About the project

 

iNnovative decision-making tool for defining the most sUitable manure management sTRategies to achieve a sustaInable livestock farming sysTem durIng the whole ValuE chain
OUR GOALS

A little bit of Backgroung

European policies, based on Europe’s Green Deal, aim at a sustainable agricultural system that combines environmental, economic, and social approaches. Among the different agricultural sectors, livestock plays an essential role in the supply of global food: 34 % of the protein consumed comes from meat, eggs, and milk; 40 % of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) is related to livestock; livestock farming represents 40 % of the total agricultural activity in Europe.

However, there are increasing concerns of livestock farming’s contribution to environmental pollution. It is a major source of air, soil, and water contaminants, being responsible for 12-17 % of the EU’s total greenhouse (GHG) emissions, and a key driver of biodiversity loss in Europe.

Without forgetting soil and water contamination caused by hazardous manure chemicals and biological pollutants like heavy metals, antibiotic residues, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARBs) and genes (ARGs), and livestock-associated pathogens. One of the areas of greatest concern is manure management and the lack of specific measures and policies. In this context, extensive effort has been carried out for years by governments and researchers to assess the detrimental effects of farming systems and to develop abatement methods to be implemented. However, despite major advancements, success in protecting the environment is still questioned and many fundamental issues are beyond the scope of existing legislation.

Our Aims

NUTRITIVE project will address existing gaps translating current challenges associated with manure management into policy recommendations and technical guidelines towards the implementation of sustainable and cost-effective ad hoc solutions for livestock farming systems.

The main objective of NUTRITIVE is to develop a decision-making tool (DSS, decision support system) able to define the most efficient and sustainable manure management strategy for a given livestock farm. Based on three pillars (environmental, economic, and social) it will limit manure air emissions as well as soil and water contaminants. This will allow for the formulation of technical guidelines and recommendations that will support policy makers with enhanced knowledge to establish requirements for future European policies. 

KO#1

To create an up-to-date inventory including available and experimental solutions covering the entire manure management chain and considering different types of livestock across European regions.

KO#2

To investigate circular, innovative, and cost-effective solutions to reduce GHG emissions, and air, water and soil pollutants produced by livestock manure management throughout its chain.

KO#3

Optimize management strategies to achieve highest efficiencies with lowest environmental emissions; simulating the biological activity of the bioprocesses and the transport and persistence of manure-derived contaminants in air, soil, and water among different climate regions.

KO#4

To assess manure management across all areas of sustainability (environmental pollution, cost-benefit of practices/technologies, and social acceptance) overcoming the uncertainty of emerging technologies and including time-depending issues.

KO#5

To obtain simplified life cycle assessment (LCA) models that can help non-expert users to easily obtain estimates of environmental impacts to be considered in the decision-making tool.

KO#6

To integrate all the generated knowledge into a decision-making tool (DSS tool).

KO#7

To formulate technical guidelines and recommendations for manure management based on multi-actor approach engagement.

To meet today’s challenges regarding manure use, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of existing mitigation strategies  and assess environmental and socioeconomic impacts along the entire manure management chain.

Work Plan

First, a global data inventory regarding the current full-scale use of available manure management practices in different livestock farming types existent across European climate regions is fundamental (WP1). In addition, the fate, evolution, and persistence of manure-derived pollutants in soil and water bodies needs to be thoroughly quantified, as well as their effects on the loss of native species and harm to biodiversity (WP1, WP2).

Besides, there is an urgent need to investigate, develop, demonstrate, and model innovative, improved, and circular cost-effective management strategies focused on optimizing existent processes effectiveness and reduce impacts (WP2, WP3). Then, once all this information is available, it is needed to improve, update, and adapt existent LCA methodologies and approaches to manure management issues to be able to assess the three sustainability pillars (environmental, economic, and social) (WP3).

Finally, from all this knowledge, a holistic and prospective decision-making tool able to provide, for a given farm and manure characteristics. It will be the result of a joint commitment and collaboration between the scientific community and policymakers, farmers, and other stakeholders.

Together, NUTRITIVE project pretends the development of technical guidelines and recommendations to achieve reduction targets of 2030 and beyond, expand the scope of current legislation and support future agricultural policies at the EU level (WP4).

novel strategies / technologies

Soil&Watter Samples

Livestock farms

Primary producers

Grant agreement No. 10113540

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