Rush on nitrogen pilot with Lely Sphere

There is great enthusiasm among dairy farmers to participate in the nitrogen reduction pilot with the Lely Spere. In this, the machine builder works together with FrieslandCampina and Rabobank. In this pilot there is room for placing 96 Lely Spheres, spread across the Netherlands. "Within two hours, the pilot was already well overwritten," says Lely.   

The pilot means that Lely, FrieslandCampina and Rabobank will jointly support the installation of the Spheres. Lely does this by means of a discount, Rabobank gives an interest discount on the financing and FrieslandCampina takes out the wallet via the milk money. The dairy cooperative is making €960.000 available for this. The amounts that the other companies contribute are in the same order of magnitude.

'The more the better'
After the launch on Thursday, a rush of interest has arisen at Lely. "Within two hours, the Pilot was already well overwritten," says a spokesperson without wanting to mention concrete numbers. "We warmly welcome this, because in our view the Lely Sphere is the way to reduce nitrogen on a large scale in Dutch dairy farming." The scientific basis is that the Sphere can reduce nitrogen in the house up to 70%. So far, Lely has sold ten Spheres, and that number will probably increase rapidly in the coming months. "We can scale up production considerably and are open to more pilots like this one. The more, the better", as far as we are concerned.

FrieslandCampina and Rabobank
FrieslandCampina is also enthusiastic and believes that this will offer its members a concrete tool to reduce nitrogen emissions. According to CEO Hein Schumacher, innovation is much more effective and cheaper than buying out farmers. In a letter to members sent yesterday, Schumacher criticizes the government's rigid stance on the reduction targets set.  

Rabobank recently indicated to focus in terms of financing on the frontrunners in the field of sustainability in the agricultural sector. By providing an interest discount and a grace period on the Lely Sphere, the bank is taking a concrete step. "Innovation is important in order to become more sustainable and to be able to continue farming", says Martine Boom, deputy director of Food & Agri at Rabobank.  

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is Head of Meat & Dairy at BoerenbusinessAt DCA Market Intelligence, he focuses on dairy, pork, and meat markets. He also monitors (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.