OPeRAtePlus
The 2017 amendment of the Fertiliser Ordinance has not brought the hoped-for clarity for the German agriculture. The European Commission has demanded considerable improvements due to inadequate implementation of the EU Nitrate Directive. Agriculture is faced with the challenge of applying increasingly complex agricultural processes in order to to comply with the legal conditions in an auditable manner. Expected fertilizing reports will confront the entire German agriculture with major tasks, in which the documentation and verification of slurry applications will be of central importance. Currently, data recording is often done manually, which often results in incorrect and incomplete data. Existing IT-based solutions do not integrate well into the fertilisation process without media breaks and are not accepted or understood by many farmers. There is a lack of agricultural machinery that is able to technically realize an appropriate documentation and to support the user within the documentation process.
The goal of OPeRAtePlus is a system of modular tools for the application of slurry used by farmers and contractors. It may be integrated into farm management systems and can also be used as a stand-alone app or an embedded solution on a contractor's website. Automation of processes intends to reduce the workload of users. The new product is designed to offer a broad support: starting at a simplified order creation by the farmer with the agricultural service provider, over the inclusion of historical and sub-arearelated data, to an assisted application in the field, to exact documentation and forwarding of the applied fertiliser quantities to authorities. The fertilisation process is carried out without media breaks and in compliance with legal regulations.
Project partners: ANEDO GmbH, FARMsystem Hinck & Kielhorn, Josef Kotte Landtechnik GmbH & Co. KG
Project funding: Deutsche Innovationspartnerschaft Agrar (DIP)
Project supervision: Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung (BLE)
Budget: 291.902,13 EUR (Hochschule Osnabrück)
Runtime: 01.06.2020 - 31.07.2022