With the Lely Sphere, Lely has won the Agribusiness Award 2021 from Boerenbusiness won. This innovation for dairy farming reduces 70% of nitrogen emissions in the barn and converts the ammonia released during this process into circular fertilizer. According to Aalt Dijkhuizen, chairman of the independent jury, Lely contributes with the Sphere to "a particularly effective solution for the current complex nitrogen problem."
The complete online award ceremony can be viewed here.
Romy van Aalst and Rik Janssen (photo), product managers at Lely, received the prize on Thursday afternoon 25 November from Aalt Dijkhuizen, the chairman of the independent jury of the Agribusiness Award, during a live broadcast on Boerenbusiness.NL. In addition to the Award, the winner will also receive a corresponding media package worth €6.500 and a follow-up program offered by ABN Amro. Due to the corona measures, the award ceremony took place online from Studio 2 in Meppel.
Boerenbusiness awards the prize annually to an innovation that has a clear added value for the profitability of an agricultural company. In other words: the wallet of the farmer. That has potential the Lely Sphere certainly, the jury notes in its report: "This innovation not only improves the environmental presentations of dairy farms, but can also ensure that dairy farmers can maintain their 'license to produce' and boost their business profitability."
Circular solution
Lely has tackled the operation of the Sphere, the separation of manure and urine, at the source on the dairy farm. By slightly adjusting the slatted floor in the dairy barn and extracting the air from the manure cellar, the Sphere converts the ammonia in the extracted air through a filter into a liquid fertilizer. The dairy farmer can apply this to the land and thus save on the purchase of fertilizer. Mineral cycles are closed, which also makes the Sphere a circular solution.
"Lely responds so effectively to social and political wishes, which deserves broad acceptance," according to the jury. Because an innovation like the Lely Sphere can help reduce nitrogen emissions from Dutch dairy farming a lot cheaper than political measures such as forced shrinkage of dairy farms. An invention such as the Sphere is, Lely calculated, no less than 7,5 times cheaper per kilogram of ammonia saved. "Don't shrink, but innovate. This fits in with an approach that has made the Dutch sector leading in the world", motivates the jury.
Answers to social wishes
Lely won the final round of the Agribusiness Award with the Sphere as one of the five candidates. It was striking from the selection of the five finalists that they not only strive for a better return for the agricultural company, but also all respond to social wishes. For example, the innovations of three candidates specifically target the reduction of nitrogen emissions from dairy farms. In addition to Lely with the Lely Sphere, these are JOZ eg with the nitrogen cracker Gazoo en Hanskamp e.g. with the Cowtoilet.
De start-up In Ovo unloads with its Ella machine a challenge in poultry farming by selecting eggs with roosters early in the breeding process of laying hens. As a result, the roosters no longer need to be euthanized on day 1 after birth. Bayer is finally the last finalist with Serenade, a plant enhancer used in potato cultivation. The company uses this agent as 'biological chemistry' and thus promotes the sustainability of crop protection.
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