Team Leader: Leif Knudsen, Torben Huus-Bruun
Web: www.seges.dk
SEGES P/S is a private non-profit test; demonstration and research organization owned by the Danish Agriculture and Food Council which is the main organization of Danish farmers. SEGES P/S is the main supplier of professional knowledge for the agricultural professions with a 2009 budget of 73 million €. The VFL furthermore bridges the gap between research and the farmers in close cooperation with the local advisory centers. In this two string system the SEGES acts as the national knowledge centre for 32 local advisory centers throughout Denmark organized in the overall partnership Danish Agricultural Advisory Service owned by the Danish farmers. This organization goes back to 1875 when Danish farmers first started to employ their own advisers and today this partnership employs 3,500 professionals of which 520 are working at The Knowledge Centre for Agriculture. The VFL is subdivided into a number of main departments counting: Business Development, Crop Production, Danish Cattle Federation, Knowledge Centre for Pig Production, Organic Farming, Planning & Environment, Economics and Law, Web and ICT as well as departments for Poultry, Fur Animals, Horse, Horticultural Advisory Services and International Projects. Training of professional advisors and of agricultural teachers is organized by the DLBR Academy at the National Center.
Within EU SEGES P/S has the status of Mandated Body to undertake several activities which, in most countries, typically would be handled within the central administration. Examples are the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) holding 80% of Danish farmers' account data; The animal identification and herd registration and the National Livestock Database and The National Field Record database.
Crop Production is the major Department at the Knowledge Centre and its most important tasks is to keep advisers at the local advisory centers up to date with the latest knowledge on field operations and environmental demands.
Participant role in the project: SEGES will perform four field trials in WP 8 Task 8.3.with test of bio-char for a three year period. The trial will be established in four individual fields with different soil types. One amount of bio-char will be tested and compared with a zero treatment and treatment with compost. The effect on yield, quality and nitrogen utilization will we tested for a three year period. The field trials will also be the basis for measuring effect on Green House Gases. The project will benefit from this activity because it will be performed within the 1971 established Danish test framework called the National Field Trials (Landsforsoegene) responsible for more than 1.000 field trials yearly concerning all kinds of aspects in crop production.
SEGES will also perform the dissemination of project (in WP 10) results and learning in Denmark and in cooperation with project partners organize the overall framework for dissemination and information activities of the whole project directly to the European farmers and stakeholders. In this respect the project will benefit from the specialization of SEGES within knowledge transfer directly to the farmer end user. Finally the end user acceptance survey for farmers will be developed and managed by the Development Department of SEGES offering its expertise and experiences with user interest survey in relation to farmers.
