PURINES 4.0 Operational Group: Purines 4.0 contribution record and monitoring of crop utilization

Manure management is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the Spanish agricultural sector. The exponential growth in livestock numbers means an increase in manure generation that is impossible to manage with a magic formula and requires optimized management of various solutions.

The pig sector is currently at a record high. This year, nearly 54 million heads of cattle will be slaughtered, and nearly 65 million cubic meters of pig manure alone will have been produced in 2018.

To these must be added those from other livestock farms, such as cattle or poultry. Cogeneration systems based on slurry methanation, composting, biological treatments, thermal drying using natural gas, ozone degradation, or any other innovative technique applicable to slurry management must be used and adapted to each specific situation.

All of these techniques are compatible with the more widely used and increasingly regulated direct application of fertilizers to crop fields. While traditionally these inputs were considered the natural way to fertilize fields, abuse and poor practices are forcing its use to be rationalized and substantially limiting it.