Ash4Soil, an innovation project that will use biomass ash and sorghum to achieve a productive soil improvement
With a budget of €600,000 and a subsidy of €575,700.36, 80% co-financed by EAFRD funds, the Ash4Soil project is launched, a supra-autonomous operational group that aims to achieve an improvement in the quality of acidic soils and an increase in productivity in forestry and agricultural plantations through the development and use of an amendment-fertilizer material, called Ash4Soil, obtained from forest biomass and residues of livestock origin.
Spain has approximately 40% of acidic soils with reduced productive potential due to their low pH. For this reason, the use of calcareous amendments is essential to improve the fertility of the soil, always complemented by the addition of fertilizing elements to meet the needs of the crops (mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium).
The whitewashing materials used in Spain come mainly from quarries in the east and south of the peninsula (Tarragona, Barcelona, Almería), whose activity involves a strong environmental impact and requires a large consumption of fossil fuels to be transported to Spanish areas with acidic pH, such as Extremadura, Castile and León and Galicia. The transport of these materials generates important environmental costs that could be solved through the use of by-products rich in calcium available in the area, as is the case with ash, promoting the bioeconomy and the circular economy.
The potential for generating ash of forest origin in Galicia is very high, around 50,000 tonnes per year. It is, therefore, a highly available by-product that could be used as limestone, achieving its revaluation, the reduction of costs and emissions associated with the transport of limestone materials and the development of a new business model based on a product that originates from biomass, thus complying with the objectives of the European circular economy strategy and the bioeconomy.
In this context, the operational group Ash4Soil was born, which aims to evaluate the benefits in terms of agricultural and forestry performance through the use of an amendment-fertilizer (Ash4Soil) for acidic soils made from ashes from the burning of forest by-products in combination with an organic fertilizer of high quality made from slurry obtained from livestock farms in Galicia, Extremadura and Castile and León.
To achieve this goal, a multidisciplinary team was formed coordinated by the Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA), in which the company Greenalia Biomass Power Curtis Teixeiro SLU participate as partners, as a supplier of ash of forest origin, the livestock farms Sociedade Cooperativa A Carqueixa, Agrobarcenilla SL and Almacenes Boina SL, as suppliers of manure and chicken manure and of agricultural trial land where the product will be evaluated, the company SELGA – Compañía Galega de Silvicultores SL, as a supplier of forest demonstration plots where the product will be evaluated, and the company Álvaro Rodríguez Eiras SL (ARESA), which provides commercial circuits already established between all the autonomous communities involved in the project (Galicia, Extremadura and Castile and León).
Ash4Soil will be developed, tested and validated over a period of more than three years, during which the formulation and development of the amendment-fertiliser product will be carried out, based on the physicochemical characterisation and blending of ashes from the burning of forest biomass and livestock waste with fertilising properties (manure/chicken litter). This product will be evaluated in acidic soils to study its potential as a soil conditioner and fertiliser. Using the results obtained, the economic, environmental and social sustainability indicators of the product will be quantified to develop an integrated sustainability indicator, which will be validated by focus groups composed of the main stakeholders from the relevant sectors. Furthermore, trials with the product will be carried out on agricultural land (wheat and cherry) and in forests (broadleaf and coniferous), to validate the amendment-fertiliser product. The final phase of the project will consist of determining the properties and specifications the new product must meet for its marketing in accordance with current regulations and legislation.
With the successful completion of the Ash4Soil project, an amending-fertiliser product for acidic soils will have been achieved, which will promote the circular economy and the sustainability of agricultural and forestry activities by improving productivity, reducing overall costs, and cutting the use of synthetic products, with a consequent reduction in both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. (production and transport), and the valorisation of agricultural and forestry residues, which will facilitate nutrient recycling and contribute to limiting landfill. The results are also in line with the Royal Decree on biofertiliser products.
The Ash4Soil project is part of the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) 2023-2027, financed 80% by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) of the European Union and 20% by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA ). The General Directorate of Rural Development, Innovation and Agro-Food Training (DGDRIFA) is the authority responsible for the application of these aids. Total project budget: €600,000.00. Total subsidy: €575,700.36.
The Ash4Soil operating group is the entity responsible for this content.
