driv autumn 2014 (in english)

DRIVA MAGAZINE FROM JTI – SWEDISH INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING – AUTUMN 2014

Growing herbs in the Swedish climate

Grain dryers can run on biofuel

THEY TAKERESEARCHTO THE FARM

news Flush unsustainable toilets! i Information from aerial pictures reveals trampling damage i Pellets suitable

for the stable i Straw length affects fuel consumption i JTI is expanding into western Sweden i Electric tractor can

handle heavy jobs reportage “Farming must be profitable” i EU investment in small-scale biogas







2 JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014FROM THE EDITOR

YES TO A FOOD STRATEGY

It is great to be able to help drive development in agriculture – an area that we all depend on. But there are many challenges, such as the abrupt changes and the short-term planning of the what, when and how of production. This is something tied up with politics and the global market.

Carrying as they do an often already heavy financial burden, it is hard for farmers and others in the industry to cope with abrupt swings. For example, pig production has really taken a hammering recently, and is largely unable to withstand any further adverse

changes. Milk production is facing forecasts of milk prices some 30% lower, while this year cereal prices are back at 2010 levels. Things are

perhaps most difficult for livestock producers. Once the decision has been taken to cull a herd, it is almost impossible to come back.

As consumers, we will not see the industry’s many challenges reflected purely in prices – at least, not in the short term. However, we will probably be

seeing more imported food on the shelves. Is the picture now one of complete doom and gloom? No, certainly not!

Ahead of this year’s elections, all Sweden’s political parties agreed – for the first time since the deregulation of Swedish agriculture began in earnest in the late 1980s – that the country needs its own food strategy. Furthermore, we might hear in March about how the Swedish Government Commission for Competitive Agriculture wants to strengthen agriculture and horticulture. This means an increased awareness that we should take responsibility ourselves for ensuring the availability in Sweden of affordable, good quality food, produced sustainably using the latest knowledge and modern technology.

Anders Hartman,CEO of JTI – Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering

3JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014 CONTENTS

DRIV magazine is JTI’s customer magazine, and is published twice a year. EDITORS JTI Kommunikation. ADDRESS JTI – Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Box 7033, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden +46 10-516 69 00. GRAPHICS Matador kommunikation. PRINT RUN 1000 copies. ISSN 2001-4880 CHANGE OF ADDRESS [email protected]. REPRINTING Please acknowledge the source when reproducing any articles from the magazine. Additional copies of the magazine can be ordered free of charge from [email protected]. The magazine is also available online at www.jti.se. COVER PICTURE Erik Sindhöj, JTI. Photo: Staffan Claesson. PHOTOGRAPHERS Staffan Claesson, Patrik Söderman, Filip Karlsson, Oscar Jonsson, Sia Andersson, Eva Spörndly, Jakob Dahlström, iStock.com, MorePixels, Mostphotos and JTI.

VENTURE INTO HERBS

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MORE GAS FROM FOOD

POWERFUL VOICE SUPPORTS AGRICULTURE

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4 JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014NEWS

Every year we flush away plant nutrients, energy and drinking water worth mil-lions in our wastewater. Different types of toilets and an alternative wastewater system would enable these resources to be utilized.

“According to some estimates, the plant nutrients alone in Sweden’s wastewater are worth more than SEK 600 million a year. However, large quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus are lost with today’s conventional, water-borne sewage system,” says David Eveborn, who is leading the JTI project Future Toilet Fashion.

Future Toilet Fashion, which is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, aims to encourage innovative thinking in the field of sanitation. The focus is on the toilet, which is seen as a key component in development towards a sustainable wastewater system.

“Without attractive and water-efficient toilets, we cannot achieve the project’s vision of a sanitation system that com-bines water efficiency with technology that utilizes the nutrients and energy,” says David Eveborn.

Today, there are already technical solutions on the market similar to those demanded by the project: low-flush toilets, source-separating toilets and wastewater systems that use vacuum to

IDEAS FOR THE TOILETS OF THE FUTURE

transport the waste. There are also several examples of housing estates and urban areas where there has been investment in this type of technology on a larger scale.

“Some of the trials have clearly been less successful. Among other things, we will be analyzing why those technologies have found it hard to make the break-through. But above all, we want to show the enormous potential in these kinds of innovations. Along with the industries concerned, we will be trying to find the drivers required to enable us to develop new technological solutions,” says David Eveborn.

Contact: [email protected]

THE TOILET QUESTION. The JTI project Future Toilet Fashion aims to find new solutions for toilets that enable plant nutrients and energy to be utilized.

FOOD PRODUCTION FOR DIVERSITYIn the future, how might food be produced in a way that enhances biodiversity, reduces over-fertilization and is more climate-efficient? The answer to this important but very sweeping question is being sought in “Hållbara matvägar” (Paths to a sustainable food sector), a project based in Västra Götaland and led by SIK, the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology. JTI is collaborating in the project with SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). A report is expected around the turn of the year.

