Department of Agroecology – Staff

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Intelligent solutions are crucial for future crop production

Ole Green’s inaugural lecture was much more than a regular inaugural lecture. The event also provided AGRO with the chance to tell about its research in developing intelligent solutions for future farming using new technology and a systems approach.

[Translate to English:] Efter sin tiltrædelsesforelæsning lyttede adjungeret professor Ole Green til Erik Steen Kristensens tale til ham. Fotos: Charlotte Hamann Knudsen

Here are some figures for you to chew on. They represent new ways in which to think about crop production and sustainable intensification.  

  • 395 million kroner
  • 130 people 
  • 11 research projects
  • 4 research flagships
  • 2 lectures
  • 2 guest speakers
  • 1 newly appointed honorary professor

When AGRO’s new honorary professor, CEO Ole Green from the company AgroIntelli, held his inaugural lectures in Foulum and Flakkebjerg for a total of 130 people on October 24 and October 31, 2017, he focused on new ways in which to think about crop production. His jumping off point was the 11 research projects that AGRO and Ole Green already collaborate on. 

The total budget for the 11 projects is 395 million kroner, and they harmonise with all four of AGRO’s research flagships. Ole Green had invited two of AGRO’s professors, Tommy Dalgaard and Per Kudsk, to supplement his lectures with system viewpoints, which Ole Green considers as being essential for solving some of agriculture’s great challenges. 

More than a lecture

The events in Foulum and Flakkebjerg offered more than just Ole Green’s lectures. They also provided AGRO with a golden opportunity to profile its research in the development of new technology in collaboration with a commercial company. This collaboration can promote commercial production of the solutions so they can be applied on farms and ultimately contribute to a sustainable intensification of Danish agriculture. 

As Ole Green emphasised in his inaugural lecture, the work that he does and the 11 projects we collaborate on harmonise to a great extent with AGRO’s four research flagships. 

All 11 research projects that AGRO and AgroIntelli collaborate on plus AGRO’s four research flagships were therefore presented with the aid of a series of rollups where some of AGRO’s and AgroIntelli’s partners from the projects were present in order to provide more information. 

We could promote all this to an audience in which some of the people are potential future funders or collaborators, in that the participants in the events included representatives from Innovation Fund Denmark, GUDP, Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark and other authorities, Seges and other consultancy services, commercial companies, and Agro Business Park. 

The rollups that describe the 11 research projects and AGRO’s four research flagships will not be collecting dust. The idea is to use them on other occasions where AGRO or AgroIntelli aim to describe our research within technology, such as when we receive visitors or at events in Flakkebjerg, Foulum or other places. 

Soil quality is central

Ole Green and AGRO collaborate on developing new technology for more sustainable use of agricultural soil. This requires thinking along the lines of whole systems.    

- It is important that we always think of integrated solutions so that improvement one place in a system does not lead to problems somewhere else in the system, Ole Green emphasised. He provided several examples of how one field operation, e.g. harvest, also affects other operations, such as crop establishment. 

It is important that the technology contributes to ensuring optimal crop establishment: 

Each passage in the field affects soil quality and structure, which in turn affects the plants’ ability to establish themselves and acquire water and nutrients. The passages also affect the well-being of soil organisms, which in itself impacts soil functions and quality. 

- The trick is to integrate agronomic knowledge in modern machine design to achieve good soil quality, including good soil biology, said Ole Green. He showed examples of several technological solutions that are either in the process of being developed in the projects or are already on the way to being ready for production. These include intelligent control of sowing depth and ploughing depth, improved weight distribution of heavy machinery, and a self-driving seed drill.

Networking, knowledge exchange and collaboration were on the agenda at the two events where Ole Green held his inaugural lecture and AGRO promoted its flagships and selected research projects, such as here in Flakkebjerg: 

The 11 collaborative projects that you can read more about on the theme site regarding technology and future crop production, are: 

  • CarbonFarm
  • CloverSense
  • COMMIT
  • Future Cropping
  • IWMPRAISE
  • NewCut
  • RECARE
  • RoboWeedMaPS
  • RowCrop
  • SmartGrass
  • SoilCare

Serious work can also be fun: 

Revised 13.11.2025