Smarter growing starts with conscious choice

At the start of innovation

HAS University of Applied Sciences is not only a higher education institution, but also a knowledge and expertise center for the agrofood professional. The college carries out about 300 projects a year on behalf of the field. Lecturers, teachers and business advisors, together with companies and institutions, set up minors, research projects and advisory and product development projects aimed at practical, applied knowledge. Central to this is an integrated approach and working in multidisciplinary teams. In this new section Kiempunt Limburg shows you which projects are currently running within the HAS.

Smarter growing starts with conscious choice

Can Japanese Oats, Tagetes or Stinging Nettles help farmers to grow more sustainably and with higher returns? Arvalis and LLTB engaged students from HAS University to investigate which new crops could be considered as smart replacements for the usual crops. The research is one of the initiatives from the Plants for Plants project. Plants for Plants is aimed at the fullextraction of crops, including residual flows with, moreover, a positive impact on the soil.

Crop maps

In 2019, 6 crops with potential already came into focus. This year, 2^th year Applied Biology students Anniek Ketelings, Tygo Keunen, Chantal Leenders and Kirsten Pijnenburg are adding some. Anniek Ketelings: "We map out the technical cultivation properties of a plant with all the associated advantages and disadvantages. We also look at the application possibilities, so that the entrepreneur can more easily decide which crop best suits his field and his wishes. Chantal Leenders: "We deliberately included the Tagetes as a crop, because there are many varieties with different properties. We can then look for the species with the best combination of properties, for example good nematode control combined with high lutein content."

Winter field bean under the microscope

In addition to making crop maps and literature research, the students are also doing field research on an interesting contender, the winter field bean. Tygo Keunen: "The field bean is very good at fixing nitrogen and removing a surplus from the soil. When underplanted, additional nitrogen enters the soil, so it's a good green manure crop. At the same time, it can act as a good protein source in livestock feed, so the arable farmer may be able to get more return from it than with usual green manures."
Kirsten Pijnenburg: "We are going to take soil samples from a trial plot and analyze them for a number of nutrients. We will also have a plant juice analysis performed in a lab. We will do the analyses before, during and at the end of the cultivation, so that we can see what substances the plant has absorbed.

The first soil analyses at the start of cultivation by (from left) Chantal, Tygo, Kirsten and Aniek

Costs and benefits

Teacher Tim Minkhorst: "Whereas applied biology students look at the biological aspects, business administration students study the costs and benefits. Because the feasibility of such a switch to another crop depends on that, of course. The goal is to create a circular economy. Both the Plants4Plants project and HAS University want to contribute to this by sharing knowledge to lower the threshold for change. Next year we hope to take this further and the end result will be a total model for smart crop selection."

More info?

Would you like to know more about this project? Then contact Patrick Lemmens at Arvalis (plemmens@arvalis.nl).
Would you also like to enlist the help of students in research or development? Then look here.