The time has come to start using compost for soil, which improves its structure and provides crops with nutrients in an easily assimilated manner. This fertiliser allows plants to have a greater capacity to absorb nutrients “and production will improve in terms of both quantity and quality”, according to David Grande, head of the ABOTRANS plant in Escarabajosa de Cabezas (Segovia), where compost is produced and sold in sacks, big bags and in bulk in pellet or powder form. The company belongs to the BURÉS family group, several generations of which have been working in the growing media, soil, fertilisers and compost sector.

The advantage of fertilisers produced by ABOTRANS compared to animal “waste”-based ones is how the product is delivered in a fully homogeneous form, free from any another type of waste and containing no pathogens or weed seeds. According to David, “compared to traditional manure, Abotrans’s product has already undergone the decomposition process, therefore allowing it to be put on the soil during seeding or a few days before”, rather than months in advance, as needed with manure, in order to be added to the soil.

ABOTRANS produces more than 2,500 tonnes of product every year, which is distributed on high yielding crops throughout Spain. It is used in Castile and León to improve the soils of horticultural regions such as El Carracillo, and has been used for quite some time in vineyards. In any case, Grande recommends using it in rainfed productions on a regular basis, “every three years, for example, to improve the soil profile, which has become deteriorated following decades where animal-based compost has no longer been used”.

Biorcamp Premium, made from sheep manure, is the company’s leading product. This NPK 2-3-4 certified manure for organic farming, owing to its origin, has a high organic matter content “that improves soil properties and favours a higher crop yield.”

Its high concentration of phosphorous and potassium facilitates easy natural crop growth. As recalled from ABOTRANS, these elements are involved in numerous cellular plant processes as well as participating in the decomposition of organic soil matter.

It can be applied as dressing or as deep placement fertiliser, and can also contribute to the soil in a localised manner for woody crops, thanks to its pellet format.

Forton is ABOTRANS’s main new product, produced from plant waste and calf manure. Currently undergoing certification as an organic product, Forton is rich in phosphorous and potassium. All its nitrogen is found in organic form, which facilitates its absorption by the crop.

The advantage of Biorcamp Premium and Forton is their high level of organic animal matter, with a significant percentage of humic acids, which facilitates the exchange of ions in the exchange complex between soil and plant.

They also improve the physical properties of the soil; promoting porosity, aeration and water circulation in clayey soils, while contributing structure for sandy soils.

Environmentally friendly

ABOTRANS’s premium product is organic and more environmentally friendly than other products thanks to how it can give our soil and our crops exactly what they need, “provided that the soil has been analysed”. Thanks to being organic matter, it also enables the unlocking of elements such as phosphorus or potassium that may be retained in the soil.

This year, Grande warned against the temptation of cutting corners when using manure following several scant crop yields. When dealing with this situation, “we must not lose sight of the need for medium-term planning, conducting soil maintenance work every year to ensure that it is ready for both a mediocre or bad year and above all to allow the crop to reach its maximum production whenever there is a good year”.