PVL's projects
Livestock farming, like all agriculture, is heavily dependent on water. It is therefore not surprising that climate change characterised, among other things, by longer droughts is also leading to water scarcity within livestock farming. While these problems of water scarcity are challenging for the entire agriculture and horticulture sector, the challenge within livestock [...]
WAVE: Water use in animal husbandry Read More »
Pig farming is a sector in dire straits. The constant pressure on the primary producer's margins makes it more and more necessary to maximise efficiency in order to achieve the highest possible returns at the lowest possible cost. In a fragmented, competitive sector, comparing performance is often
As part of the Blue Deal, the agriculture sector must improve its handling of water. In agriculture, this means, on the one hand, better securing precipitation water and, on the other, using the available water as efficiently as possible. However, the increase in the presence of weeds in main crops, among other things, creates competition for water. Moreover, these
Automatic weed detection to optimise agricultural crops Read More »
A growing world population is increasing the demand for food and animal proteins. However, traditional meat production requires a lot of space and natural resources. Alternative, sustainable sources of protein, such as insects, can offer a solution. Also, by-products, which are currently hardly or not utilised, can serve as feed for breeding insects. Unlike conventional farm animals,
Opportunities of insects for sustainable food and circular food systems Read More »
In the AIC project, the various partners, each with their own expertise and specialisation in insect production and processing, automation and data management, want to join forces to create a sustainable chain cooperation for the production and processing of black soldier fly larvae as a high-quality protein-rich raw material for animal feed. This collaboration will combine forces from producer to
Agricultural Insects Cluster Read More »
The overall objective of the project is to increase understanding of the impact farmers can have on water quality. There have been many interventions by the agricultural sector over the past three decades that have improved water quality, although this improvement appears to have stagnated over the past 5-10 years. Also from a policy perspective, there have been several
Water quality, an integrated approach Read More »
Cattle farming has the great advantage of being able to convert plant protein into high-quality animal protein inefficiently for humans. For efficient animal production, however, the need for plant protein is quite high. Unfortunately, the Flemish climate lends itself much better to the production of energy-rich crops (cereals, maize) than protein-rich crops (soya, beans,
The shortage of concentrated protein sources for livestock means that Flanders still relies too much on overseas soy imports to feed domestic livestock. The use of locally grown protein crops is possible but as yet insufficiently known. As a result, soya imports remain at a very high level. Socially, this
Field beans, from field to feed Read More »
The project focuses on (re)discovering soil life in North Limburg agricultural plots. Soil life is an essential component of soil quality, but is often overlooked today. Soil analyses usually do not reach beyond physical and chemical parameters, including organic matter content, but miss soil microbiology. Indeed, soil bacteria and fungi are
(Re)discovering soil life Read More »
The project focuses on (re)discovering soil life in North Limburg agricultural plots. Soil life is an essential component of soil quality, but is often overlooked today. Soil analyses usually do not reach beyond physical and chemical parameters, including organic matter content, but miss soil microbiology. Indeed, soil bacteria and fungi are
(Re)discovering soil life Read More »