Innovative concepts and technologies for ECOlogically sustainable NUTRIent management in agriculture aiming to prevent, mitigate and eliminate pollution in soils, water and air

Project Information

ECONUTRI

Grant agreement ID: 101081858

DOI

10.3030/101081858

Project closed

EC signature date 29 September 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 30 April 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 5 960 650,54

EU contribution

€ 5 560 916,25

Coordinated by

GEOPONIKO PANEPISTIMION ATHINON
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ECONUTRI (Innovative concepts and technologies for ECOlogically sustainable NUTRIent management in agriculture aiming to prevent, mitigate and eliminate pollution in soils, water and air)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ECONUTRI is an Innovation Action project based on a multi-actor approach which includes scientific experts in public institutions, private companies, farmers’ associations, and reaches out to various stakeholders (with expressed interest).
The aim of ECONUTRI is to optimize and validate at commercial level nutrient management technologies that minimize or even eliminate nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution by limiting N emissions to soil, water and air and P emissions to water resources. Such a challenge follows the EU’s Green Deal having as a target to contribute to reduction of nutrient losses by 50% that can lead to a reduction of at least 20% in fertilizer use up to 2030 to the benefit of the farmers and the environment. ECONUTRI is partnering with six Chinese institutions to complement activities between EU and China and strengthen the scientific and technological ties.
The Challenges
Excessive production of organic biomass waste originating from both animal and plant production, as well as inappropriate fertilisation and farming practices, result in serious environmental impacts. These include overloading of
soils with nutrients, which may result in pollution of groundwater with nitrates and phosphates and eutrophication in surface water, air pollution due to emission of greenhouse gasses (GHG: CO2, N2O, CH4) and ammonia (NH3), rainfall acidification, and unwanted N-deposition in natural environments, harming thereby the whole ecosystem. To mitigate pollution in soils, water and air caused by inappropriate land application of biowaste by and the current fertilisation and irrigation practices, there is an urgent need to apply new agricultural production approaches and innovative technologies for crop management targeting the reduction of inputs as well as circularity of resources. These actions are urgently needed to protect groundwater as a major source of drinking water and prevent pollution of surface waters including seas and oceans while restricting GHG emissions from agriculture and N losses through NH3 volatilization.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Performed activities
Technologies to avoid pollution from biowaste by recycling or nutrient recovery before land application
Technologies to avoid pollution from biowaste by calibrating its nutrient content to use it as fertilizer
Precision fertilization to reduce NO3 leaching, P runoff, and gaseous emissions, based on sensing technologies
Precision manure application to reduce NO3 leaching, P runoff, and gaseous emissions, based on novel machinery adaptations
Precise fertilization to reduce NO3 leaching, P runoff, and gaseous emissions by deploying novel decision support systems
Technologies to maximise recycling of organic mass and utilisation of atmospheric N2 through legumes in organic agriculture
Recycling fertigation effluents to eliminate NO3 and P leaching in soilless crops
Reducing nutrient input through improving nutrient use efficiency
Reducing gaseous emissions by inhibiting nitrification/denitrification through smart additives
Reducing gaseous emissions in barns through nature-based management adaptations
Reducing gaseous emissions through measuring technologies
Environmental and socioeconomic assessment of the innovative technologies deployed by ECONUTRI
Main achievements
ECONUTRI will optimize, validate, and demonstrate in operational environment nature-based solutions and innovative technologies already developed by partners in previous projects
ECONUTRI will integrate into a holistic concept the selected nature-based solutions and innovative technologies
The nature-based solutions provided by ECONUTRI are aimed at supporting European and Chinese growers to keep their farming operations viable, thus avoiding a transfer of polluting emissions to third countries
ECONUTRI will address organic biomass waste as a source of pollution by nutrients
ECONUTRI will address soil and water pollution by nutrients released from fertilizers in open-field and greenhouses
ECONUTRI will address air pollution due to gaseous emissions from barns, biowaste storage, and agricultural soils.
ECONUTRI will deploy an integrated array of dissemination exploitation and education/training activities to scale up the adoption of the nature-based solutions and technologies across the agri-food sector

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Ambition 1. Reduce within safe ecological boundaries the nutrient losses from manure/slurry and plant residues
Progress beyond the state-of-the-art:
1. Progress in recycling biowaste. 2. Progress in calibration and application of the processed biowaste. 3. Progress in application of circular systems in open-field and greenhouse crops.
Ambition 2. Optimize fertilizer use and maximize nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in conventional and organic open field and greenhouse crops to minimize pollution of ground and surface water resources by leaching of nutrients
Progress beyond the state-of-the-art: The ambition of ECONUTRI is to go beyond the state of the art in fertilization practices by validating and demonstrating in operational environment innovative models and technologies.
Ambition 3. Contribute to reduction of GHG emissions from agriculture in EU and China without impairing the potential of the plant and animal production
Progress beyond the state-of-the-art: ECONUTRI aims to reduce GHG emissions from manure and soil but not enteric emissions.
Ambition 4. Scale up the adoption of the novel technologies optimized and validated during the project and increase awareness across the agri-food sector and the society about the farm to fork strategy of EU towards zero pollution
Progress beyond the state-of-the-art: The ambition of ECONUTRI is to optimize and validate at operational environment innovative technologies that halt nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution and limit N/P emission but are still at the lab level and scale up their adoption in the agri-food sector, thereby providing a decisive push to their transfer from the lab to the industry and the field.

The holistic concept of ECONUTRI