The project's responseThe mission of the FERTIMANURE project is to provide innovative solutions (technology, end-products, and business models) that solve real issues, ie the manure challenge, and help farmers with the challenges that they are currently facing. FERTIMANURE will develop, integrate, test and validate innovative nutrient management strategies so as to efficiently recover and reuse nutrients and other products with agronomic value from manure, to ultimately obtain reliable and safe fertilisers that can compete in the EU fertiliser market.
FERTIMANURE focuses on “how to improve the agronomic use of recycled nutrients from livestock manure” to reconnect nutrient flows between crop production and the rearing of livestock.
The FERTIMANURE project will cover both technological and nutrient management approaches :
The technological side will be addressed with the implementation of 5 innovative & integrated on-farm experimental pilots for nutrient recovery in the most relevant European countries in terms of livestock production (Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands), whereas nutrient management will be addressed through 3 different strategies adapted to mixed and specialised farming systems:
Strategy #1 with on-farm production and use of bio-based fertilisers (BBF)(1) ,
Strategy #2 with on-farm BBF production and centralised tailor-made fertilisers (TMF)(2) production, and
Strategy #3 with on-farm TMF production and use.
(1) Definition of Bio-based fertilisers (BBFs): Bio-based fertilisers (BBFs) are fertilising products or a component to be used in the production of (Tailor-Made) Fertilisers that are derived from biomass-related resources.
The BBFs of FERTIMANURE are “obtained through a physical, thermal/thermo-chemical, chemical, and/or biological processes for the treatment of manure or digestate that result into a change in composition due to a change in concentration of nutrients and their ratios compared to the input material(s) in order to get better marketable products providing farmers with nutrients of sufficient quality”.
However, just separation of manure in a solid and liquid fraction (as first processing step) is excluded. These products are not conceived as a BBF, although they are valuable sources to supply nutrients on agricultural land.
(2) Definition of Tailor-Made Fertilisers (TMFs): A tailor-made fertiliser (TMF) is a customized fertiliser that meets with the nutrient requirements of a specific crop by taking into account the soil type, soil fertility status, and growing conditions and fertilisation practises.
The TMFs obtained in FERTIMANURE are produced from BBFs (produced from manure or digestate and/or other recovered fertilising products that are available) and/or mineral fertilisers (MF) (and/or biostimulants).
Fully crop specific TMFs can be defined and centrally produced assuming e.g. a sufficient nutrient status of a soil type and no additional fertilisation practice.
However, on farm level the soil-crop requirements will be different due to another nutrient status of the soil and the fact that often manure/digestate will be applied on the fields which has to be taken into account as nutrient supplier. Consequently, the composition of the TMF (combination of BBF and MF) that will be used by the farmer can differ from the one produced in a centralised way.
Expected Impacts :
In the long-term, FERTIMANURE will contribute to the development of new business models that are synergetic with other economic sectors and will, therefore, create wealth and high-quality jobs in rural areas.
