To improve the water quality of our streams and rivers, efforts are being made on many fronts. The agriculture sector has already made many efforts, including reducing diffuse losses from agricultural plots.
All these efforts can be undone by unintentional point pollution. Erf and silo sap are one example.
If you want help to reduce that impact, contact us for a free consultation visit
What are heirloom and silo sap?
Erfsappen is an umbrella term for sap streams generated by activities on the farmyard, such as silo sap released from the storage of maize or other (feed) crops, as well as rainwater runoff from the silage pit or yard. Even in small quantities, these can have a major impact on water quality when they enter a watercourse or infiltrate into the soil.
Due consideration is also needed for the disposal of cleaning and rinsing water.
Addressing inheritance and silos
From practitioners, we notice an increasing attention to the impact of yard and silo sap on surface and groundwater quality. The Flemish government also drew up a theoretical guide on how to limit these sap flows and how to deal with them judiciously. This can be found via the BAT study on preventing runoff of yard juices.
From the Trial and Training Centre for Agriculture, Hooibeekhoeve and Inagro, through individual farm visits, we offer the opportunity to map out all the farmyard sap and reach out for solutions tailored to your farm.
What does such a company visit entail?
During the farm visit, we map out the various water flows over/from the farmyard that may give rise to run-off from the farmyard. Based on this information, we will draw up a farm advice that can be used as a guideline for solving existing bottlenecks or preventing possible bottlenecks in the long term (e.g. also for (re)construction projects). The action points will be drawn up very broadly and can range from 'simple actions' to 'larger investments'. This will give you a picture of where the working points are and how to address them.
If you have a feasible and well-functioning solution on your farm that allows you to reduce the impact of run-off from farmyard juice and if you want to share this knowledge with us, please let us know! This information is also very valuable to us.
Interested in a company visit?
The business opinions are company-specific and strictly personal. They will therefore not be made publicly available or made available for inspection by other bodies.
More information:
Agricultural Research and Training Centre
Lore Luys
lore.luys@pvl-vzw.be, 0468 30 50 09
Hooibeekhoeve
Katleen Geerinckx
Katleen.geerinckx@provincieantwerpen.be, 014 25 97 56
Inagro
Sandra Debevere
sandra.debevere@inagro.be, 051 27 32 89
