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LV "Farmers' Council" and the State Plant Protection Service invite you to the final conference on manure management of the project "Manure Standard"
On November 27 and 28 of this year, the association “Farmers' Council” in cooperation with the State Plant Protection Service is organizing and inviting all interested parties to a conference and experience exchange trip: “Results of the project “Manure Standards” and their use in manure management”. The conference will take place on November 27 at the Ozolnieki Community Center, Rīgas Street 23, Ozolnieki. Start at 10:00. Experience exchange trip to farms in Zemgale on November 28.
Iveta Grudovska, expert of the association “Farmers' Parliament”: “With this seminar, the association “Zemnieku saeima” concludes five years of work on various projects related to manure management. The main conclusions: manure is a very valuable source of nutrients that must be managed skillfully, otherwise operations with manure cause environmental pollution. Much work still needs to be done in Latvia both to educate farmers about the value of manure and to create a support system for the purchase of modern technologies. Only a comprehensive approach will make a significant contribution to the economic growth of farms, while taking care of environmental protection.”
Director of the Agrochemistry Department of the State Plant Protection Service, Skaidrīte Rulle: “The biggest benefit of the project is the exchange of information on manure management in the countries of the Baltic Sea region (Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, Germany, Sweden), as well as in the Baltic Sea region of the Russian Federation, and the development of unified guidelines (instructions) for manure sampling, evaluation of laboratory methods used for manure analysis, and development of a calculation program for calculating the volume and chemical composition of manure. 22 Latvian livestock farms were involved in the project and 124 samples were analyzed, thus updating information on the volume of manure and its chemical composition in accordance with modern production conditions, which are influenced by many different factors: productivity of farm animals, feed used and its doses, animal housing, methods of manure removal and storage. Farmers and agricultural consultants will be able to use the instructions and calculation programs developed during the project in their daily work, while policymakers will be able to use them in the development of regulations and requirements for manure management.”
The final conference of the project will be opened by a video address by the project lead partner, the Finnish Institute of Natural Resources (LUKE), and project coordinator Sari Luostarinen, and introductory remarks by Kristīne Lifānova, Director of the State Plant Protection Service, Maira Dzelzkalēja-Burmistre, Deputy Chairwoman of the Association “Zemnieku saeima”, and Iveta Ozoliņa, Deputy Director of the Agricultural Resources Department of the Ministry of Agriculture. The informative part of the conference will be opened by Skaidrīte Rulle, Director of the Agrochemistry Department of the State Plant Protection Service, informing about the achievements, benefits and project recommendations for manure management in the project “Manure Standarts”. Subsequently, Lauris Leitāns, Chief Expert of the State Plant Protection Service, will talk about the manure calculation methodology, the results of manure analysis, and a comparison of the Latvian demo farm survey with the results of other countries. The first part of the conference will be concluded by Professor Aldis Kārkliņš of the Latvian University of Agriculture with a presentation: “Manure – terminology and its importance in agriculture”.
In the second part of the conference, Kalvi Tamm, a representative of the Estonian Plant Research Institute, will share the experience of neighboring countries in manure management, while A. Strukčinskas and E. Cikockaitė, representatives of the Lithuanian Plant Service, will talk about the requirements for manure use and control in Lithuania. The conference will be concluded by Silvija Dreijere, Head of the Livestock Department of the Latvian Rural Consulting and Education Center, introducing the attendees to the impact of dairy cow nutrition and feed rations on ammonia emissions.
On November 28, all interested parties are invited to participate in an experience exchange trip to farms in Zemgale. During the trip, the farm “Mežacīruļi” in Zaļenieki parish will be visited – an example of how manure is managed, and the SIA LLU MPS “Vecauce” – two new facilities – a manure lagoon and a calf shed – will be inspected.
Apply by November 22 by phone 67027044 or by e-mail: birojs@zemniekusaeima.lv
