CleanField - Development and implementation of innovations related to field decalcification and their impact on the quality and yield of selected crops and soil structure

The objective of the operation was to develop and implement innovations related to the removal of stones from agricultural fields and to evaluate their impact on the quality and yield of selected crops as well as soil structure.                                                              

Project activities

As part of this project, the following development activities were carried out:

STAGE II (15 months)

1. Conducting research on testing the developed solutions on a farm belonging to the operational group. For this purpose, appropriate research infrastructure was created (purchase of stone-removal machines). The evaluation included factors such as harvesting speed and accuracy, fuel consumption, the weight of collected stones, and residual contamination.
2. Assessment of the economic efficiency of implementing the developed solution. The minimum annual usage of the machine (area) required to ensure a 5-year return on investment was evaluated. Operating costs, fuel costs, and potential benefits from stone removal and stone sales were estimated. Economic justification thresholds for the applied solutions were determined.

The main benefits of the project

The main benefit of implementing the outcomes of this operation on farms will be the improvement of the efficiency of cultivation of vegetable and agricultural crops. In the case of bulbous/root crops, we expect a reduction in the transplanting of plants damaged by stones (by 30%), a decrease in damages to implements used in agrotechnics (by 50%), and a reduction in field stoning (by 70%).