RISE develops and evaluates technology, methods and system solutions for functional, sustainable and profitable crop production in the field and in greenhouses. The goal is to provide solutions that have minimal or no impact on the surrounding environment and preferably counteract climate change while ensuring effective utilization of input resources and a high and stable yields with the desired end-user quality.

To achieve this, we work with

• development of methodology and sensor systems to measure soil and crop properties both in fields and in greenhouses
• cultivation technology in protein crops (beans and peas and ley) as well as oilseeds (rapeseed and turnip) and cereals (barley, oats and wheat)
• adaptation and development of tools and autonomous vehicles for efficient weed control as well as for seedbed preparation and harvest.
• combination and use of biological, mechanical and chemical control measures to develop Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
• developing ​​precision agriculture in order to customize and control site-specific inputs and soil with GPS technology and geographical information systems (GIS) to achieve the desired end-use quality and yield.
• decision support for assessing the profitability of site-specific variable rate application of plant nutrition, weed control and plant protection.
• technology for early detection of plant pests with drones, image analysis and spectral information as well as DNA technology in field and greenhouse
• technology for optimizing the water supply (irrigation and drainage) of field crops under varying weather conditions and a changing climate
• cultivation technology for improved fertility, including straw handling and biocarbon supply
• And more!

Sustainable livestock production

Reaching sustainability in agriculture entails work towards many environmental goals, and livestock production is key to helping us meet the goals of varied agricultural landscape and rich biodiversity. However, to ensure we can meet these goals, it is critical that our livestock production is competitive.

Sweden has good conditions for sustainable livestock production, and animal husbandry on Swedish farms is well known for high animal welfare and health. To ensure long-term competitiveness, the agricultural industry needs to continuously work on developing new knowledge, improving production systems and supporting innovations that increase productivity and profitability.

Applied research and innovation in collaboration with the agricultural industry

We develop and evaluate technology and methods for functional, economic and environmentally sustainable livestock production. We work with systemic solutions for efficient and optimised production and for improved quality of milk and meat. We strive for solutions that provide a good living and working environment for both animals and humans, while at the same time being sustainable from an environmental point of view with minimal negative impact on surrounding land, air and water.

We work with cattle, pig, sheep and poultry production, but also with horses that nowadays are used mainly for sport and recreation.

We focus on the needs of the agricultural industry and our projects cover research, innovation, development and evaluations.  We have a workshop for building prototypes which then can be tested in practice under real conditions on farms that we collaborate with. Our work is often done in close collaboration with the industry, advisory services, farmers and other research groups to obtain broad competence for creating comprehensive solutions.

Examples of research and development areas:

• Meat quality
• Animal welfare at slaughter, e.g. alternative stunning methods
• Sustainable outdoor systems for livestock farming
• Digitalisation, sensors and technical aids for animal welfare and health monitoring
• Animal handling and safe, animal-friendly handling systems
• Work environment and safety
• Indoor mechanization, animal housing systems and construction

Organic agriculture has a vision of achieving ecological, social and economic sustainability. To achieve the vision, organic agriculture is guided by a number of principles. One is to economize on finite resources and reduce the environmental impact through more efficient cycles of plant nutrients. The lack of organically certified fertilizers has been significant and threatens the plant nutrient supply at organic crop farms without access to manure. At the same time, organic agriculture faces the challenge of achieving higher and more stable production levels and increased productivity.

Building the intensification on increased introduction of plant nutrients via conventional manure and society's organic residues has their risks in terms of added value with organic production and consumer confidence in organic food. Instead, we want to investigate the potential for intensification in organic production. Farm-based biogas production is often emphasized as a resource-efficient method of producing bioenergy on and getting a fertilizer, the digestate, with nitrogen in a form that can be utilized efficiently. It is also emphasized as a method to better distribute plant nutrients between animal and crop farms. However, there is little knowledge about farm-based biogas production and whether plant nutrient utilization becomes higher. In reality, the management of the digestate is crucial, which has consequences for the environment as well as for the farm's economy and productivity.

Therefore, we want to identify and analyze this on 4 different organic farms with biogas production and use of digestate. However, there is no knowledge of the added value that is important for the agricultural company and how these are valued by the farmer. It is difficult to obtain a high nitrogen utilization rate in crop cultivation when using solid manure or green manure from grass crops, which reduces the harvesting level. In theory, nitrogen utilization in these organic materials could increase with digestion, which gives a liquid digestate with a high proportion of plant-available nitrogen. A liquid fertilizer can also be dosed and spread with precision technology in crop production. However, the digestate has pH 8, which increases the risk of ammonia losses during handling, compared with manure and grass crop. We do not know how the residue is handled in practice and what the consequences are for the environment. In this project, we therefore want to explore various possibilities in organic production to increase energy efficiency, utilization of plant nutrients and improve the farm economy by farm-based biogas production in order to achieve sustainable agriculture.

In today's use of solid manure in agriculture, its potential is only partly used. Digestion of solid manure means that it can generate considerably more goods. The overall aim and goal of the projects within this area is to, in large scale biogas plants, identify and test technology and system solutions for substrate mixtures with mostly solid manure, also including its digestate handling and use. It is also included to demonstrate that these digestion processes can be operated efficiently.

The work within this area has been divided into two projects:

1. Digestion tests in the RISE test bed “mobile pilot plant for biogas research” of nitrogen rich chicken manure as the main substrate. The digestate was partly processed via separation with a decanter centrifuge followed by concentration via evaporation. This project has been final reported.
   * Project title: Super digestate fertilizer for organic crop production
   * Financer: Vinnova
   * Final report: Digestion of poultry manure with digestate processing in pilot scale tests (RISE Report 2018:39)
    
2. Together with partners in the biogas industry develop source separation in the stable, test robust pre-treatment that enable efficient digestion, and develop efficient use of the fertilizer products. The partners represent the biogas industry, biogas and agricultural R&D as well as decision makers with focus on the reduction of eutrophication from agriculture. This project is ongoing.
   * Project title: Joint solid manure cooperation, transforming a problematic product into a useful resource by digestion
   * Financer: Vinnova (program Challenge-Driven Innovation, stage 1)