EIP-AGRI project „Precision Liming in Brandenburg” wins digitalization prize

Since the EIP-AGRI was established in 2012, more than 3,400 Operational Groups have contributed to increase the productivity and sustainability of agriculture and forestry in the EU by developing innovative practices and solutions. To recognize the wide variety of innovative projects and their achievements over the past eight years, the EU CAP Network for Innovation and Knowledge Exchange organized the EIP-AGRI Innovation Awards 2024. Out of 240 EU-wide applications, thirty projects were nominated in six categories, dealing with innovative solutions for animal welfare, digitalization and sustainable business models, among others. They focus on progressive agriculture for a sustainable future and aim to bring innovations into practice more quickly.

In this category, the EIP-AGRI working groups show how to increase profitability, improve working conditions for farmers and foresters and at the same time counteract the environmental and climate impact of agriculture and forestry. pH-BB was thus able to prevail against four co-nominated projects out of 40 applicants in this category. A big thank you goes to all colleagues and supporters of the project.

The “Precision Liming in Brandenburg” (pH BB) project developed digital tools to help increase yields and improve soil fertility. With the use of mobile soil sensors and precise technology from the project, important soil properties can now be recorded quickly, cost-effectively and on a small scale, thus improving the management of soil acidity on farms in Brandenburg. In addition to the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), which coordinated the project, and the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), five practice partners participated in the pH BB project.

For the implementation of precise liming the project developed the following methods: sensor-based mapping methods for texture, pH value and humus content, algorithms for reference sampling, for the mean grain diameter and for “stepless” calculation of lime application rates. Several products are now available for users: the pH-BB Toolbox, the profitability calculator as well as training and lecture materials. Recommendations for practice have also been summarised in twelve practice sheets and an informative survey. The results have so far been published in seven peer-reviewed articles and a book.

The pH BB team would like to thank all colleagues and supporters of the project.

More Information
Project overview: https://eip-agri.brandenburg.de/eip-agri/de/projekte/ph-bb-beendet/
EIP-AGRI Innovation Awards 2024 for Operational Groups: https://eu-cap-network.ec.europa.eu/campaign/eip-agri-innovation-awards-2024_en#paragraph-18440

Contact at IGZ
Dr. Jörg Rühlmann, Head of Research Group “Open Field Horticultural Systems” | Email: ruehlmann@igzev.de | Phone +40 (0) 33701-78 353

Relevant publications

• Schmidinger, J., Schröter, I., Bönecke, E., Gebbers, R., Ruehlmann, J., Kramer, E., Mulder, V.L., Heuvelink, G.B. and Vogel, S., 2024. Effect of training sample size, sampling design and prediction model on soil mapping with proximal sensing data for precision liming. Precision Agriculture, pp.1-27. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11119-024-10122-3
• Ruehlmann, J., Bönecke, E., Gebbers, R., Gerlach, F., Kling, C., Lück, K., Meyer, S., Nagel, A., Palme, S. and Philipp, G., 2023. Predicting the Base Neutralization Capacity of Soils Based on Texture, Organic Carbon and Initial pH: An Opportunity to Adjust Common Liming Recommendation Approaches to Specific Management and Climate Conditions. Agronomy 2023, 13, 2762. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/13/11/2762
• Vogel, S., Emmerich, K., Schröter, I., Bönecke, E., Schwanghart, W., Rühlmann, J., Kramer, E. and Gebbers, R., 2023. The effect of soil moisture content and soil texture on fast in situ pH measurements with two types of robust ion-selective electrodes. EGUsphere, 2023, pp.1-20. https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-1470/
• Vogel, S., Bönecke, E., Kling, C., Kramer, E., Lück, K., Philipp, G., Rühlmann, J., Schröter, I. and Gebbers, R., 2022. Direct prediction of site-specific lime requirement of arable fields using the base neutralizing capacity and a multi-sensor platform for on-the-go soil mapping. Precision Agriculture, 23, pp.127-149. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11119-021-09830-x
• Ruehlmann, J., Bönecke, E. and Meyer, S., 2021. Predicting the lime demand of arable soils from pH value, soil texture and soil organic matter content. Agronomy, 11(4), p.785. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/4/785
• Bönecke, E., Meyer, S., Vogel, S., Schröter, I., Gebbers, R., Kling, C., Kramer, E., Lück, K., Nagel, A., Philipp, G. and Gerlach, F., 2021. Guidelines for precise lime management based on high-resolution soil pH, texture and SOM maps generated from proximal soil sensing data. Precision Agriculture, 22, pp.493-523. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11119-020-09766-8
• Vogel, S., Bönecke, E., Kling, C., Kramer, E., Lück, K., Nagel, A., Philipp, G., Rühlmann, J., Schröter, I. and Gebbers, R., 2020. Base neutralizing capacity of agricultural soils in a quaternary landscape of North-East Germany and its relationship to best management practices in lime requirement determination. Agronomy, 10(6), p.877. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/6/877