Excursions at RAMIRAN 2025​​​​​​​

We proudly present Thursday afternoon (16 October 2025, 13.30-17.00) excursions that will be offered at RAMIRAN 2025. Excursions have a maximum number of participants but will only be organized with sufficient interest. During registration, you can enter your top three preferences. Make sure to wear appropriate clothing and shoes for the outdoors excursions.

Excursion 1 - NPEC phenotyping facility

NPEC is an integrated national facility which facilitates state-of-the-art measurements of plant phenotypes to support research on genotype-phenotype associations. It offers a set of methodologies and protocols which are used to measure plant growth, architecture, and composition. Hereby it helps to develop novel crops and cropping systems necessary for high-quality and sustainable food production in the future. Interested? Get a sneak-peak here and visit the excursion given by drs Rick van Zedde and colleagues. Transport from the venue to the facility will be provided.

Excursion 2 - World soil museum

The collection of the ISRIC World Soil Museum contains over 1100 soil profiles from more than 90 countries in the world, nicely preserved as monoliths. Dr. Chantal Hendriks will guide you through this unique museum, and take you for an insightful walk to visit various soil types near the campus. Walk of 1.5 hours max., no specific shoes required. Transport from the venue to the museum will be provided.

Excursion 3 - Sinderhoeve experimental station

Dr. Ir. Ivo Roessink and colleagues will guide you through the experimental station with experimental ditches, ponds, enclosures, mesocosms, lysimeters, field plots and laboratories for conducting aquatic and terrestrial research. The test facility is used to test the impact of stressors such as pesticide use and climate change on aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, and has been the basis for a large number of scientific publications. Transport from the venue to the experimental station will be provided.

Excursion 4 - Dutch farms and manure processing

This excursion will provide insight in manure valorisation and manure treatment. With a bus, at around 50 km drive from Wageningen, we visit two locations. Dairy farmer Hanenberg-Vogels will show the on-site monodigester and composting / manure drying facility of his farm. Contracter Van Amstel is working on a new large-scale processing facility to convert manure into a solid fraction and mineral concentrates: a RENURE product. Jan Roefs, Director of the Dutch Centre of Expertise for Manure Valorization (NCM), will accompany you and provide more back-ground information during the excursion

Excursion 5 - Boat tour with the 'Blue Beaver' on water quality

In the beautiful rural area around Wageningen flows the river Rhine. This excursion will take you along its banks with a local guide. Besides looking out for beavers and other fauna, we will also look at water quality from different perspectives. We will have an interactive session on the effects of water quality measures and organic manure application on nutrient loads and aquatic ecology. Find more information here, and don’t forget to bring warm clothes and your binoculars. The boat departs at a ~30 minute walk from the venue.

Excursion 6 - Eurofins Agro laboratory

Just a 15-minute walk from the conference venue, Eurofins Agro is a commercial laboratory conducting over 600,000 analyses annually, covering soil, crops, water, compost, and manure. With locations in over 20 countries and its headquarters in Wageningen, Eurofins Agro has been at the forefront of advancing analytical techniques and instruments in agriculture. During this excursion, Arjan Reijneveld and Job Kraaijvanger will showcase the sample intake process and demonstrate both the traditional and cutting-edge analytical tools currently in use.

Excursion 7 - Unifarm experimental fields & AlgaeParc

Wageningen Campus is surrounded by beautiful experimental fields managed by Unifarm. On these fields you will find trials with green manures, insect manures, RENURE products and circular farming. Different researchers will share insights from their trials and you will even have the opportunity to visit Hotel CaliWormia. The tour will also pass by AlgaeParc, a research initiative which bridges fundamental research with practical applications, contributing to a roadmap for industrial algae and cyanobacteria production. This is the perfect opportunity to exchange and learn about the challenges and opportunities of experimental work in different disciplines. Transport from the venue to the experimental fields will be provided.

Excursion 8 - Movie theater

Want to lean back a little bit in the midst of a hectic conference? Come and have a closer look at the world below our feet in the popular documentary ‘Under the mowing field’ (https://www.onderhetmaaiveldfilm.nl/). This movie shows the unseen world of roots, larvae, worms, fungi, bacteria, amoebae and arthropods. Afterwards a -yet to be announced- speaker will share their view on soils and soil life in an interactive session. The theater itself is a real highlight of the conference as well: countless students have celebrated their graduation or defense in the historical Wageningen University building. The theater is a ~10 minute walk from the venue.

Excursion 9 - Human urine valorisation as circular fertiliser

At the sustainable community Arneco in the city of Arnhem, the source separated urine from 15 houses is collected and further processed with nitrification by a bioreactor with bacteria followed by upconcentrating with electrodialysis reversal with membranes. The endproduct is a mineral concentrate that can be used as circular fossil free and save fertiliser in (peri) urban farming. This pilot is part of the public private partnership project KNAP and the products and results regarding the field trial with 14 recovered fertilisers from sanitation, municipal wastewater and agro-food proceswater (sludge) will be presented. Transport by bus from the venue to the facility will be provided.

Excursion 10 - FrieslandCampina Innovation Centre

FrieslandCampina is one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the world, with 14,183 member dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. They supply products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, infant nutrition, desserts, cream and butter products, with branches in 30 countries and export to more than 100 countries worldwide. In this excursion you will have the unique opportunity to visit the Innovation Centre of FrieslandCampina on Wageningen campus, including a large pilot plant, laboratories, innovation kitchen and a bakery. After visiting the innovation centre there will be an interactive session on sustainability in the dairy production chain: from grass to glass.

Excursion 11 - On-farm ammonia and methane measurements

This excursion will take you on a bus ride to a farm where emission of methane and ammonia from an animal housing system are measured in real time. This farm is part of the so called "measurement network" in The Netherlands in which farmers test how potential measures and management decisions impact emissions of ammonia and methane. At the farm a technician will show you how the emissions of ammonia and methane are being monitored continuously with sensors and how the results are verified by sampling air for laboratory analysis.

Excursion 12 - Wageningen Livestock Research: Carus Facility

Carus houses part of WURs Animal Sciences Group facilities dedicated to research on animal behavior, welfare, and nutrition, which supports more sustainable and animal-friendly food production. The group focuses on understanding the interaction between humans and animals and determining optimal feed for various species (varying from dairy cows to insects or incubated eggs). In addition, measurements have been performed on emissions from ensiled feed, soil and manure, and insects as alternative protein sources. On the excursion, we will see unique emission measurement techniques (CO2, CH4 and H2), along with mass balances of weight, production and excretion, to quantify energy and protein metabolism.