PLUGGED IN TRACTORSIt should be possible to carry out even heavy field work such as ploughing and harrowing with an electrically powered tractor. However, it does require a constant cabled power supply. For certain operations, costs can even be lower with a mains-operated tractor than with a conventional diesel machine. This is the conclusion of a feasibility study carried out by JTI on behalf of LRF, the Federa-tion of Swedish Farmers.

The idea is that the tractor carries a cable reel and plugs in to fixed connec-tion points on the field. Technology and a special driving pattern are then used to avoid damaging the cable.

“Swedish agriculture is currently highly dependent on fossil energy. This makes us vulnerable. Electrically powered tractors could be one possible solution to the problem,” says Oscar Lagnelöv at JTI, who is working on the project. He would like to see the cable tractor concept further developed into a prototype.

SUSTAINABLE WASTE-WATER SYSTEM: • Based on technology that users want• Enables nutrients to be utilized• Enables energy to be utilized• Separates the useful

(nutrients, energy) from the undesirable (toxic substances)

• Economizes on water

5JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014 NEWS

01. During the grazing season, the cows are released in several batches to graze heavily on the trial plot (the light rectangle in the picture), which has been sown with four different clover and grass seed mixes. 02. Patricia Sandberg is studying the cows’ behaviour as part of her thesis. 03. Niklas Adolfsson flies JTI’s UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System), which takes high-resolution aerial images of the trials.

Grazing land must withstand heavy loading, particularly in vulnerable areas near sheds. Researchers at JTI and SLU are using flight to help find a grass/clover mix that establishes itself quickly to produce trample-resistant pastures.

Grazing pastures with four different seed mixes have been established at Lövsta, the Swedish Livestock Research Centre outside Uppsala. Pictures taken with JTI’s unmanned aircraft reveal that some zones in the trial plot are flourishing more than others.

“The aerial photos are amazing when it comes to documenting the proportions of the vegetation. Image analysis also enables us to identify statistically signifi-cant differences,” says Eva Salomon, researcher at JTI. Together with Eva Spörndly and Nilla Nilsdotter-Linde at SLU, she is participating in the “Kamp mot tramp” (Combating trampling) project, funded by the Swedish Farmers’ Foundation for Agricultural Research.

To establish what the herbage actually consists of – various types of grasses,

white clover or, at worst, weeds – there is also a site assessment at the start and end of each season, and the botanical profile of the ley is analyzed by sampling randomly selected squares.

“We also conduct supplementary trials to rule out the possibility that the least trampled areas fared better because the cows found that herbage less palatable,” says Eva Salomon.


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BIOLOGICAL PLANT PROTECTION MUST HIT THE SPOTUsing biological plant protection such as predatory mites, beneficial fungi and bacteria can reduce the need for chemical pesticides. But it is important to apply these products where they will be effective: under foliage, where many of the pests are found. JTI researchers are working with the consulting firm Visavi to examine how to apply biological plant protection products to obtain the best possible coverage.

BEETS TO BIOGASSweden’s largest anaerobic digestion plant, at Jordberga in Skåne, wants to make biogas from sugar beet throughout the year. This requires long-term storage of the frost-susceptible beets. Working with JTI, Swedish Biogas International (SBI) is testing the ensiling of nearly 4000 tonnes of sugar beet harvested in autumn 2014. Some of the beet will be ensiled with straw. When fully operational, SBI’s Jordberga biogas plant will digest 23 000 tonnes of sugar beet per year.

STRAW IN THE HORSE STALL GOOD FOR BIOGASAnyone producing biogas from horse manure should use straw bedding in the stable rather than peat and wood shavings. That is because straw used as bedding material produces twice as much biogas when co-digested with liquid manure. For maximum profitability, the straw should be chopped or pelleted.

“A plant with a 1000-cubic metre biogas reactor can then digest the manure from close on 400 horses with acceptable profitability, particularly with the new manure gas support scheme starting in autumn 2014,” says Henrik Olsson, Project Manager at JTI.

CONCENTRATED LIQUID MANURE CAN SAVE MONEYSwedish farmers are investing in increasingly large livestock herds. More animals also means more manure that must be stored, transported and spread. Managing this could be rationalized and made cheaper if the manure were more concentrated. Techniques for concentrating liquid manure are being developed in both Europe and North America. JTI is studying what is required to make them work – profitably – on Swedish farms.

MAXIMIZE FORAGE HARVESTIf you start harvesting the ley in early summer, it might be worth taking three cuts instead of two per season. In southern Sweden, it might even make commercial sense to cut four times, provided the fourth cut is productive enough to justify the expense. This is the conclusion from a joint JTI-SLU project.

MORE ABOUT INGE’S MACHINEThis summer, Inge Karlsson has modified parts of the forage mower that we covered in DRIV last spring. He has replaced the cutter bar with a rotary cutter bar with bevel gears and a belt drive to improve performance. He plans to begin testing the new machine, with the help of JTI’s researchers, in autumn 2014. Sweden’s innovation agency Vinnova has contributed SEK 0.5 million for testing and development. Inge Karlsson hopes to be able to start constructing a full-scale prototype soon.

7JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014 TOPIC REPORTAGE

Vallens Gård in Ljusdal has 600 cows, making it the largest dairy farm in Norrland, the northern half of Sweden, and

one of the country’s five largest milk suppliers. It is also one of the many farms where JTI’s

researchers, project managers and research engineers have been carrying out practical

research and development projects – one of JTI’s “ experimental

farms”.

RESEARCH ON THE FARM

SUBJECT: JTI’s experimental farmsTEXT: CARINA JOHANSSON PHOTO: STAFFAN CLAESSON AND JTI.

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Erik Sindhöj is standing in the yard of Vallens Gård in Ljusdal, gazing out at pasture and housing for dairy cows. He is making a brief visit to one of JTI’s “experimental farms”, where he has been several times in the past to work on their research projects.

“I have surveyed manure management here,” he says.

He did this to obtain data for the major EU project Baltic Manure, which concerned how large farms around the Baltic Sea could improve their manure management. The project ran for three years, with Vallens Gård one of six farms around Sweden collaborating with JTI’s researchers.

THEY LEARN A LOT“I welcome researchers here at the farm because they work on things that will take development forward. We also learn a lot by having them here, about something that might be good for us to test or, conversely, to stop doing,” says the owner of Vallens Gård, Janne Hansson.

He has welcomed at least three research groups from JTI so far. In addition to manure management, they

have worked on ensiling grain and the risk of accidents on dairy farms.

Although JTI uses the expression “experimental farms”, it is usually more a case of partnership with the farm’s owner and staff than solely experimentation.

“The nature of the collaboration can vary. Sometimes the farmer carries out tasks within the project following our instructions, because we cannot be on the farm all the time. This might involve taking samples, or readings from instru-ments, which they then document,” says Erik Sindhöj.

HELP WITH TESTINGSometimes the researchers get help sowing crops on separate trial plots, or with practical tests of a product in livestock housing, as with the automatic straw deliverer, for example.

The farmers are guaranteed anonym-ity – unless they wish otherwise – and they have access to the findings once the practical work on the farm is complete.

“I usually write a letter describing our results from their farm, and I send the research reports, of course. The farmers want to know what we learnt,” says Erik Sindhöj.

JTI does not run its own experimental farm. This is partly because it would be difficult to carry out every type of project on one farm. And partly because main-taining such an operation would be expensive and a huge drain on resources.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT WORKBut by no means every job can be done on a computer, or in a laboratory or workshop. JTI’s mission is to develop technologies and methods that work in practice and can increase business competitiveness. Contact with reality is therefore essential, so it is up to research-ers to build partnerships with agricultural enterprises.

“The more we can integrate research-ers and the people on the ground, the better!” enthuses researcher Eva Salomon.

That gives the opportunity to try out methods and technologies that can be put to practical use, such as the mobile pig-housing unit that JTI built on the initiative of a farmer in Kristianstad, and the optical pig scales that JTI researchers developed jointly with a farmer in Vadstena.

Over the past 10 years, at least 40 farms with various specializations and

01. Vallens Gård is the largest dairy farm in Norrland, with 600 cows, and plans to increase that to 960. 02. Samples of manure from Vallens Gård have provided Erik Sindhöj with material for an EU project on manure management.

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sizes have welcomed JTI’s research staff. While most projects have concerned agricultural issues, some types of environ-mental and energy projects must also be carried out on a farm.

FIND THE RIGHT PARTNERBut finding a partner with the “right” specialization is not always easy.

“I need to work with livestock farms. Most farming around Uppsala is arable, so I often have to look for a farm at least 50 km away,” says Lena Rodhe, who researches manure spreading and storage and manure’s climatic impact.

Many people have to travel much further. Researcher Fredrik Fogelberg had to go as far as the Baltic island of Öland to locate farms far enough south for meaningful trials of soya bean cultivation. His colleague Eva Solomon found an interested partner in distant Värmland for trialling tented shelters for dairy cows.

Farms are often found through contacts, and sometimes from newspa-per articles or by searching online. However, sometimes it is the farmer who contacts JTI’s researchers, as was the case a little over a decade ago with the owner of Hagaviks Gård farm in Skåne

in southern Sweden, who had begun planning for biogas and had read a report from JTI. So far, this contact has resulted in several joint projects and a biogas plant at Hagaviks Gård.

In recent years, JTI’s biogas research-ers have established a partnership with another type of “farm“: the Sötåsen high school for rural and agricultural science in Västergötland, southwest Sweden. It has not only a biogas plant but also teachers and students to collaborate with. This has been so successful that there are ambitions to start running full-scale trials at the Jälla high school for rural and agricultural science, outside Uppsala.

IMPORTANT TO SHOW RESULTS“It is important for us to be able to develop and demonstrate our research at full scale. This works very well at high schools for rural and agricultural science that have both information and training in the timetable,” says Gustav Rogstrand, Head of JTI´s Environment section.

Whatever the type of project and farm involved, farmers are offered compensa-tion for the encroachment on their time and land.

“Time is a scarce commodity in agriculture, and farmers must not feel exploited – though they do sometimes spend more time on the trial than they are paid for,” says Eva Salomon.

