Success Story

Founded in 2000, Rábapordányi Agricultural Zrt., located in the heart of Rábaköz, covers an area of 1,100 ha. The main profile of the economy is livestock breeding. Bóna Szabolcs farmer started introducing regenerative agriculture practices in part of their territory in 2012, which he learned by watching American video materials. The farm has 82 permanent employees and 3 seasonal workers. The farmer was elected as the Animal Breeder of the Year in 2022.

The main activity of the farm is animal breeding (dairy cattle breeding, pig breeding, pig fattening), their crop production is intended to provide the supply of bulk and fodder for livestock through the production of various arable crops: winter fodder peas, soybeans, wheat, spring barley, silage corn, rye, alfalfa.

On the one hand, they started using regenerative practices in their farm to protect the soil, as it was clear from their soil test results that the humus content of the soil decreased even with organic fertilization. They wanted to reverse this process, and they succeeded! On the other hand, due to the significant increase in cultivation costs. They were looking for ways to reduce costs without a significant decrease in yield.

After legumes in the crop rotation, they try to reduce tillage to zero. Basically, they try to use as little soil disturbance as possible after each plant. They try to provide soil cover for as long as possible, either with mulch or by using cover crops. Cover crops are sown after the summer crops, in front of their spring-sown crops. They are also experimenting with cover crops in front of autumn cornfields of an experimental nature. Termination is carried out in early spring. Rye is sown in the fall, combined with beech, which is harvested as hay, then the area is organically fertilized, which is worked shallowly into the soil and sown with corn. In the year 2022, direct seeding after rye was also tried on an experimental basis, encouraged by the results, in 2023 the entire second sowing was carried out without cultivation, with a direct seeding machine.

Depending on the results, they would like to continue the practices of regenerative agriculture, as Rábapordányi Agricultural Zrt. tries to farm in an environmentally conscious way. It strives to reduce its energy consumption. During its operation, it complies with the legal framework for energy efficiency, which has recently increased in value both from the point of view of environmental protection as well as economics.

An important aspect of their farming is carbon sequestration (increasing the humus content), as they see the only real carbon sequestration activity in crop cultivation with correctly performed tillage.

LABELS: Hungary, livestock, crop-production