Lelystad centre of research and validation hands-free agrifood ecosystem

The Lelystad area is home to one of the largest arable farms in the Netherlands. An arable farm growing conventional and organic crops and conducting research for companies, government and other agencies. We are talking about the 1,000-hectare arable farm of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Field Crops Business Unit.

Of those 1,000 hectares, 700 to 800 hectares are in own use each year and the rest of the land is leased to local arable farmers and bulb growers. The main site of the WUR Field Crops business unit is on Edelhertsweg. The other site on Elandweg is known for its Agroecology and Technology Field Lab, which facilitates research on sustainable soil management and crop protection, strip cropping and agroforestry. The annual Biovelddag (Bio Field Day) is also organised here. And in 2020, this was the site of the newly established Farm of the Future , a 20-hectare plot where many different strategies and measures are tested that can contribute to a future-proof agricultural system and smarter farming. The Farm of the Future welcomes around 3,000 visitors from home and abroad every year, including 1,000 visitors during the annual Future Farming & Food Experience.

The Lelystad location is also an ecosystem site for data infrastructure and testing and validation in the NXTGEN Hightech use case 19 hands-free agrifood ecosystem. What does that mean exactly? Andries van der Meer, research associate in precision agriculture at WUR explains.

Combining best of research and business

“Within the NXTGEN Hightech agrifood project, which runs from 2023 to 2029, research institutes and Dutch companies are working together to further develop the technologies and innovations that the Netherlands is good at and put them on the map. These key technology innovations are jointly (further) developed, with WUR also being responsible for independently testing and validating the innovations. In other words, are they really as innovative and effective as intended and what does it mean for Dutch farming practice,” says Andries van der Meer.

The ecosystem project consists of four work packages and activities:

• Connection and dialogue
• Data and infrastructure
• Testing and validation
• Human capital

“Thanks to our extensive acreage, effectively 700 to 800 hectares, we can build a lot of field trials here to shape that testing and validation. A major advantage of the size and nature of the field lab is that we have enough space to start field trials with a clean slate. Obviously, you don’t want a fertiliser trial from several years ago to affect a field trial this year, for example. We ensure that the history of a plot does not affect follow-up surveys. In addition, my fellow researchers and I have an extensive network of arable farmers and other agriculturists thanks to the many workshops we organise. In fact, part of the project focuses on connection and dialogue. How do research and innovations work out in practice? The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN) makes decisions for adopting future agricultural policies partly based on what happens here. It is important that those policies are feasible and implementable in practice. Part of the dialogue is also to publicly present and summarise the research results of NXTGEN Hightech.”

Van der Meer also cites another form of connection and dialogue. “For example, my colleague Pieter de Wolf regularly nuances our research findings in national and agricultural media. Not everything we do here can simply be ‘copied’ into practice.”

The opportunities of robotisation in agriculture

“What is also important and satisfying, is that we have the opportunity to gain more experience with robots and autonomy and the challenges that come with it. Examples of such challenges include not only enabling a vehicle to drive autonomously, but also integrating it with current machines. Interim adjustments that a driver now makes to the machine will later also need to be done by smart machines. It’s not just the vehicle, the machine needs to get smart too. This is because unmanned autonomous operations no longer involve a driver or operator who lose their controlling role. And consider the requirements and wishes that an autonomous vehicle must meet in terms of safety and ease of use.”

An example of robots at the Farm of the Future is the Robotti by Agrointelli, alightweight implement carrier that can perform various agricultural tasks on GPS navigation.

Another example mentioned by Van der Meer is electrification of tractors and machinery. “We test electric tractors, for example. To determine how much energy those vehicles consume relative to standard fuel alternatives, we are developing protocols. And we also integrate feedback from users during workshops and other meetings. Is an electric tractor just as easy to set up? What about ease of use and can an electric tractor be used in day-to-day operations? WUR provides independent validation to give farmers an idea of the pros and cons of such systems and how well they work.”

Preparing for data revolution

“By setting up a data infrastructure, an infrastructure where the arable farmer is in control, we are anticipating the ongoing and future data revolution, including the influence and impact that artificial intelligence is going to have.”

“In conclusion, I think you could say that at the ecosystem site in Lelystad, as part of NXTGEN Hightech, we are pursuing, facilitating and enabling the transition to hands-free field crops through co-innovation.”

Researcher Precision Farming