Intensive Research Period for Carbon Farming CE Project Partner During Harvest Season

Summertime is associated with the harvest season. For one of the project partners, IUNG-PIB, which is testing agricultural practises that contribute to carbon sequestration as part of the long-term Carbon Farming CE project, it is a time of intense research. Last week, the partners collected soil samples from one of the experiments supervised by Janusz Smagacz PhD, professor at IUNG-PIB, and plant samples were also taken just before the harvest. With the help of a GPS satellite navigation system, the sampling points were marked so that samples could be taken from the same places for further analyses in the following season.

The long-term trial has been conducted at the Kępa – IUNG Agricultural Research Station in the Lubelskie region since 2006. The trial covers an area of 4 hectares and is divided into 4 fields of approximately 1 hectare each. It is carried out in two cultivation systems: the plow tillage system and the no-till system with a three-field crop rotation: winter rapeseed – winter wheat – winter wheat.

The soil samples collected are analysed in the institute’s accredited laboratory: Main Laboratory for Chemical Analyses (GLACH), mainly for organic carbon content, but also for NPK, Mg, pH, lime and humus content. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of yield, – structure and root quality are carried out on plant samples. The dried and ground samples are then sent to GLACH for analysis of the nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon content.

The Carbon Farming CE project is supported by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE Programme with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund.The project coordinator from IUNG (and contact person) is Piotr Jurga from the Bioeconomy and Systems Analysis Department.