MAY RETURNFor Erik Sindhöj, the manure project at Vallens Gård is completed. The material is evaluated, the reports written. On this occasion, Vallens Gård has perhaps not benefited directly from the research efforts. They keep an iron grip on manure management here. The manure is pumped out and trucked to satellite storage facilities and tanks at the edges of the fields, then spread across 1250 hectares.

But that approach is hugely expensive. And the manure contains a lot of energy.

“We have been considering biogas,” says Janne Hansson.

The farmer and the researcher then begin talking about digestate, the benefits of plant nutrients and other things they could work on together in a new project. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for Erik Sindhöj to return to Vallens Gård.

Contact: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

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01. JTI’s researcher Lena Rodhe and the machine operator discuss how the field trial is to be carried out. 02. First design for the mobile pig-housing unit – also dis-played in the Malmö museum. 03. Tented shelter for heifers outside all year worked well on a farm in Värmland. 04. JTI trials soya bean cultivation in southern Sweden.

REPORTAGE12 JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014

Growing herbs outdoors can be a tough challenge in the Swedish climate – but also a profitable business concept. Österlenkryddor is one of the few businesses to have invested in large-scale growing and processing.TEXT: SOFIA BUREBORN PHOTO: ISTOCK.COM AND JTI.

VENTURE INTO HERBS

REPORTAGE 13JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014

“Herbs for seeds, such as caraway and poppy, are probably most suitable for a rapid transition to large-scale cultivation in Sweden. Seed herb cultivation is very similar to cereal cultivation. These herbs can be sown and harvested using conven-tional machines, while leaf herbs require a special cultivation chain,” says Mikael Gilbertsson, who is leading an ongoing herb project at JTI.

MOSTLY UNDER GLASSHerbs are usually grown under glass in Sweden. Outdoor commercial cultivation (other than dill and parsley) extended to only 36 hectares in 2011.

At Österlenkryddor, just north of Ystad in southern Sweden, twenty or so herbs are cultivated. These are primarily leaf herbs such as lovage and mint, but also seed herbs such as fennel and poppy. Owner Eva Olsson and Hans Svensson from the nearby Petersborgs Gård farm are participating in a JTI project aiming to streamline and mechanize cultivation.

“The climate in southern Sweden is perfectly suitable for outdoor herb cultivation. The crops are not rushed and

infection pressure is low. But weeds are a challenge,” says Eva Olsson.

“Weeds grow much more quickly than herbs, which imposes tough demands on weeding. A combination of mechanical methods and chemical control would give the herbs a better chance of competing, but currently few herbicides are approved for use with herbs in Sweden,” notes Mikael Gilbertsson.

Sweden imports herbs and spices equivalent to SEK 200 million every year, so there is a potential market. However, herb growers in Sweden must be prepared to find their own sales channels.

GREAT INTEREST“The interest is definitely there. We have received several inquiries about supplying herbs, but we have had to say no because we cannot supply such large volumes,” says Eva Olsson, whose interest in growing, food and flavours led to her own herb business.

At Österlenkryddor, the herbs are dried in the former grain dryer and go into products such as mixed herbs, flavoured vinegars and essential oils. Half

of production is sold through retailers, and the rest in their own farm shop.

“As farmers and commodity producers, you lead a very anonymous existence. I wanted to grow something we could process ourselves and follow all the way to the consumer. Processing adds a lot of value, particularly for leaf herbs, compared with selling sacks of herbs as bulk products,” says Eva Olsson.


HERBS FOR OUTDOORS(Herbs suitable for commercial cultivation outdoors in the Swedish climate)• Caraway• Poppy• Dill seed• Coriander• Lavender• Thyme

01. Österlenkryddor’s farm shop and herb fields at Länsmansbostället in Köpingebro, at the southern tip of Sweden, attracts 200 coach-loads of visitors every year. 02. “Give it a go! But start on a small scale.” This is Eva Olsson and Michael Gilbertsson’s advice for the farmer who wants to start growing herbs. 03. The project has trialled cultivation of an autumn-sown poppy variety from Austria. Sowing in the autumn enables herbs to compete better with weeds in the spring.

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“Swedish produce has many benefits, and we must make it easy for consumers to choose Swedish food,” says Linda Segerblom at LRF.

She heads a central unit at LRF that works on matters such as the commercial development of the green sectors. She says that it was Swedish food’s falling share of a generally expanding market that drove LRF to tackle the issue energetically. There is strong competition from cheaper, imported food, but Linda Segerblom believes the trend is heading in the right direction.

RETAILERS INTERESTED“Retailers have become interested in Swedish food, and recognize the value of promoting Swedish produce. LRF now has partners such as a large food chain and a burger chain on this,” she says.

Other issues that have been high on LRF’s agenda for some years now are energy and enterprise.

“There are big gains to be made, both for farmers’ finances and for the environ-ment, if we can increase the use of renewable energy and use energy more efficiently,” says Linda Segerblom.

The LRF project “Goda affärer på förnybar energi” (Good business from renewable energy) offers farmers business

advice through paid consultants (see www.gafe.se, in Swedish). LRF has also brought 25 “companies of the future” into the project to provide inspiration.

