Soil-Concept contributed to the completion of the sub-project report on the production of ash fertilizer from sewage sludge. Furthermore, Soil-Concept contributed to the preparation for the spreading of the ash. Read More
This case study was originally published by the Microbiology Society under the following link: https://microbiologysociety.org/our-work/75th-anniversary-a-sustainable-future/soil-health/soil-health-case-studies/how-renu2farm-is-supporting-soil-health.html. The Microbiology Society is undertaking a project entitled A Sustainable Future as part of our 75th Anniversary, which aims to highlight the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to our members and empower them to use their research to evidence and impact the goals. Earlier this year, we put a call out to our members to submit case studies in the following three areas: antimicrobial resistance, soil health and the circular economy. This case study is written by Dr Achim Schmalenberger, who is a Senior Lecturer and Course Director, and Lea Deinert who is a researcher at the University of Limerick, Ireland. They are both members of the Microbiology Society. It focuses on Soil Health; maintaining the health of our soils has gained increasing prominence in recent years. Soils are essential for the global food system and regulate water, carbon and nitrogen cycles but are put under pressure from population growth and climate change. Read More
With the ReNu2Farm project we aim to make recycling-derived fertilisers and their use more known among farmers. This also implies developing pratical guidelines and recommendations for farmers on how to use these novel fertilisers. Therefore, a handbook of good fertilization practice with recycling-derived fertilisers (RDFs) is currently under development in collaboration of the project partners Arvalis (FR), Inagro (BE) and NMI (NL). Read More
Arvalis’ research team has managed to deal with the restrictive sanitary situation to pursue the two field experiments initiated in 2019. Read More
The amendment to the German Fertilizer Ordinance was adopted at a special meeting of the Federal Council on March 27, 2020. With the introduction of the fertiliser package, especially livestock farms have to adapt. The further tightening of the fertiliser ordinance requires farmers to rethink. Read More
As it happens for the rest of the world, so the ReNu2Farm workers are also very much challenged by the current unprecedented situation. The ReNu2Farm partners at the Institute of Technology Carlow in Ireland were in the middle of collecting results on the project when the public health restrictions were implemented. Luckily, an experiment on possible ecotoxicological effects of the recycling derived fertilisers (RDF) that are the focus of the project, was just completed. Similarly, a major part of the analysis of the results generated from the Irish field trial, where the ecological impacts of RDF on soil bacteria, fungi and nematodes were investigated, was also completed. In IT Carlow, the project partners have undertaken the task to investigate and confirm the ecological and environmental safety of RDF. They do this by observing the effects of RDF on key soil microbiota. Read More
During the growth season of 2019, Inagro tested recycling-derived fertilisers (RDFs) at its field trial in maize in Wingene, Flanders. This year, the field trial continues in spinach. Once again, five RDFs (ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, digestate from co-digestion of pig manure, liquid fraction of separated digestate and pig urine) are being compared with the use of mineral fertiliser CAN, pig manure and a blank treatment. Read More
The Interreg NWE ReNu2Farm project aims at increasing the recycling rates of plant nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). P and K are limited and finite resources, and production of N fertilisers is energy intensive. Despite a number of recovery technologies been at a mature stage, the use of recycling-derived fertiliser (RDF) products by farmers has been limited to date. The aim of ReNu2Farm is to put the farming community at the heart of the research, therefore stakeholder engagement is essential to the success of this project. As part of this stakeholder engagement, the ReNu2Farm team was involved with the anaerobic digestion and digestate demonstration, which took place on March 12th in Cork, Ireland. Read More
After Soil-Concept produced the ash from pure sewage sludge last year, it will now be tested in a field trial. Already last year, tests were carried out in small trials. Read More
In March 2020 two field experiments are laid out for the third and last year within the Netherlands (see pictures). The objective of the field experiments is to explore the effects of differences in organic matter input with animal manure, household waste compost (a recycling-derived fertilizer) and/or verge grass on soil quality (e.g. organic matter content and quality, water holding capacity, etc.), crop yield and N uptake of maize and on the risk of nitrate leaching (determined with nitrate in soil profile after harvest). The field experiments are located on sandy soils in the Province of Gelderland, near Wageningen. One field experiment was located on a sandy soil with a deep groundwater table (> 5 m; no irrigation) and the other one on a sandy soil with shallow groundwater table (> 1 m; with irrigation). Read More
