Digital methods for agro-monitoring and nutrient load management in the Russian part of the Baltic Sea catchment area

Abstract

The article describes the basic requirements for an interactive programme designed for agro-monitoring and nutrient load management in the Russian part of the Baltic Sea catchment area within the borders of the Leningrad Region. The programme will monitor the farm generation of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the organic fertilisers and create the logistical scheme of their application with due account for environmental and economic factors. The functional objectives of the interactive programme are to receive the relevant source information on the region, agricultural organisations, applied animal/poultry manure handling technologies, and manure storage types; to visualize all agricultural organizations on a digital map: location, name, specialisation, animal stock, available agricultural land; to calculate and display the current situation in agricultural enterprises: amount of organic fertiliser received, land sufficiency for all organic fertiliser application, and required volume of manure storages and composting pads; to calculate and display the forecast situation in agricultural organizations and to create the electronic passports of farms, districts and the whole Leningrad Region including the logistics of organic fertilisers distribution from supplier farms to consumer farms considering the nutrient load standards and the data on the nutrient load distribution within the boundaries of agricultural lands in the catchment area.

Pig Manure Management: A Methodology for Environmentally Friendly Decision-Making

“…The study applied the mathematical apparatus of the transportation problem of organic fertiliser transfer from supplying farms to consuming farms. The target function was the transportation cost of one ton of total nitrogen [4].…”

“…Manure nutrients (total nitrogen and total phosphorus) are considered the main source of environmental pollution, on the one hand, but they maintain soil fertility, on the other. However, currently, 47% of pig farms in the country have neither enough land to apply all organic fertilisers produced nor any arrangements with crop growing farms on fertiliser export [3,4]. In this context, decisions must be taken at the district or regional levels for the redistribution of organic fertilisers between farms.…”

Assessment of Nitrogen Flows at Farm and Regional Level When Developing the Manure Management System for Large-Scale Livestock Enterprises in North-West Russia

“…The proposed approach is the initial stage of work. Currently, as a first step, an interactive programme is under development for agro-monitoring and nutrient load management in the Russian part of the Baltic Sea catchment area within the borders of the Leningrad Region [43].…”