MONITOR ON MULTIPLE LEVELSSome of LRF’s monitoring and influencing work is done centrally in Stockholm in partnership with the regional network. Some is done at EU level in Brussels.

“Our work often involves introducing flexibility into the EU’s legislative proposals, with adjustments for Swedish conditions and needs. Sometimes we succeed, as with the woodland exemption, which now exempts farmers in forest regions from certain new requirements in the Single Payment Scheme,” says Thomas Bertilsson, Head of Economic Policy at LRF.

At the regional level, 17 associations with local divisions organize things such as meeting places and corporate develop-ment activities. Linda Segerblom empha-sizes the contribution the LRF regions made during the big forest fire in Väst-manland in summer 2014:

“Their large network of contacts and local knowledge, and their access to equipment, were extremely important. They were crucial in the efforts to clear firebreaks and evacuate animals.”

THREE QUESTIONS FOR LRFWhat does LRF think about the proposal to increase the tax on the biofuel RME?“Not a good proposal. To achieve the goal of fossil-free vehicular traffic by 2030, all biofuels meeting the sustainability criteria should be exempt from carbon dioxide and energy taxes.”

Is the EU good for Swedish agri culture?“Yes. We need a common agricultural policy in the EU because we benefit so much through trade, etc. Unfortu-nately, we cannot rely on Swedish politicians, who do not have the interests of Swedish agriculture at heart.”

What is the most important issue for the future of Swedish agriculture?“More businesses being profitable.”

LRFTHE ORGANIZATION: The Federation of Swedish Farmers is a stakeholder and business organization, not affiliated to any political party, for people and businesses in the green sectors. LRF has more than 172,000 individual members and 26 corporate members such as Arla Foods, Lantmännen (food, energy, machinery and agriculture) and Södra Skogsägarna (forestry co-operative). LRF’s mission is to contribute to the development of businesses and entrepreneurs involved with land, forestry, horticulture and the rural environment. LRF runs seven subsidiaries through Lantbrukarnas Ekonomi AB. Within LRF there are five sector divisions: LRF Häst (equine), LRF Kött (meat), LRF Mjölk (dairy), LRF Skogsägarna (forest owners) and LRF Trädgård (horticulture).OWNERS: Members.EMPLOYEES: Some 1900 people work in the LRF group.TURNOVER IN 2013: Some SEK 2 billion.

POWERFUL VOICE SUPPORTS SWEDISH AGRICULTUREThe Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) is tasked with making its voice heard on behalf of its members. And as the largest stakeholder and business organization, LRF has a powerful voice. One priority issue that LRF addresses is promoting Swedish-produced food. The tactics are to make the case for Swedish food in public procurement and label-ling that identifies the origin of foods, including through the “Bonde på köpet” (“Find the farmer“) app.TEXT: CARINA JOHANSSON PHOTO: STAFFAN CLAESSON


PROFITABLE BUSINESS. “Agriculture’s most important issue for the future is more businesses being profitable,” says Linda Segerblom at LRF.

RELATIONSHIP WITH JTL: LRF has been one of JTI’s stakeholders

for many years. LRF frequently engages JTI to run projects or as a sub-consultant in

major LRF projects. JTI also performs specialized surveys or investigations for LRF. In recent years, the collaboration has focused on

energy enterprises, energy efficiency and phasing out fossil fuels in agriculture and

forestry, and on the work environment through the farm safety project Säkert

Bondförnuft.


NOW BIOFUEL COMES TO THE DRYERMost grain dryers are still run on oil. But a change might be coming. Grain can now be dried using wood chips or pellets – even on small and medium-sized farms. Sweden is one of the leaders in the development of biofuel furnace technology.TEXT: CARINA JOHANSSON PHOTO: OSCAR JONSSON ILLUSTRATION: AKRON

NOW BIOFUEL COMES TO THE DRYERMost grain dryers are still run on oil. But a change might be coming. Grain can now be dried using wood chips or pellets – even on small and medium-sized farms. Sweden is one of the leaders in the development of biofuel furnace technology.TEXT: CARINA JOHANSSON PHOTO: OSCAR JONSSON ILLUSTRATION: AKRON


Work on developing biofuel systems for hot-air grain drying started in earnest about five years ago, observes JTI’s Nils Jonsson, an expert on grain storage and drying.

“The challenge is to develop high- output systems that are still financially justifiable, even though the dryers are used for only a few months per year,” he says.

SWEDISH WOOD CHIP FURNACEAlong with his JTI colleague Alf Gustavs-son, he investigates which biofuel-fired furnaces are suitable for grain dryers, while accumulating experience from farms that already use biofuel furnaces. The idea is that it will eventually become an advisory resource for farmers.

“One of the Swedish manufacturers of grain dryers, AKRON-maskiner, has developed a wood chip-fired hot-air

furnace. It was tested in practical opera-tion for the first time last year. Farmers have been positive so far, and switching from oil to wood chip seems to have been painless,” says Nils Jonsson.

Though hot-air wood chip furnaces represent a relatively large investment, the wood chip fuel comes cheaper, particu-larly for farmers with forests.

