rainwater, i biogas plantnot because he has livestock and needs to recycle manure, but because he is convinced of the benefits of using this waste as natural fertilizer.

It was in 2009 when this farm started working together with two others, Rosendal Gods and Lydinge Gardin the practicing association conservation agriculture. Plowing their land less or not at all was one of the first practices they applied to the 1,945 hectares of land that these three farms have together. Taking into account that 65% of the soil they cultivate is clayey, they also decided on traffic control agriculture, which consists in avoiding its compaction by establishing a network of permanent and specific lanes through which machinery circulates.

They were soon able to confirm that all these systems were working and that the task of planting and germinating their crops was much easier. “We had pests that we knew the chemicals wouldn’t work for. Now that we hardly plow, we have them under control. We use 50% less nitrogen and produce the same. I think conservation agriculture is very good for this area,” explains John, manager of all three farms.

The next challenge this farm wants to face is the lack of water climate changes. For this, they are working on a design irrigation and fertilization system. The idea is to build a system that allows irrigation of 500 hectares, and which is also capable of fertilizing the land. All this, completely automatically. They want to take advantage muddy water. “We want to separate the liquid part from the solid part, clean the water and use it on the crops,” says the person responsible for the irrigation system, because in this way the nutrients from this natural fertilizer can be used. It will also wear an array of sensors that will tell the farmer the exact amount of water to use “and the money they’ll lose if they don’t.”

Where will the water to irrigate all these crops come from? Well, partially, from one giant raft which was built to take advantage of the rain. “On my property, we had good conditions for creating a pond and we believe that we would have better crops if we could irrigate,” says Rudolf. They hope to collect the water that falls in the winter in this area, so that they can use it during the summer. And not only do they irrigate their crops. “We think we will have problems with forest fires“, he assures. And since much of his farm’s income comes from logging, “this raft allows us to have the water close by so the helicopter can catch the water quickly,” he says. As adults, their neighbors can also benefit from their initiative, “because I believe we should cooperate and share resources,” he says.

Fertilizer pellets made from biogas silver digestate

Rudolf’s farm also has biogas plant. But not because there are dung-producing animals in it. This Swedish farmer built this plant because “I wanted to have more manure in my crops,” he says. So now an agreement has been reached to cooperate with nearby pig farms, poultry farms and slaughterhouses to process all their waste there. When he is older, he works hand in hand with Ekobalans, a company that managed to transform itself digestate which is created in this fertilizer pellets for plants.

This Swedish farmer is convinced that there is strength in unity and that is why almost all of his projects go hand in hand with other companies or administrations. For example, biogas plant has an agreement with EON, which buys all its production. This plant also generates waste, digestatewhich they also managed to use thanks to the process designed by Ekobalans.

Digestate “consists of 95% water,” says Nicklas Froborg, the company’s salesman. That’s why the first step is to eliminate a good part of that liquid by the drying process. From there they get two products, water that can already be used as fertilizerbecause in it a good part on nitrogen, and the solid part, which is rich in phosphorus, is why they implement a process that “allows us to remove the nutrients and return them in the appropriate ratio for the field,” he adds. This is also very rich in microorganisms. So later they add ammonium sulfate and pelletize it, creating a new one organic fertilizerwhich are already being tested on five Swedish farms, to check their advantages in comparison with chemical fertilizers. Rudolf’s farm also has biogas plant. But not because there are dung-producing animals in it. This Swedish farmer built this plant because “I wanted to have more manure in my crops,” he says. So now a cooperation agreement has been reached with nearby pig and poultry farms and slaughterhouses to process all their waste there. When he is older, he works hand in hand with Eco balancethe company that managed to convert the digestate produced in this plant into pellet fertilizer.

This Swedish farmer is convinced that there is strength in unity and that is why almost all of his projects go hand in hand with other companies or administrations. For example, biogas plant has an agreement with EON, which buys all its production. This plant also generates waste, digestate, which they also managed to use thanks to the process designed by Eco balance.

Digestate “consists of 95% water,” says Nicklas Froborg, the company’s salesman. Therefore, the first step is to remove a large part of this liquid through the drying process. From there, they get two products, water that can already be used as fertilizer, because a good part of nitrogen remains in it, and a solid part, which is rich in phosphorus, which is why they carry out a process that “enables us to remove nutrients and return them in the appropriate ratio for the field “, he adds. This is also very rich in microorganisms. Therefore, they later add ammonium sulfate and pelletize it, giving a new organic fertilizer, which they are already testing on five Swedish farms, to confirm its advantages compared to chemical fertilizers.

Solar panels on a large raft

Rudolf is convinced that his farm, apart from being circular, it can be self-sufficient. That is why he has a project to install solar panels. Some of them will be located on a large pool of water because, in addition to generating energy, they will prevent the liquid from overheating and evaporating during the summer. “I need electricity to drive water and supply biogas plant“, he concludes.