Plant breeding - what we all live of

And what will happen at Foulumgård in 2021?

At Foulumgård, we have a number of "platforms", which consist of crop rotations, some of which have been running since the beginning/mid-1990s. Parts of these experiments are largely the same every year, but in most years additional experiments are added "on top". It has the great advantage that you do not start from scratch each time, and instead have well-documented data from previous years.

One of the tasks that takes up a lot of space at the moment is measurements of greenhouse gases, primarily nitrous oxide. This is done in close collaboration with laboratory technicians and environmental technicians here at Foulum. It provides a little extra challenge when it is not only the weather that must be taken into account when planning tillage, manure application, sowing, etc. We also have to into consideration the network of gas measurements that require the right equipment and the right people available on any given day. An exciting but sometimes a bit stressful task for everyone involved. 

Back to my headline - in a little while we will all be living on a plant-based diet, right?

(Personally, I struggle with the term "plant-based diet", it is not a very good expression, almost everything we eat (which does not come from the sea) is "plant-based" if you ask me.)

Political parties and interest groups are currently trying to outdo each other in ambitious plans for plant-based foods. All plans indicate that further research needs to be done in this area, which sounds interesting.

Already in 2021, a project will start at Foulumgård, which for the next four years will focus on this area, the project "GrainslegsGo".

The experiment deals with the cultivation of crops for human nutrition, primarily legumes such as peas, faba beans, soybeans, and green beans, see more on the project's website: https://icrofs.dk/forskning/dansk-forskning/organic-rdd-6/grainlegsgo/

In the coming years, we will probably see more experiments that deal with crops for (direct) human nutrition, but we still have many experiments that look at the possibilities of optimising feed production for our livestock.

One of the new areas we are also starting this year is organic production of maize for dairy cattle, it happens in our "Organic cattle crop rotation". It is a platform that has been running since the early 1990s.

In the other platforms, there is a focus on e.g. Conservation Agriculture (CENTS), plant production aimed at biorefining of crops (Biobase), comparison of organic and conventional crop rotations, with a focus on catch crops (CCRotate), optimising crop rotation for less leaching of nitrogen (LessN) and so on.

Cover crop trials still take up a lot of space. One of the results from our trials from this year, it has been for the ministry to allow use of nitrogen-fixing species in the cover crop mixtures on Danish farms.

In our Semifield facility, we are in the process of a much-needed update of the mobile roofs, a project paid for by BYGST. From the start, it was a matter of rebuilding the existing roofs, but we found it both better and cheaper to make brand new roofs. We have been promised that they will be ready for the start of the season, and they seem to be.

Of course, Corona has also affected everyday worklives, but since our work tasks are not so well suited for working from home, we have largely turned up physically at work throughout the period with only a few days at home, whenever possible. 

But of course, there are a lot of restrictions, and like everyone else, we look forward to things being normalised again. 

We have a new face at Foulumgård, as Inger Balthzersen, despite her young age, chose to retire in January. On March 1, Malthe Oksen Adserballe replaced her. In this connection, we have changed the distribution of the work tasks a little, so that the tasks in the Dry Materials Laboratory will not only be handled by Malthe. Malthe is new at Foulumgård, but has previously been employed at Flakkebjerg.

So, with a mix of “old” and new experiments, we look forward to another challenging and exciting growing season at Foulumgård.