“Many people will certainly want some return from switching to using biofuel, because biofuel involves more work,” believes Nils Jonsson. “But we have observed that during the drying period, the ash only needs emptying twice a day, and the wood chips refilling once a day, provided the chips are good quality. The extra work amounts to only about 20 minutes per day.“

Another reason to replace the oil furnace is that the tax relief on forest fuel for farmers and foresters is being

tapered up to 2015, making oil more expensive.

There are also other biofuelled heating options on the Swedish market. A pellet burner or a multi-oil burner for firing bio-oil can be fitted to many oil-fired hot-air furnaces. In autumn 2014, JTI will investigate how pellet burners perform at a handful of cereal growers.

PELLETS ARE SIMPLE“Technically, the simplest alternative to oil is to convert an oil furnace to pellet firing. Burners of up to 1 MW are now available to buy in Sweden,” says Nils Jonsson.

A pellet burner is relatively inexpen-sive, and dry pellets are easy to store and to handle via conveyors. However, pellets are almost twice the price of wood chips.


01. JTI’s grain expert Nils Jonsson believes that more and more growers with their own grain dryer will switch to biofuel firing. Laggarps Gård, a farm outside Mjölby in southern Sweden, has installed an Akron wood chip furnace. 02. Akron has built a wood chip furnace for hot-air grain drying.

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01. Biogas plants are an increasingly common sight in Europe, but much of the potential is still untapped. 02. In the future, Bjärefågel could generate biogas from chicken manure and waste products from the abattoir and processing operations. 03. Martin Ingmarsson at Bjärefågel wants to see profitable numbers before risking an investment in biogas.


“Dairies, abattoirs and other small-scale food producers with a high demand for energy frequently have access to ener-gy-rich waste products. In the right conditions, investment in biogas would make the plant self-sufficient in energy,” says Gustav Rogstrand, Head of JTI’s Environment section and the Swedish project manager of Biogas3.

WANT TO MAKE USE OF EVERYTHINGSomeone who has been thinking along those precise lines is Martin Ingmarsson at poultry firm Bjärefågel in Skåne. The company raises, slaughters and processes corn-fed chicken.

“I do not want any waste. Instead, I want to make use of all our raw products, even non-saleable ones from the abattoir and processing. The idea is that we will digest these with chicken manure. Producing electricity from biogas generates two-thirds waste heat, and using that energy mix would suit our operation,” he says.

Bjärefågel has not yet implemented its biogas plans, but Biogas3 will perhaps take them a step closer to the vision.

Biogas3, funded by IEE (Intelligent Energy Europe), will increase interest in

biogas production among small and medium-sized food companies. As a Swedish partner in the project, JTI will organize things like webinars, seminars and field trips, and arrange meetings where food companies who want to build a biogas plant can meet technology suppliers.

An IT-based evaluation tool is also being developed in the project. The results from it will form the basis for discussion when JTI produces simple fea-sibility studies for interested businesses, which completed a questionnaire earlier this year.

OPPORTUNITY FOR BUSINESSES“We give these companies the opportunity to look at the potential for their own biogas production, with the guidance of JTI,” says Gustav Rogstrand.

One of these companies is Bjärefågel. “We need to do things like

digestion trials to see if our nitrogen- rich substrate mixture works in practice. If the numbers show that this is really profitable, then we invest,” says Martin Ingmarsson.


The two-year EU project Biogas3 (Sustainable small-scale biogas from agri-food waste for energy self-suffi-ciency) is led by the Spanish institute Ainia. Sweden, Germany, France, Ireland, Poland, Italy and Spain are participating in the project.

MORE GAS FROM FOODBiogas plants are bubbling away on farms and sewage treatment works all over Europe. Biogas production by small businesses in the food sector is much rarer. The EU project Biogas3 wants this to change. TEXT: SOFIA BUREBORN PHOTO: JAKOB DAHLSTRÖM, SIA ANDERSSON, BJÄREFÅGEL

TWh biogas was produced in 2012 at 242 plants

in Sweden. We could be producing up to 22 TWh in 2030, according to estimates from the Swedish Gas Association. This is equivalent to a quarter of today’s petrol and diesel consumption. Half the biogas would be coming from digestion, half from the thermal gasification of wood products.


Small-scale and local. These have always been the maxims of Fredrik Malmberg, innovator and pellet producer from Vingåker in south-central Sweden. He is working with JTI on test-pressing pellets of salix and straw, horse manure and the energy crop reed canary grass. The aim is to find the most profitable raw product.

Biofuels from agriculture have struggled to break into the fuel market, but pelleting could expand the customer base.

“Salix pellets make good fuel, but reed canary grass and straw pellets are better used as litter,” says Fredrik Malmberg at pelleting company Läppe Energiteknik. His vision is ultra-local production that uses

mobile plant to pelletize horse manure into nutrients for horticulture. In return, the owners of the horses get easily handled reed canary grass for the stable floor.

