PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Europe presents areas with high densities of pig farms, which generate large volumes of hard-to-manage manure. Spain and Germany, with 30.1 million pigs and 27.6 million pigs respectively, account for 40 % of EU pig production. Italy, with 8.5 million pigs, is in seventh place. In Spain, the regions of Catalonia and Aragon are the main producers, accounting for more than half of Spain’s pigs. In Italy, 60 % of the country’s pigs are found in Lombardy and Piedmont.
However, there is often a disconnection in terms of management of the manure produced in these regions and its potential use as fertiliser. Productive arable land is often far from pig-raising farms, creating handling difficulties and increasing costs related to the use of manure. The problem also arises in relation to cattle farms.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE AGRICLOSE project tested and demonstrated a set of measures with the potential to improve the links between pig farms and the slurry or digested manure they generate, as well as fruit and arable farms (high yielding irrigated fruit trees and field crops) in the same region. The project involved farmers, consumers, and certification bodies in testing the agronomic and sanitary viability of the measures.
The project followed circular economy principles to ensure the productive reuse of nutrients from manure. Liquid from slurries and manure that has been put through an anaerobic digestion process was added to irrigation water for fruit trees and cereals. Solid manure was used as fertiliser in orchards. Through these approaches, combined with the use of precision agricultural techniques, soil and environmental quality was improved. The project also monitored any impact resulting from the use of such fertilisers on the healthiness of final agricultural products, including in relation to the possible transmission of resistance to antibiotics. The project worked primarily with pig farms, but its outcomes, in principle, could also apply to cattle farms.
RESULTS
The LIFE AGRICLOSE project aimed to provide solutions to improve the connection between livestock farms (pigs and cattle with slurry or digested manure) and agricultural farms (high yielding irrigated fruit trees and field crops) located in the same territory. It tested a set of actions to manage the manure aimed at closing the nutrient cycle. To achieve this, the project demonstrated an efficient and sustainable strategy for farmers, consumers and certification bodies, also validating their agronomic and sanitary viability.
The project reached its objectives. It demonstrated that the sustainable management of livestock manure in agricultural areas with high intensity of livestock farms leads to environmental benefits that materialise in the long term in soil fertility, water and air quality. Furthermore, according to the project results, most of the fertilisation strategies promoted offer lower operating costs (e.g. soil management or mineral fertilisers consumption) and better net profit per ton, despite presenting in some cases lower crop yields than conventional fertilisation strategies.
Dissemination has been one of the project strengths. This is one of the key aspects for the future project success, as the main aim is to promote the project strategies among the agricultural sector, after proving their technical, economic and environmental feasibility.
The beneficiaries also set the grounds for the proper continuation, replication and transfer of the strategies tested, with an ambitious and realistic After-LIFE plan. The coordinating beneficiary is the competent regional authority for the organic fertilisation (manure) in Catalonia (Servei de Sòls i Gestió Mediambiental de la Producció Agrària). Consequently, they are in close contact with the sector and can provide first-hand information to the farmers, becoming the main driver for the successful implementation of the project strategies.
