Sustainable agriculture poses a critical challenge for our future, necessitating innovative and responsible solutions. Circular fertilisers, derived from organic waste or by-products, are emerging as a promising strategy to reintegrate nutrients into the soil in an ecologically sound manner. The FER-PLAY project has made significant strides in this field, overcoming technical, regulatory, and social hurdles to promote the widespread adoption of these fertilisers across Europe. Engaging diverse stakeholders from countries such as Belgium, Spain, Greece, and Italy, this initiative exemplifies collaborative efforts toward sustainable agricultural practices. Results of this multi-topic assessments will be available on 24 September in our website.
Italian research within this initiative underscores the nation’s leadership in embracing alternative fertilisers. Anaerobic digestion technology in Italy plays a pivotal role in enhancing the climate, environmental, and social sustainability of the livestock sector, despite initial challenges in social acceptance. Its by-product, agronomic zootechnical digestate, proves indispensable for crop farming due to its abundance, quality, and cost-effectiveness. This biotechnology not only produces biogas but also offers renewable fertiliser, providing significant environmental benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and soil nitrate levels, along with economic advantages like lower fertilisation costs. Socially, it garners greater consumer acceptance.
From an Italian perspective, agronomic zootechnical digestate emerges as a leading alternative to synthetic fertilisers, promoting agricultural circularity and supporting European goals to reduce waste generation, chemical fertilisation and advance organic agriculture. Its comparable efficacy to chemical fertilisers not only enhances agricultural productivity but also marks a transformative shift toward sustainable livestock development.
Agronomic and Environmental Benefits of Agronomic Zootechnical Digestate
Agronomic zootechnical digestate, contains approximately 8.06% Nitrogen (N), 3.56% Phosphorus (P2O5), and 4.3% Potassium (K2O) per kilogram of solid substance. (Tambone F., Orzi V., D’Imporzano G., Adani F. (2017))
This digestate promotes the natural closure of nutrient cycles based on circular bioeconomic principles, reducing the need for chemical fertilisers, and provides the soils with slow-release nutrients, minimising nitrate leaching and pollution risks to water bodies and reducing climate-altering emissions like nitrous oxide, highlighting its substantial contribution to environmental sustainability.
Other types of digestate may contain a different nutrient level. Find out more in the FER-PLAY circular fertiliser database!
Social Benefits and Acceptance
Socially, agronomic zootechnical digestate enjoys widespread acceptance among Italian farmers. This acceptance primarily stems from the extensive deployment of biogas plants in Italy (over 1700) and familiarity with the initial matrices contributing to the by-product’s composition. Farmers appreciate how agronomic zootechnical digestate not only improves soil fertility and crop health, but also contributes to reducing the overall environmental footprint of agriculture. Furthermore, its use is positively viewed by local communities, who value sustainable and responsible agricultural practices.
Dissemination and Utilisation
The use of digestate is already widely spread in Italy, owing to its capacity to provide essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in forms readily assimilated by plants and in limited quantities. This contributes to long-term soil quality improvement, thereby enhancing crop yields without compromising the health of the surrounding environment due to the leeching of unabsorbed nutrients.
Future Perspectives
Looking ahead, agronomical zootechnical digestate continues to play a pivotal role in promoting more sustainable and resilient agriculture in Italy. Coldiretti and other agricultural organisations remain actively committed to advocating for the adoption and expansion of Agronomical zootechnical digestate use, collaborating with institutions to establish a supportive regulatory framework.
Perspective of Italian Agricultural Enterprises
Through the FER-PLAY project, Coldiretti has fostered co-creation activities that highlight the viewpoint of Italian agricultural enterprises on the shift to circular fertilisers.
These initiatives highlight the importance of these fertilisers in agriculture, especially bio-based ones like those of animal origin, as integral to an ongoing ecological transition process. Italian farmers recognise the imperative of bolstering livestock farming to help the sector reducing its negative impacts and provide an alternative, soil healing fertilisers intensive agriculture, very much needed given the prevalent risk of soil desertification in southern Italy.
The proliferation of anaerobic digestion has facilitated the production of the digestate, a secure source of organic substance from zootechnical effluents, managed judiciously for conservation and optimal application. In addition to on-farm anaerobic digester, opportunities exist to utilise high-quality compost derived from diverse organic matrices and, prospectively, sewage sludge, provided current quality and safety concerns are addressed.
The primary obstacles encountered by farmers in utilising circular fertilisers include the need for more comprehensive information on the positive impacts of these fertilisers compared to synthetic alternatives. It is crucial to provide tools that effectively communicate the benefits of organic fertiliser usage, such as organic certifications and payment for ecosystem services like carbon absorption. To cover this information gap, the FER-PLAY project is working on the “Multi-assessment of impacts, trade-offs and framework conditions”, available in from September 2024 on our website.
Manure-derived digestate faces regulatory hurdles under EU Regulation 2019/1009 due to its classification as animal by-products under Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009. While digestate is already categorised as CMC 5 in the EU Regulation 2019/1009, it does not comply with point 1(c)(iii). This classification limits its recognition as equivalent to conventional fertilisers. Amending these regulations to align manure-derived digestate with EU fertiliser standards is crucial for promoting circular fertiliser market uptake and advancing anaerobic digestion development.
In conclusion,
Agronomical zootechnical digestate exemplifies how innovative agricultural practices can effectively address contemporary environmental and socioeconomic challenges. Its success in Italy not only underscores the agricultural sector’s capacity for adaptation and innovation but also charts a positive course for the future of sustainable agriculture in the country.
