Imagine replacing the peat in garden pots with recycled food waste and coconut husks mixed with helpful bacteria. It's like giving plants a super-food diet that keeps the earth healthy without digging up ancient bogs. This effort turns agricultural leftovers into high-performance soil boosters for fruits and vegetables.
Commercial growers rely on peat, which is environmentally damaging and increasingly regulated. Additionally, many fertilizers are inefficient, leading to waste and higher costs for farmers.
The project is developing peat-free substrates using agro-food waste and coir, optimized fertilizer formulations, and 5 implementation tools including a Soil Quality Index.
If you are a nursery operator dealing with the high cost or environmental ban of peat — this project developed peat-free substrates that use agro-food by-products and reconditioned coir to maintain crop quality. This allows you to switch to sustainable growing media without losing yield.
If you are a fertilizer producer dealing with low nutrient efficiency — this project developed optimized production processes and innovative formulations to increase the efficacy of fertilizing products. This helps you create a more potent product that requires less volume for the same result.
If you are a waste processor dealing with large volumes of organic by-products — this project developed a way to leverage these leftovers into resources for agricultural production. You can turn a waste stream into a sellable raw material for the soil industry.
Based on available project data, specific pricing is not provided, but the project will carry out economic assessments to demonstrate the sustainability and viability of the peat-free substrates.
The project focuses on optimizing the production process of fertilizing products and leveraging agro-food by-products, suggesting a move toward industrial applicability.
Yes, the project explicitly aims to exploit outcomes, including patents, from related projects such as EXCALIBUR.
The project will deliver five tools to facilitate product registration and support the development of policies for soil-friendly practices.
The project runs from 2024-06-01 to 2027-11-30, with field trials taking place in 4 European regions.
The consortium is well-balanced for commercialization, featuring 20 partners with a strong 35% industry ratio (7 industrial partners). The inclusion of 5 SMEs ensures that the developed tools and substrates are designed for practical market adoption rather than just academic research. The geographical spread across 8 countries (including PL, IT, FR, and UK) provides a diverse testing ground for different soil types and regulatory environments.
Contact the Instytut Ogrodnictwa - Panstwowy Instytut Badawczy in Poland
Contact us to match with the 7 industrial partners for licensing opportunities.
