JOHN DEERE and Vogelsang have launched a joint project to promote sustainable use of organic fertilizer – by demonstrating just how precisely modern agri-tech can target liquid manure.

“We are using our joint expertise to ensure that plants can be supplied with the necessary nutrients through more precise liquid manure application,” said John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group marketing manager Alexander Berges. “Precise organic fertilization has significant advantages over mineral fertilization. It improves the CO2 balance of agricultural production and reduces ammonia emissions. Higher yields, more consistent plant growth and protection of water courses are further positive benefits.”

Harald Vogelsang, managing director of Vogelsang GmbH and Co, added: “The site-specific and need-based application of liquid manure enables modern agriculture to operate more sustainably and to promote the triad of economy, ecology and social acceptance.”

This joint technology project demonstrates in practice how accurately liquid manure can be applied using Vogelsang’s new BlackBird trailing shoe system with Comfort Flow Control and ExaCut ECQ precision distributors. Operated via the in-cab Generation 4 Display, John Deere Section Control opens and closes the system’s individual hoses automatically and very precisely according to the tanker’s GPS position. This reduces overlaps and errors to an absolute minimum and avoids over- or undersupply of nutrients to the plants.

Vogelsang has also developed new valve technology, with air bellows in the hose outlets of the spreading devices for switching off the individual boom sections. The inflated air bellows close the individual boom sections or boom section groups. This electropneumatic control of the individual hoses enables fast, precise switching operations – and, as the attached photo attests, allows suitably outfitted machines to distribute liquid manure to exact specifications.