Agricultural PV with renewable energy

Agriculture has never faced so many challenges: Climate change and the social upheavals it threatens, producing more and better food in a resource-efficient way on shrinking and climatically unfavorable farmland for an ever-increasing population, protecting the environment and at the same time ensuring sufficient earning opportunities for farmers. Some are pushing for an agricultural turnaround to organic farming, while others are convinced that these problems can be overcome through innovative high-tech agriculture. Climate protection, environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources are now no longer the responsibility of states, governments, institutions and agriculture alone; in the future, the general public will also have to play its part.

Kurt Raffl of the agrarkurtsystem research center for agricultural weather protection systems developed his innovative designs for precisely these problems. The agricultural plant is protected by a roof made of structurally reinforced foil, which can be opened and closed fully automatically as required (one hectare in 6 minutes) in addition it provides lateral protection. This mechanism is also combined with photovoltaic panels and future solar films.

The advantages are obvious:

• No more drift during pesticide application and reduction of the amount of pesticide to an estimated 1/3 of the amount otherwise required. Targeted and environmentally friendly application now allows for minimal and highly efficient use of crop protection products. In this way, farmers not only send an important and positive signal with regard to the crop protection discussions, but also see a massive financial savings potential in purchasing and time savings due to the reduced and less frequent use.
• Protection from weather: rain (and related plant diseases), thunderstorms, hail, frost, wind and excessive sunlight. Guaranteed harvests through controllable growing conditions such as ventilation, humidity… as needed, which means better quality and higher yields, because only vital plants provide a good harvest. Optimization allows earlier or later harvests outside the growing season, e.g. for cherries, strawberries, vegetables, etc. Like no other profession, the farmer is often unprotected against the increasing vagaries of nature, and unforeseen weather events now have a fatal effect on growth and crop yields, which will also be increasingly reflected in rising insurance premiums and food prices in the future. It is therefore in the highest interest of the farmer as well as the consumer to protect his crop.
• Protection against pests such as the cherry vinegar fly: Growers are increasingly faced with damage from resistant native as well as imported insects. The closed plant and the use of ecological measures can create a climate in the plant that is unfavorable for the insects e.g. biological palm smoke
• The preservation of the landscape and landscape protection remain guaranteed by the opening and closing of the plant, there is no soil sealing.
• Protection from evaporation: persistent water shortages caused by rising average temperatures and weak rainfall are one of the most serious threats to agriculture. For this reason, agriculture in particular is called upon to be extremely economical, sustainable and as efficient as possible in its use of the precious resource water and to keep consumption to a minimum during particularly dry periods. Shading can reduce evaporation and optimize the limited availability of water to crops.
• Electricity from natural resources such as solar or wind are the future and more and more machines are being developed and built battery electricity based. With the Adlerkurtsystem and the integrated photovoltaic, renewable C02 neutral energy is produced quite by the way in the meadows. This electricity can be used to charge agricultural machinery or batteries on site, it can be harvested at night if needed. Surplus energy can be converted by fuel cells into ecologically storable energy and used e.g. for heating, light etc. and make an enormous contribution against climate change.
• In a next step, the Adlerkurtsystem is to make the leap into digital agriculture. Sensors and cameras on the system are networked with various information systems (e.g. weather) and react automatically or via app control directly via cell phone when required. This efficiently reduces the need for labor and time-consuming manual work..

All these advantages make the Adlerkurtsystem interesting, for a variety of crops, such as the cultivation of stone fruit, soft fruit, vegetables, flowers, hemp, apples and viticulture, etc.. Free-range barns for species-appropriate livestock and animal husbandry.

Currently, a model facility is being built and can be visited from May 2021 at the Haflingerhof in Naturno after a test phase on an area of 400m2. A digital platform for information and exchange is being developed.

Motto: From farmer to farmer

Let us farmers take responsibility for the future and face the pressing issues of our time such as food security, yield security, conscientiousness in environmental and plant protection, renewable energy, climate change, land sealing and transparency during production.

Let us embark together on the global sustainability way to sustainable, efficient and, above all, modern agriculture.