Project description
Europe in search for alternative fertilisers
Fertilisers are vital for food production. With more and more farmers deciding to go green, the demand for bio-fertilisers is growing. The EU-funded NOVAFERT project aims to review at least two dozen alternative fertilising products that contain recovered nutrients from different waste streams. It will demonstrate the technical, economic and environmental feasibility and safe use of alternative fertilising products to facilitate the replacement of synthetic and mineral fertilisers. By mapping the alternative fertilisers currently being used across Europe, NOVAFERT will also develop an atlas of the nutrient-oriented living labs. The findings will improve the efficient and safe use of alternative fertilising products and support decision-making on valorisation employed in the recovery of nutrients.
Objective
In line with the Zero Pollution action plan, the “Farm to Fork” strategy and the new Fertilising Product Regulation, NOVAFERT will demonstrate the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility and safe use of a wide portfolio of at least 25 alternative fertilising products, containing recovered nutrients from all 6 different waste streams mentioned in the call, with the goal of facilitating the replacement of synthetic and mineral fertilisers.
NOVAFERT gathers 9 multidisciplinary actors to demonstrate the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility and safe use of alternative fertilising products. The environmental aspect will be covered by developing guidelines and a consensual method for environmental assessment of alternative fertilising products. The economic aspect will be covered by co-creating novel, circular and green business models. As such, NOVAFERT will reduce environmental impacts and external nutrient dependence in agriculture in 6 representative countries from Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern and Central Europe.
NOVAFERT will map existing alternative fertilising products across Europe and develop an Atlas of the nutrient-oriented living labs, and also will support the development of sustainable local value chains. By regionally contextualizing and interlinking all main recovering technologies and products, and technically connecting all value chains and key relevant stakeholders in 7 regional working groups and 7-10 lighthouse demo’s, NOVAFERT will foster the sustainable use and management of alternative fertilizing products in Europe. Moreover, NOVAFERT will develop a portfolio of support policies and legislative instruments suitable for local deployment in the EU regions through 7 specific action plans and 4 policy briefs. Thereby NOVAFERT will bring together the necessary information for efficient and safe utilizing of alternative fertilising products to help decision-making on valorisation employed in nutrient recovery.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
9000 Gent
Belgium