ProPRECIKEM 2019-2022

Sustainable productive farming with PRECIKEM method (ProPRECIKEM)



Project duration

The duration of the project was from 12 August 2019 until 31 December 2022. 


Project partners

Project partners were Novia University of Applied Sciences, Vaasa University of Applied Sciences, Åbo Akademi University and YA - Vocational College of Ostrobothnia. 

The addition of an injection tube in the form of a loop higher up in the ground was planned and its construction supervised by Mikael Blomqvist at Österbottens svenska lantbrukssällskap/ProAgria. 

 

Goal

In the ProPRECIKEM project, the goal was a PRECIKEM technique, tested under field conditions and ready to be implemented in practice, that combines subsurface irrigation with acidity amelioration. An automated equipment for the dosing of ultrafine-grained limestone powder to the irrigation water is developed to facilitate the implementation of the technique. In small-scale trials, the effect of the treatments on cultivated plants are evaluated.

Through an active dissemination of project results, the PRECIKEM technique is made known to farmers and authorities responsible for agri-environmental support. The over-arching purpose of the project is to provide tools for a sustainable farming on acid sulfate soils.

Measures
To facilitate the employment of subirrigation with neutralizing additives according to the PRECIKEM method, an automated dosing of the ultrafine-grained limestone into the irrigation water was developed in cooperation with a company with the necessary competence. The function was verified in field trials.  

A separate injection tube was also tested in the project. The tube, in the form of a loop, was placed about halfway between the drainage and the ground surface. This maximizes the spreading of the treatment suspension in the acidified soil layer that lies between the injection tube and the drainpipes.

In the earlier projects, focus has been on the treatment effects on the quality of the drainage water. In the ProPRECIKEM project the effect of the treatment on cultivated plants was also investigated in small-scale trials. Tubes were pushed down to about two metres and barley together with a grass/clover mixture was sowed. The trials resembled pot trials but the whole soil profile of interest was included. 

As in the earlier projects, the quality of the drainage water at the Risöfladan experimental field was followed regularly. 

 

 
 
 



 

  

Funding

The funding for the project was in total 293 958 €, of which 80% was granted by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in Ostrobothnia, Finland, from the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland 2007-2013 as part of the European Agricultural Fund for the Rural Development. The private co-funding, 20% of the total, was granted by the Foundation of the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK:n Säätiö), Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry and the Åbo Akademi University Foundation.  

Funding for planning and building of the automated dosing equipment was granted by the Drainage Foundation sr and Stiftelsen Handlanden Gustaf Svanljungs Donationsfond. The planning and building of the injection tube at two subfields at Risöfladan was granted by Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet.