CEMA industry delegates provide insights to the project

2019 04 INNOSETA logo

The event, organized by the French R&D Institute Institut Français de la Vigne et du Vin (IFV) gathered more than 50 people to discuss about the most innovative practices in spraying equipment and technologies applied to vineyards.

On the 18th, the morning was devoted to the presentation of the French context for innovative spraying technologies and to the launch of LABEPULVE, a new label created by IFV to classify wine sprayers. In the afternoon, after a break with on-the-field demonstration of spraying technologies and the visit of an exhibition space for manufacturers, the floor was given to the First Regional Innovation Workshop organized in the framework of the INNOSETA project www.innoseta.eu.

Two CEMA company delegates represented CEMA and the European machinery industry at the entire day: Peter Hloben (Senior Engineer - Product Safety & Compliance at John Deere) and Floris Vande Walle (Regulations and Standards Manager at Delvano). 

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2019_06_INNOSETAFloris Van de Walle, Regulations and Standards Manager at Delvano, shares its personal views with CEMA on advance spraying techniques & INNOSETA EU-project - Delvano NV, is a family business (SME) with more than 50 years of experience in crop protection equipment. Known for its mechanically strong machines, Delvano manufactures self-propelled, trailed and mounted sprayers, build to the custom needs of every client. Within the company located in Hulste (BE), Delvano employs 60 people.

CEMA - PPPs require extremely high safety standards for users in the handling, filling and cleaning processes. What are the latest developments in spraying equipment that can reduce risks for operators?

FVW - Delvano strongly supports operator safety & ergonomics. In 2017, Delvano implemented a new cab, with overpressure & active filter system. This reduces the chance of getting exposure to risky products while operating.

CEMA - During spraying, what are the latest features developed by the industry that can ensure an efficient application of the products on the plants, only when and where is needed?

FVW - Delvano launched its own PWM-option on all its spray systems, implemented within the touch-display. Pulse Width Modulation is a system which opens & closes nozzles with a pre-set frequency. This frequency depends on the application bringing many benefits: individual opening & closing to reduce overdosing, a pressure independent dose adaptation, dose compensation within corners…

CEMA - The application of PPPs in agricultural practices can greatly contribute to pest control and agricultural output. The INNOSETA project has observed that using modern spraying technologies can have significant positive results in reducing environmental impact. However, uptake of these techniques is still limited. How do you think the acceptance and usage of these innovations should be supported?

FVW  - I’m convinced that new technologies can greatly impact the future of agriculture. Especially in a market which keeps demanding more and more from both the farmer and his equipment. Companies already put large amounts of effort in R&D, so I think that the next step is making the new equipment available for everyone.

Old equipment has to be renewed at a certain point, although new equipment is costly. Not every farmer has the financial capacity to buy innovations. By giving farmers the right advice, based on their personal situation, I believe the whole community can benefit. Of course, government funding is an option as well, but the money has to be spent wisely.

Not only equipment tends to get older. The average farmer works longer as well. I do believe that, despite being a very difficult topic, it’s necessary to make farming attractive again. New people bring new insights and ideas.

CEMA -The first INNOSETA Workshop just held in Montpellier focused on spraying equipment and technologies in viticulture. In your view, what are the main challenges for spraying equipment in this type of agriculture?

FVW - I do believe that the main trend for the next years will be to reduce drift & residues in any type  of crop. Crops traceability will be a big issue as well

CEMA - What is your take-home message from the participation to this workshop? Would you recommend to other colleagues and companies to join the INNOSETA network and why?

FVW - As an international attendant, I would recommend it. Participating in the workshops gives you a regional insight with an international touch. Sharing ideas and meeting new people is always a great opportunity!

 

Peter Hloben, Senior Engineer - Product Safety & Compliance at John Deere provides CEMA insights on sprayer equipment industry solutions. 2019 06 Peter Hloben Innoseta

"I would like to encourage our CEMA members to join the local INNOSETA workshops with an aim to listen to the other parties, but also to represent the ag machinery industry by a strong voice and promote the technologies - the engineering work in which we have invested in the last years."

John Deere is a multinational corporation having several production and product development centers around the globe. In Europe, one of our sprayer production facility is located at Horst in the Netherlands with ca. 250 employees where are produced the 700 and 900 series of trailed sprayers and a self-propelled sprayer model. A second EU based sprayer facility is located close to Ravenna (Italy) where the Mazzotti brand of sprayer is produced. In this facility, we traditionally produce self-propelled sprayers of different forms. The company provides solutions answering to everybody’s needs, traditionally to an individual farmer protecting cereal crops, vegetables or ornamental flowers up to a large cooperatives or contractors who are spraying thousands of hectares every year.     

