BRANCHES was an H2020 “Coordination Support Action” project, that brought together 12 partners from 5 different countries. The overall objective of BRANCHES was to foster knowledge transfer and innovation in rural areas (agriculture and forestry), enhancing the viability and competitiveness of biomass, and supply chains and promoting innovative technologies, rural bioeconomy solutions and sustainable agricultural and forest management. The Practice Abstract presents the story of a Finnish dairy and food manufacturer that aims to achieve carbon neutral milk production by 2035.
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Agricultural run-off and subsurface drainage tiles transport a significant amount of nitrogen and phosphorus leached after fertilization. alchemia-nova GmbH in collaboration with University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna developed two multi-layer vertical filter systems to address the agricultural run-off issue, which has been installed on the slope of an agricultural field in Mistelbach, Austria. While another multi-layer addressing subsurface drainage water is implemented in Gleisdorf, Austria. The goal is to develop a drainage filter system to retain water and nutrients. Both multi-layer filter systems contain biochar and other substrates with adsorption properties of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus). The filter system can be of practical use if an excess of nutrients being washed out is of concern in the fields of the practitioner by keeping the surrounding waters clean. This approach may result in economic value by re-using the saturated biochar as fertilizer and improving the soil structure, thus increasing long-term soil fertility. Link: https://wateragri.eu/a-bio-inspired-multilayer-drainage-system/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735. FACTSHEET NANOCELLULOSE MEMBRANES FOR NUTRIENT RECOVERY Key information Functionalized nanocellulose membranes can take up nitrate and phosphate. These membranes can be put in a water treatment unit. As the membranes are biobased, degradable materials, they can after use be added to the soil, thus returning the leached nutrients back for their original purpose providing fertilizers (nutrient recycling).
This case study is drafting new legislation that allows renting forestland for multiple purposes in order to increase economic efficiency and maintain a balance between all ecosystem services. This Russian case works on regulation mechanisms so that people renting forestland can use it for multiple purposes, and to include ecosystem services in the Forest Code.