OPTIMIZED PRODUCTIONFredrik Malmberg produces 300 tonnes of pellets per year. His proprietary pellet chain has a specially designed dryer and two mills. It is now being optimized for raw products other than traditional wood shavings. The production shop contains a modified silage shredder that cuts up straw and reed canary grass. A ventilation “chimney” to remove moisture and wood chip dust has been added to the mill.

“Pellets from an agricultural source could create new business opportunities for pellet pressers, and for the reed canary grass and salix growers who can currently struggle to find a market for their raw product,” says Ida Norberg at JTI.

She is leading a project funded by the Swedish Board of Agriculture. In the autumn, it will crunch the financial numbers for various raw products, while SP (Technical Research Institute of Sweden) test-burns the various types of pellets.


PELLETS FOR BOTH FURNACE AND STABLE

01. How does pelleting agricultural raw products work, is it worth it, and what will the pellets be used for? That is what Fredrik Malmberg at Läppe Energiteknik and Ida Norberg, project leader at JTI, want to find out. 02. Pellets from salix, reed canary grass, straw and horse manure have different characteristics that need analyzing.

01

02

REPORTED ON BIOENERGIPORTALENThe “Småskalig pelletsproduktion – ny torkteknik och lokala råvaror” (small-scale pellet production – new drying technology and local raw products) project is included in the Swedish Rural Economy and Agricul-tural Societies’ network of national demonstration projects. The project is reported on Bioenergiportalen, the bioenergy and energy efficiency website produced by JTI.

www.bioenergiportalen.se

21JTI / DRIV AUTUMN 2014 NEWS

LONGER STRAW SAVES ENERGYA straw chopper can consume up to a third of a combine harvester’s power. But chop-ping the straw into slightly longer pieces saves fuel.

“Chopper development in recent years means straw can now be cut into 2-3 cm lengths. This takes a lot of power, which increases fuel consumption,” says JTI’s harvest scientist Gunnar Lundin.

Cutting length is one of the reasons for high fuel consumption, and the parameter that farmers themselves are best placed to influence.

“The reason why Swedish farmers do not already set the chopping intensity according to conditions is their lack of information about the relationship between power consumption and the degree of chopping. And that, in turn, is because we have not had measuring equipment stable enough to be able to show the relationship.“

He will now be using newly developed measuring equipment to investigate this relationship, working with SP (Technical Research Institute of Sweden) and the agricultural equipment company Rekord-verken Sweden in a project partly funded by the Swedish Farmers’ Foundation for Agricultural Research.

The intense straw chopping method comes from Central Europe, where farmers using ploughless cultivation in a dry environment want to ensure that straw is not left suspended in the stubble, but instead ends up on the ground where it retains moisture more easily. There is less need for this in Sweden’s wetter climate where, despite the straw being slightly longer than 2–3 centimetres, the wind also helps blow it down into the stubble.


ENERGY INTENSIVE. Combine harvesting is consuming ever more fuel. One reason is the intensive processing of the straw.

UNUSUAL WORD, GOOD RESULTS“Extrusion” is not a word in everyday use. Behind the expression is technol-ogy that uses high pressure and a cutting disk to convert raw products into the chosen shape with a new texture. Extrusion is used today in the manufacture of goods as diverse as dog food and plastic profiles.

Fredrik Fogelberg at JTI is participating in Eurolegume, a four-year EU project. He has success-fully tested extrusion with the aim of eventually being able to use the technology to convert field beans into food and animal feed.

PIONEERING WORK ON PILLS IN THE LOODrugs passing through the body, or wrongly flushed down the toilet, end up in nature, where they can cause damage. Municipal treatment plants are not designed to remove drug residues from wastewater. That is why researcher David Eveborn at JTI wants to investigate whether a system with source-separating wastewater management can do this better, reducing the risks associated with drugs and other chemicals being dispersed into the environment. In a source-separating wastewater system, urine and faeces are not mixed with water from baths, dishwashers and sinks. Eveborn says that source-sepa-rating wastewater systems could be a solution for the future and become an attractive alternative to current traditional water-borne systems. JTI is carrying out the work jointly with SP Process Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the utility company Telge Nät.


NEW WAYS WITH REED CANARY GRASSThe perennial energy crop reed canary grass has many advantages: it gives good yields even on poor soils, stores carbon and leaks little nitrogen. As a fuel, however, the grass finds it difficult to compete with cheaper forest fuels. Along with the Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies and BioFuel Region, JTI is seeking other and more profitable uses for reed canary grass in Norrland, the northern half of Sweden. The project examines how green-harvested reed canary grass works as a biogas substrate. Also being examined is an innovative combi system in which reed canary grass harvested dry in spring is used as bedding for livestock. The manure and litter are then digested to produce biogas. The project involves the KlaraGas and Jämtlandsgas associations, which require substrate for their planned biogas plants in Vännäs and Hammerdal.

LEY COPES WITH LESS NITROGENA bigger dose of nitrogen does not

improve ley yields, according to a three-year trial at JTI. The researchers tested various combinations

of fertilizer and liquid manure on a grass ley harvested three times a year. The first cut yielded about the same whether 80 or 110 kg nitrogen fertilizer per

hectare was applied in spring. And the second was the same whether 30 or 60 kg ammonia nitrogen from liquid

cattle manure was applied after the first cut. Adding more nitrogen than the crop requires makes

the cost of fertilizer and spreading higher than necessary. It also increases the risk of excess

nitrogen escaping into the air and water.