CEMA - PPPs require extremely high safety standards for users in the handling, filling and cleaning processes. What are the latest developments in spraying equipment that can reduce risks for operators?

PH- The sprayer equipment industry offers a variety of solutions that aims at increasing the safety of the operator and comfort during his/her work, e.g. automatic tank filling valves which enable to stop at the desired tank level or automatic rinsing programs which allows to clean the whole solution system incl. the tank or just the sprayer boom when needed. Another significant technology which enables the incorporation of liquid plant protection agents into the main tank is the so-called “Close Transfer System” (CTS). The CTS will allow to safely connect a chemical container, empty it and clean it. This way, contamination of the operator can be reduced when compared with the traditional injector hopper system.  

Another technology which looks very promising is the Load CommandTM  filling connector where a premix solution is loaded to the tank within a couple of minutes, without the operator stepping out from the cabin during the loading. This technology was adopted from the aircraft industry where is used for re-fueling of the military jets during the flight.

CEMA - During spraying, what are the latest features developed by the industry that can ensure an efficient application of the products on the plants, only when and where is needed?

PH - Also here the industry, along with our company, offers many solutions starting from quick acting hydraulically driven centrifugal pumps, section or single nozzle control up to the latest hit – the PWM controlled nozzle valves which allows to change the nozzle flow while maintaining constant pressure. This technology will allow even more precisely to adjust the spray rate to a specific field plot at a desire spray droplet quality or compensate the spray rate in curves or during the acceleration and deceleration of the sprayer at the headland.  Overall these site-specific application technologies in combination with a prescription map or with a real-time weed recognition camera system will reduce the total volume of the applied plant protection agents by more than 50% when compares with current sprayers. This volume reduction will also directly contribute to drift reduction which is another very sensitive area of the current sprayer business.  The PWM technology will help here a lot but beside this novel technology we are also working closely with our partners which are developing a new “boom wing” systems which allows to reduce the influence of the cross wind on a spray drift by 90%, even if farmer want to use traditional fine droplet nozzles instead of injector nozzles to ensure a good even coverage during fungicide application or grass herbicide treatment.

CEMA - The application of PPPs in agricultural practices can greatly contribute to pest control and agricultural output. The INNOSETA project has observed that using modern spraying technologies can have significant positive results in reducing environmental impact. However, uptake of these techniques is still limited. How do you think the acceptance and usage of these innovations should be supported?

PH - First, it shall be about the dialogue between the main stakeholders in the chemical application business, i.e. farmers, manufacturer, farmer’s advisors, policy makers and public to explain the current issues and concerns of each party and to discover potential solutions which increase the acceptance of new technology. Such a dialog may have different forms, e.g.:

  • training of users and advisors to show the environmental and economic benefits.
  • providing information about the capability of the new technology to a broad public and policy makers which increase their trust in application technology. An example of such tools is the recent CEMA project called STEP-Water www.step-water.org which was developed together with the European ag. chemical association (ECPA).
  • harmonization of the performance requirements and limits (mainly for the spray drift classification schemes) at the EU level, which will enable the manufacturers to offer the new technology sooner to the market

Subsequently, other tools like financial incentives for novel technology can be used for supporting the acceptance, but first the famer must be personally convinced that he/she is doing the right thing and must know and stay motivated to correctly operate the machine.  

CEMA - The first INNOSETA Workshop just held in Montpellier focused on spraying equipment and technologies in viticulture. In your view, what are the main challenges for spraying equipment in this type of agriculture?

PH - The main challenges for the orchard sprayers are the spray drift, the locations where are used and their price segment. This comes back to my previous statements. There is a high public pressure to reduce the spray drift as the vineyards are often located closer to the residential areas and a higher sprayer pressure is used for penetration of the canopy. There are several solutions which may help to reduce significantly the drift e.g. the recycling, however these technologies return on investment may not be acceptable from an economical point of view for some producers running small structured farms.         

CEMA - What is your take-home message from the participation to this workshop? Would you recommend to other colleagues and companies to join the INNOSETA network and why?

PH - The INNOSETA workshops are helpful for re-activation of the discussion about the current state of the art of chemical application technology and working practices with all stakeholders and for understanding their issues and positions. It will provide technical and technological recommendations and spread the information to farmers about what and how to use it. It will also help to define the priorities on which we as industry must work in the future and direction for the policy makers which technologies to support in the future.