Soil and land degradation, also covering the problem areas of climate change, represent a continuous threat to agriculture. Currently, the greatest problems faced by sustainable agriculture are the lack of soil organic matter, low nutrient supply, drought stress, deterioration of the mechanical composition and, consequently, a decrease in soil fertility. The main objective of the AGROCOMPOSITE project is to develop site-specific soil improvement technologies applying composite amendments (co-composted biochar and organic wastes) produced from region-specific wastes and by-products. The biochar-compost composites will be suitable for effectively improving low-quality soils and their productivity, focusing on enhancing nutrient availability, water use efficiency, carbon sequestration and improving biodiversity. Primarily, we plan to co-compost biochar and organic wastes (e.g. seaweed, aquaculture waste streams, sewage sludge, organic fraction of municipal solid waste) that are typical of the participant countries and are produced in large quantities, while their utilisation has not been resolved yet. Co-composting these wastes is expected to produce value-added products compared to biochar and compost. The composite products will be tested long-term in scale-up experiments (from pot to field) on particular degraded soils and various cropping systems characteristic of specific climatic zones. The efficiency and feasibility of co-composted soil amendments and technologies will be evaluated from the technological and environmental points of view. Finally, we will apply substance flow analysis, Life Cycle Assessment and Cost Effectiveness Analysis plus Environmental Risk Assessment to assess the technologies’ benefits (and drawbacks). Based on the collaboration, a database will be established aimed at matching certain biochars with organic wastes, with specific low-quality soils and cropping systems to find a technology for efficiently improving soil health.

Partners involved in the Agrocomposite project:

Hungarian partners:

Consortium leader: Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Department of Applied Biotechnology and Food Science, project leader: Dr. Mónika Molnár

Collaborating partner: HUN-REN Agricultural Research Centre, Institute of Soil Science, Lead Researcher: Dr. Márk Rékási, webpage

Norwegian partner:

Partner: NIBIO – Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Lead Researcher: Dr. Éva Farkas, webpage

Swiss partners:

Lead Partner: University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, School of Life Sciences, Institute for Ecopreneurship, Lead Researcher: Thomas Gross, webpage

Collaborating Partner: Agroscope, Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER, Lead Researcher: Iris Wollmann, webpage

Funding: EJP SOIL EU H2020 project (No 862696) international call, project ID: 71

Hungarian research project sponsor: National Research and Development Office, programme 2023-1.2.1-ERA-NET