ADAPTAGRI · HELP DESK
Questions & answers
Practical answers from the project experts.
Answered questions
Sources and literature · Illustrated guide (PDF)
Expert answers to your questions
No published answers in this section yet.
Frequently asked questions
QGood practicesHow can I reduce fuel and tillage costs?
Expert answer
In short: Reduce passes: combined machinery, minimum or strip tillage, GPS guidance and shared machinery.
Two of the farms studied cut their costs significantly by reducing the number of passes over the field.
- "Bomar Trade" Ltd (Knezha) uses combined machinery that cultivates, fertilises and sows in one pass, and is moving to minimum tillage. The result: lower fuel, labour and depreciation costs, less compaction, better moisture retention and agronomic deadlines met.
- Sole trader "Agroelit – Mitov" (Targovishte) replaced ploughing with strip-till — only in the row zone, together with sowing and fertilising, with GPS guidance and no overlaps.
| Measure | Saving |
|---|---|
| Combined operations (several operations in one pass) | Fuel, labour, time; less compaction |
| Minimum or strip tillage instead of ploughing | Fuel and machinery; less moisture loss |
| GPS guidance | No overlaps or gaps when spraying and fertilising |
| Shared machinery in a cooperative ("Motor 93", Babuk) | No large individual investment |
Caution: reducing tillage must suit the soil and the preceding crop. On heavy, compacted or waterlogged soils, remove the cause of compaction first. Investments in such machinery can be supported (section A).
The farms' contacts are in the table at the start of this section. The Help Desk can help you get in touch.
Material: Good practices 6, 7 and 10; Report "Analysis of good practices", section 3.4; Training Module 1, sections 1.2 and 4.