Silage maize

Since 2006, silage maize has been grown on the farm for a nearby biogas plant. Thanks to considerable progress in breeding, maize delivers stable yields, which is reflected in biogas production, especially in high methane yields per hectare. The digestate from the biogas plant is returned to the farm’s fields in proportion to the amount of maize supplied. To protect the soil as much as possible, we use an umbilical hose system to spread the digestate in spring, when our soils are still wet. Instead of heavy slurry tankers, the digestate is first pumped into a container at the field edge and from there through a hose to the field by a large pump. Only the tractor with the trailing-hose boom, pulling a supply hose up to 1 km long, drives on the field.

The digestate is particularly valuable because it supplies organic matter to a farm without livestock. Besides organic matter, returning the basic nutrients phosphorus and potassium as well as nitrogen and sulphur plays a decisive role – especially in view of rising fertiliser prices and limited phosphorus reserves. In this way a nutrient cycle is at least partly closed, as many nutrients from food production are often not returned to the fields.