Project
ECONUTRI: Innovative concepts and technologies for ECOlogically sustainable NUTRIent management in agriculture
The overall goal of ECONUTRI is to optimize and validate nature-based solutions or technologies for nutrient management at farm level that minimize or even eliminate emissions of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to soil, water and atmosphere.
As far as WUR is concerned, the most important activities are the development, optimization and validation of four technologies, partly in concept, partly in working order, but not yet widely applied. The focus of the activities will be on knowledge dissemination and scaling up of the application. This is done by supporting farmers and gardeners, consultants and other stakeholders through implementation, demonstration, training and education activities and associated communication.
The WUR part of the project delivers
- A) a Decision Support System (DSS) for application of organic fertilization and calculation of the mineralization of organic inputs. This is aimed at open cultivation
- B) a DSS for tailoring irrigation to crop needs, aimed at land-based greenhouse crops,
- C) a DSS for drawing up balanced fertilization plans, aimed at organic greenhouse crops,
- D) strategy for maximum reuse of drain water via maximization of the so-called EC space for increasing Na and/or Cl concentrations, aimed at (greenhouse) substrate cultivation
The intended areas of application are (differing per technology) arable farming and open-field vegetable cultivation, and greenhouse horticulture, both soil-based cultivation (including organic cultivation) and substrate cultivation. The implementation of the technologies starts in the first months and is gradually scaled up until the fourth year of the project, with the technologies eventually being adopted by the relevant sectors.