Field Day 2024 - trials, results, AI and practice

On 12 June, the annual HNEE Field Day took place at the Wilmersdorf Estate Teaching and Research Station, focusing on current research, trials, results and experiences with an emphasis on varieties and cultivation options for summer and winter crops.

The tour of the trial plots focussed on cereals, grain legumes such as lupin, chickpea, soya and field beans as well as old cereal varieties and endangered arable weed species. In addition to explanations by the scientific director of the teaching and research station, Prof. Dr Ralf Bloch, Prof. Dr Hoffmann-Bahnsen, students, representatives of VERN e. V. (Association for the Conservation and Recultivation of Crops) and visitors contributed their knowledge and experience from their own farms to a good exchange of ideas on cultivation strategies.Also present: a German-Chinese delegation from the German-Chinese Agricultural Centre (DCZ), which focused on the topic of "Community-based Agrobiodiversity - Conservation for Climate Change Adaptation" during its visit.

The "Uckerbot" was also presented during the field inspections. It is being used to research weed control using AI-supported robotics in sugar beet cultivation. The use of instruments such as the "Tornado", a type of "weed drill" and a pendulum hoe by a robot is being researched. The research and collaboration with the company zauberzeug GmbH also includes the interaction of different robots.

In addition, the managing director of the Wilmersdorf estate, Jörg Juister, gave a tour of the estate's own fields and shared his experiences. Another item on the programme was the lecture: "Special features of summer and winter crops in well-balanced crop rotations in organic farming" by Prof. Dr. Knut Schmidtke from the HTW Dresden.

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