SWEDEN SHOWS THE BIOGAS WAYDemand for biogas exceeds supply. In Mälardalen, central Sweden, the market for biogas-fuelled cars has grown by 400% since 2005, and biogas production cannot keep up. Sweden is way ahead in the use of biogas in vehicles, which is why Västerås in central Sweden has been selected as an example when the EU project Life Plus wants to show other regions in Europe how to maxi-mize sustainable biogas production. In a five-year trial, the municipally owned waste company Vafab Miljö in Västerås is sorting even more organic material from combustible residual waste, and digesting it in a new batch dry digestion plant constructed by Vafab. Five Swedish companies and a number of partners are involved in the trial, managed by NGO Biogas Öst. JTI’s researchers will act as advisors and as assessors of the biologi-cal digestion process.

23JTI IS DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY IN SUPPORT OF BUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS

JTI AS THIRD PARTYJTI’s researchers are increasingly acting as third-party scrutineers in transactions with a performance guarantee of some kind in the environmental, energy and agricultural areas.

Sometimes this involves taking samples, of compost for example, with the outcome of the examination and evaluation reported to the client shortly after. But more often it involves several years’ measurements and tests of the technology, as in the case of the Cambi company’s guarantee undertakings in a transaction with Växjö Municipality for the installation of biogas equipment.

“Here, both sellers and buyers recognize the value of JTI’s third-party scrutiny,” says Gustav Rogstrand, head of JTI’s Environment section.

Other examples where JTI’s expertise has been used for third-party scrutiny are evaluations of wastewater and tests of machine performance.

The scrutiny can only be carried out on the buyer’s instructions, but will be more effective if both parties participate. The task requires both parties’ trust, and demands integrity because there can be both positive and negative outcomes for those involved.


GROWTH IN WESTERN SWEDEN JTI has opened a local office in Skara, its third location in Sweden. “Opening here is very good timing now Region Västra Götaland is investing in Skara as a national centre for the green sectors,” says Anna Rydberg, head of JTI’s Agriculture section.

JTI’s office is in Green Tech Park, in the heart of the SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) campus in Skara. First in the new office is Tomas Johansson, the newly employed project manager. JTI plans to take on two or three new staff over the coming year.

“This is one of Sweden’s largest agricultural regions, with many innova-tive businesses. We already have good relations and constructive partnerships with several businesses in the region. Now we will have even more opportunities to make good contacts and run R&D projects of real benefit,” he says.

JTI’s new office is supported by Region Västra Götaland, which is also contributing SEK 40 million to fund (jointly with SLU) research in Skara closely linked to the industry. The investment is in four areas: precision farming, bioenergy, beef and lamb production and an advisory competence centre to ensure research results reach farmers. The green centre also includes the agricultural development organization Agroväst, whose task is to act as a cluster engine.

“We will of course be cooperating with all actors in the area. Furthermore, this brings us geographically closer to our parent company SP (Technical Research Institute of Sweden) in Borås, enabling us to take full advantage of all the group’s collective expertise,” says Anna Rydberg.


DID YOU KNOW ...?… JTI HAS A small biogas plant that can pop popcorn.

SEE YOU ON FACEBOOKJTI is now on social media, too. You can follow us on Facebook by using a mobile app to scan this QR-code.

EXPANDING AGRICULTURAL REGION. JTI is now setting up an office in the Västra Götaland region.

LETICIA PIZZUL, NEWLY EMPLOYED AT JTI, AN AGRICULTURIST FROM ARGENTINA WHO HAS “STAYED ON” IN SWEDEN:

WHAT CAN JTI TEACH LATIN AMERICANS ABOUT THE ENVIRON-MENT?“Quite a lot! JTI’s researcher Maria del Pilar Castillo has been involved in developing bioremediation technology that we spread to farmers in Guatemala and Chile, as well as China. I teach the technology in Latin America – it is easy for me because I speak the language.”

What is the technology?“Biobed, a simple and inexpensive construction in a deep hole in the ground. Microorganisms in the biobed break down chemical pesticides that end up in the soil, for example when agricultural sprayers are filled.”

How does JTI teach the technology?“We go there and train people such as advisors in farming organizations and through Agrequima, a trade organization for manufacturers and sellers of chemical pesticides, and they pass the knowledge on. Pesticide use is much higher in Latin America than in Sweden, due to the climate.”

Are people interested?“Awareness of Biobeds is growing. We are in demand, and get invitations to visit. We have now also made contact with FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which wants all Latin American and Caribbean agriculture to begin using biobeds. That is great, but we must find a way to fund our share of such a gigantic project!”

Why have you “stayed on” in Sweden?“I came here to do research, but met my husband and thought I might stay a little longer. I have been here almost 14 years now, and I am very happy here.”


Sender: JTI – Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Box 7033 SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden

driv autumn 2014 (in english)

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