The Eurecat technology centre has started developing new microencapsulation technologies to support sustainable horticultural farming as part of the European SPIN-FERT project with a view to improving soil health and fertility, stepping up agricultural productivity and helping mitigate climate change.
In SPIN-FERT, Eurecat will make progress in “developing plant biostimulants and innovative biodegradable microcapsules containing microbial strains with formulations based on materials suitable for sustainable agricultural practices,” says Magdalena Olkiewicz, a researcher in Eurecat’s Chemical Technology Unit and coordinator of the technology centre’s role in this project.
“Innovative microencapsulation technologies have huge potential for use in organic farming,” points out Bartosz Tylkowski, head of the Microcapsules and Membranes Line in Eurecat’s Chemical Technology Unit.
These innovations will enable SPIN-FERT to “optimise the production process of selected fertiliser products and enhance their formulation with new protocols which ramp up their efficiency and sustainability,” adds Miriam Díaz de los Bernardos, director of Eurecat’s Chemical Technology Unit.
The project will also work on transforming agri-food by-products into valuable composted resources for agricultural production which will help foster peat-free ecological substrates.
To achieve these new substrates, SPIN-FERT will integrate biostimulants and agro-industrial waste to enhance soil fertility employing AI-supported soil assessment tools, lab-on-chip devices, automated image analysis and precision irrigation systems.
SPIN-FERT will thus integrate optimised soil management solutions and improve peat-free substrates to enhance soil health in vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops.
All the project’s innovative products will be validated in field trials in four European regions in France, Italy, Poland and England to demonstrate their sustainability and drive their uptake by industry professionals.
The SPIN-FERT consortium is coordinated by the Polish National Horticultural Research Institute and made up of 20 partners from eight European countries. The project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under the MISSION SOIL call to promote soil-friendly practices in horticulture and alternative growing media.
As part of the SPIN-FERT project, trainee researcher Robert Guiu is working on his doctoral thesis, jointly supervised by Eurecat, Rovira i Virgili University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, on developing sustainable encapsulation technologies for agriculture.
