Kaunas. Due to lack of time, human or technical capacity, many farmers purchase services to perform some works. Portal manūkis.lt inquired about the offer of soil liming, crop fertilization and spraying services in our country and how much they cost this spring.
The largest offer on the Internet is soil liming services. They are provided not only by agricultural service companies, individuals performing individual activities, but also by some farmers who have invested in the necessary equipment for these works.
Field liming costs from 5 to 10 EUR/t without VAT, the price depends on the rate in tons per hectare and the total amount of lime.
The distance to a specific district is sometimes indicated as one of the factors determining the price.
Entities providing these services can be found using the following keywords: soil liming, lime spreading, lime soils, etc.
Information about the liming services performed can also be found on social networks, for example, on the special social network account “Dirvu kalkinimas”.
After contacting the specified phone number, we learn that the price of the service, which reaches 75 EUR/t, includes the lime itself, its delivery and pouring with special equipment.
According to the interviewee, soils are limed with high-quality dried and ground lime of pure fraction. The service is provided in Žemaitija, according to the interviewee, it is quite in demand and is chosen by farms of various sizes and directions.
Fertilization with organic fertilizers
Some entities providing liming services also perform manure removal. Some calculate the price of these services per ton, others – per cubic meter. In the first case, the price reaches from 5 to 10 EUR/t, in the second – it starts from 3 EUR/m3 without VAT.
According to Eimutis Ramoška, manager of the company “Agrarinės paslaugos”, which has been providing various manure (pig, cattle, bird) and sewage sludge removal services for 20 years, it is a very popular service, especially in autumn, the demand of which is quite stable. Although new customers appear every year, most of them are the same farmers.
“This spring is exceptional, as never before we have a lot of manure shaking, because the autumn was wet and after the corn, many did not fertilize with organic fertilizers, not wanting to trample the fields. We are also hired by companies, even though they themselves have bought modern manure shakers, but during the working year, when many field works attack at the same time, they simply cannot keep up with their people and equipment. So their equipment is lined up, and we provide the service”, says E. Ramoška.
According to his calculations, this spring alone, the company shed about 12 thousand. m3 of manure, which is almost half of the annual amount of manure, which usually amounts to about 30 thousand m3.
Members of the cooperative of agricultural service providers “Agrorangovai” also provide services for liming soils and fertilizing fields with organic fertilizers. According to Andrias Gurklis, the head of the cooperative, shaking cattle manure costs around 6 EUR/t, and bird manure and lime – 7-8 EUR/t, because it is applied at lower rates and requires longer driving time.
This year, a company providing slurry application services joined the ranks of the cooperative. Although the price of this service is influenced by many variables, on average it reaches 3-4.5 EUR/year3including transport from the lagoon or reservoir to the field and incorporation.
“We have the most work and preparation in lime mixing, but when we get up to speed, after assessing the need, I think that the demand for slurry application should overtake liming”, predicts A. Gurklys. According to him, the rather large scope of these works is influenced by the fact that lime and bird manure shaking, as well as slurry application services are provided not only in all of Lithuania, but also in Latvia.
Spreading mineral fertilizers and spraying crops
On the Internet and social networks, it was possible to find quite a few entities providing mineral fertilizer spreading and crop spraying services.
For example, although the Sejico website advertises the services of spreading mineral fertilizers, as well as spreading lime, bird, cow manure or compost, but after contacting its director, we found out that such services were not provided this spring, so we could not find out the prices.
And here is one advertisement page announcing the various agricultural services provided, including the spreading and spraying of mineral fertilizers. It is written that spreading mineral fertilizers according to the map 24-36 m costs 10 EUR/ha, spraying with 30 m working width beams and navigation – 12 EUR/ha, with a self-propelled 30 m sprayer and navigation – 15 EUR/ha.
According to the head of “Agrorangovai” A. Gurklis, the mineral fertilizer spreading service provided by the members of the cooperative costs 15 EUR/ha without VAT, spraying with a self-propelled sprayer – from 18 to 30 EUR/ha.
“The price of the service is determined by several factors. You have to pay more if you work on a smaller area and there is a higher risk of non-payment, which is especially relevant now. The first signs of insolvency are failure to pay the advance payment”, A. Gurklys draws attention to the settlement problem.
According to him, the demand for spraying services is most increased by farms that have switched from organic farming to chemical farming and do not yet have their own equipment, or farms that cannot complete all the work at the optimal time. By the way, this service is mainly provided locally, around the places where the companies that bought the sprayers are located.
By the way, fuel is usually not included in the prices of all agricultural services – it is provided by the customer of the service – the farmer. The price is also often quoted without VAT.
***
Last year, the service of dislodging organic fertilizers cost an average of 53.8 EUR/ha. Some providers of mechanized agricultural services asked from 5 to 9 EUR for a ton of shaken organic fertilizers (fuel for the recipient of the service). Slurry irrigation cost an average of 35.7 EUR/ha.
Buying a service to fertilize an area of one hectare with mineral fertilizers cost an average of 9.3 EUR (varied from 6 to 12 EUR/ha).
Pesticide spraying resulted in an average of 11.9 EUR/ha (10–15 EUR/ha). Summarized prices of mechanized agricultural services in 2023 available at the Agricultural Data Center.
Author: Gitana Kemežienė
