Fieldwork and Research
Our roots lie in regenerative contract work: ERDIG supports more than 40 farms in Switzerland on their path to resilient soils.
Our contract work provides the basis for applying and researching new practices and insights that we want to make accessible to agriculture.
Our research and development focuses on adapting regenerative practices to large-scale agriculture, producing and researching high-quality compost substrates and their microbiology, and exploring their applications in the field.
Soil Resilience
Our goal is resilient soils.
A resilient soil has dynamic stability. The soil ecosystem can respond to influences such as heavy rainfall, heat, or drought without completely changing or even losing its condition. After extreme events, such soil quickly returns to its basic function.
Soil resilience requires that diverse communities of soil microbes and fungi thrive and that the full potential of soil life can unfold: humus-building and symbiotic processes that lead to healthy plants, less dependence on external inputs, and more stable yields.
Regenerative Contract Work
Research focus: Regenerative contract work.
We make regenerative practices accessible for large-scale agriculture. Aiming to combine as many work steps as possible, ERDIG has developed, rebuilt, and modified machinery and equipment. Today, with an operating weight of under 10 tons, we can accomplish the following work steps in a single pass:
Seedbed preparation
With an Imants Eco-Mix spading machine, crop residues, green manures, manure, compost, or grass clippings are gently incorporated into the topsoil. The ideal working depth varies between 6 and 15 cm depending on the amount of organic matter, the previous crop, and the tillage horizon.
Four to six loosening tines loosen the soil in advance and stabilise the machine. A rotating spade shaft then slightly lifts the soil at the surface and gently mixes and aerates it. Finally, a harrow roller with oscillating teeth creates a homogeneous, self-stable surface and slight reconsolidation, ensuring capillarity.
The slow operation protects soil life. In addition, the soil and aggregates break at a natural point and retain their aggregate structure. This prevents slaking and erosion and ensures that more water can be absorbed and released over longer periods.
Drill seeding or precision seeding
Seeding of green manures, temporary grassland, or main crops is carried out in the same pass into the optimally prepared seedbed.
The following seeding units are mounted compactly and close to the spading machine to minimise total weight and soil pressure on the rear axle.
- Krummenacher EPS 5 seeder: The 410-litre seed hopper is mounted at the front for optimal weight distribution.
- Lemken drill seeder with 24 double-disc coulters: Ensures uniform seeding depth even on difficult terrain. Thanks to optimal seed-to-soil contact, emergence is rapid.
- APV MDP 100 multi-doser: The pneumatic multi-doser is very light and was mounted directly on the spading machine. It is used for broadcast seeding in combination with drill seeding or for applying granules.
- Kuhn Planter: A robust 4-row precision seeder with a mulch-seeding unit that delivers optimal results even with crop residues and changing soil conditions.
Application of microbiology
Every tillage operation is combined with the application of compost extract. This introduces a diversity of microorganisms directly into the soil with the seed, strengthening the microbiome and the plant. In symbiosis with the roots, the microorganisms and fungi make the soil accessible.
In our in-house developed light-tight front tank, we can carry around 800 litres of compost extract, which is applied via a spray boom across the full working width or directly into the seed furrow (in-furrow).
ERDIG Setup
Insights into our contract work.
Whether on vegetated soil, temporary grassland, or crop residues: we apply microbiology, prepare the seedbed, and seed in just one pass. This is what the ERDIG setup looks like.
Insights
Results in practice.
Our specialised machine combination and the use of compost extract deliver optimal results in practice:
- Less soil compaction thanks to fewer, lighter passes with optimal weight distribution and adjusted tyre pressure.
- The incorporated organic material is quickly broken down and converted into plant-available nutrients.
- A diverse microbiome thanks to compost extract: the symbiotic cycles between plant and soil are reactivated.
- The seed emerges quickly and grows rapidly thanks to a positive soil environment.
- Erosion and slaking are prevented thanks to preserved aggregate structure and rapid growth.
- Minimal, shallow cultivation, rapid rooting, and an intact microbiome lead to a crumbly soil structure, better water-holding capacity, and good permeability.
- A soil environment with symbiotic and humus-building processes develops. In doing so, plants and microorganisms bind carbon in the soil.
- The soil’s natural resilience and fertility are strengthened, and dependence on external inputs is reduced.
Compost
Research focus: Compost.
Change in the soil begins with microbiology which we obtain from biologically complete compost substrates.
Together with partners (including ETH Zurich, Agroscope, University of Zurich), we research various compost substrates and their microbiology, production methods, recipes, extraction methods, and application forms. We do this in the field and in the greenhouse with the aim of building foundational knowledge. Our vision is that farms can produce and use their own biologically complete substrates to sustainably close cycles.
You can find all information about our extract substrate here:
Machines and Equipment
Development of machines and equipment.
In our search for suitable machines and equipment, we repeatedly had to go our own way to bring our ideas from concept to field. This has led to developments that we hope will contribute to the wider adoption of regenerative practices.
Hitch for the Imants Eco-Mix.
With the aim of combining as many operations as possible in a single pass and achieving as little, well-distributed weight as possible, we developed and installed a lightweight lifting device (hitch) for our Imants Eco-Mix. It allows us to attach a seeder directly and very close to the spading machine. This enables spading and seeding in one pass. Thanks to the option of lifting the seeder over the spading machine, the combination is road-legal (in Switzerland).
In collaboration with Imants, our prototype is being further developed.
ERDIG Seed and Liquid Tripleshot Front Tank.
What if you could carry two types of seed and microbiology with just one tank? Exactly –- you would have maximum flexibility in a single pass. The search for such a tank resulted in a prototype that we were able to develop together with B. Kaufmann AG: the ERDIG Seed and Liquid Tripleshot Front Tank.
The tank is light-tight and has been supplemented with ISOBUS-controlled in-furrow injection. This applies the valuable microbiology directly onto a Lemken Doubleshot seeding bar, enabling precise placement of seed at two different depths with extract.
The tank is still under development.
