RUSTICA unveils innovative solutions in Vegepolys Valley conference

RUSTICA partner Céline Marjolet from the Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire presented the Rustica project during an online conference in December 2023 with companies and research and technology organizations (RTOs) that are members of the Competitiveness cluster Vegepolys Valley, as part of the event ‘Innovative Plant Production and Processing Solutions for a Successful Environmental Transition’.

The H2020 research project RUSTICA aims to assess the feasibility of creating a regional sector for high-quality bio-based fertilizers from plant organic residues.

Five different technologies (carboxylic acid platform, microbial biomass production, electrodialysis, insect farming, and biochar production) are generating ingredients (microbial biomass, mineral nutrient concentrates, insect biomass, insect excreta, insect chitin, biochar) that will potentially be combined with compost to produce fertilizers tailored to the needs of crops in four European regions (Pays de la Loire in France, Flanders in Belgium, Almeria in Spain, Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy), and one region in Colombia (Valle del Cauca).

The establishment of stakeholder groups in each of these regions enables collaboration on value chains and the development of the most suitable business models for each area. Several non-technical aspects (environmental and social life cycle assessment, legal framework, expected market evolution, etc.) are also being assessed.

The Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire is coordinating this multi-stakeholder effort for the Pays de la Loire region and is conducting field experiments with formulated fertilizers.