NEWS - 08 February 2024
B-Ferst partners organised and attended a workshop in Huelva to discuss bio-fertilisers and their use in the agricultural field
FERTIBERIA, coordinator of B-Ferst, organised a workshop entitled “Bio-based fertilisers: the role of farmers and the challenges of biowaste management” with members of the International Advisory Board in Huelva, Spain.
B-Ferst partners together with representatives from local agri-food cooperatives, Spanish national ministries and other stakeholders from the agricultural sector discussed B-Ferst outcomes and its implications for the field. The discussion has been divided into two panels, one focused on farmers and another one on bio-waste management.
In particular in the first session, the discussion delved into the importance and relevance of making nutrients more efficient. “We need to reduce import of raw materials and make EU more independent. Even if there are many challenges, this is the way forward to make this industry greener!” says one of the panelists. The role of farmers is central since they can give their feedback and put their expertise into use to improve the solutions proposed. To harness the full potential of such products and solutions, it is indeed important to adopt participatory approaches and involve farmers not as merely adopters of these technologies, but rather as part of the innovation network itself. It has been highlighted that the cooperation with other companies and consumers along the value chain is extremely important to make these innovation successful.
In the second panel, the discussion delved into the challenges of getting all the streams of waste into a circle to contribute to the circular economy. “Our duty is to protect consumers of today and tomorrow, so the new products need to be very high quality and healthy!” says one of the panelists. The financial side is also important, panelists discuss that some incentives would be needed to ensure the success of the transition towards a greener future.
Following the panel discussion, the participants could visit the demo plant that Fertiberia developed in Huelva (cover image). This demo plant covers a pivotal role: it makes nutrients available through a phosphorus recovery process.
The agenda of the workshop can be found here.
More information about the demo plant can be found here.
