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CEO Lely calls on politicians to help pay Sphere
Circular manure system Lely Sphere received certification this morning and is now on the Rav List (Ammonia and Livestock Farming Regulations) with more than 70% emission reduction. Lely CEO André van Troost is pleased with this and calls on politicians to focus on innovation and to help pay for the purchase of the Sphere. Instead of reducing livestock.
Van Troost (photo) announced the certification this morning (Friday 1 October) at the launch of the fourth Lely Orbiter, a mini-dairy factory on its own property. The Sphere reduces nitrogen emissions by at least 70%, says Van Troost. The provisional emission factor for the Lely Sphere is 3,6 kg NH3 per cow per year, for a barn with a traditional slatted floor this is 13 kg NH3 per year.
Van Troost: "It's no secret that dairy farming is one of the major contributors to nitrogen emissions. Farmers have been working for decades to reduce them. The Sphere can help with the last bit."
'The Hague must come up with an agricultural vision'
Van Troost believes that The Hague "should come up with a vision on agriculture and be prepared to contribute to it." It doesn't help that the formation takes so long, he says. "Farmers who want to stop should be able to do so, but forced stopping is not an option for us. When the water rose, we also had the choice: either the Delta Works or we all move to Germany."
"For every cow that you remove from the Netherlands, two are added to China", says the CEO of Lely, for which foreign expansion would also not be a bad thing financially. "Over the next ten years, worldwide milk demand will grow by 2 to 4%. It is better to produce where they do it best."
He calculates that taxpayers will lose more than seven times more if companies have to be bought than if the government contributes to the Sphere. He assumes an investment of around €150.000 for the Sphere. Van Troost: "The government can start with the Sphere at 200 to 300 dairy farms near Natura 2000 areas. Then you have already solved a very large part of the nitrogen problem."
Source-oriented separation
Lely Sphere is a circular manure valorisation system for the separation and reuse of mineral flows on dairy farms. A small adjustment to the slatted floor ensures separation of manure and urine. Source-oriented separation leads to less ammonia in the barn. The manure gases that arise below and just above the stable floor are captured. A filter converts the ammonia into circular nitrogen fertilizer. The system has been running at several dairy farmers for several years.
Linda van Eekeres
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