FERTIMANURE

ABSTRACT

Total farm livestock population in Europe excrete around 1400 Mt of manure annually. More than 90% of manure produced is returned to agricultural fields. However, this is not being done in the most efficient and least leaky way.

FERTIMANURE will develop, integrate, test and validate innovative Nutrient Management Strategies to efficiently recover mineral nutrients and other products with agronomic value from manure, to finally obtain reliable and safe fertilisers that can compete in the EU fertilizers market.

FERTIMANURE focuses on “How to improve the agronomic use of recycled nutrients from livestock manure” to reconnect nutrient flows between plant and livestock production. Nutrient recycling relies not only in the technologies for producing bio-based fertilisers, but also in a better understanding and managing nutrients at the farm. The ambition of FERTIMANURE is to cover both technological approach for nutrient recovery and nutrient management. To this end, the technological approach will be covered by the implementation of 5 innovative & integrated nutrient recovery on-farm experimental pilots in the most relevant European countries in terms of livestock production (Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands), whereas the nutrient management will be addressed through 3 different strategies adapted to mixed and specialised farming systems: (Strategy #1) On-farm production and use of Bio-Based Fertilisers (BBF), (Strategy #2) On-farm BBF production and Centralised Tailor-Made Fertilisers (TMF) production and (Strategy #3) On-farm TMF production and use. A total of 31 marketable end-products (11 BBF & 20 TMF) will be obtained. The agronomic & environmental performance and their potential to replace conventional fertilisers will be assessed. Ultimately, FERTIMANURE seeks to provide an innovative circular economy model to favour rural development in agricultural sector by creating real synergies and links within farmers and other industrial activities.