Soil-less farming scheme

Duration:

October 2019 / October 2020

Summary:

Soil-less farming is one of the most promising solutions to increase food production, while limiting arable land and agriculture’s impacts on climate and biodiversity. However, today’s soil-less farming technologies (e.g. photosynthetic microorganisms cultivation or hydroponic farming) still fully rely on the use of mineral fertilizers derived from primary non-renewable resources. Natural soils, instead, are the most efficient circular-economy actors: communities of microorganisms ‘regenerate’ organic residues by oxidizing organic compounds and releasing mineral forms of nutrients, turning them available for plants growth. A biomimetic approach to reproduce this function in soil-less farming would limit their reliance on primary sources of mineral fertilizers.

This project proposes an innovative concept of artificial soil, based on stimulating microbial oxidation towards the mineralization of organic compounds, using bio-electrochemically active materials.

Partners

Algaria
www.spireat.it

Sunspring Srl
www.agricolamoderna.com

Atria innovation S.L.
www.atriainnovation.com

Learn more: www.vidaproject.eu I info [at] vidaproject.eu (   info[at]vidaproject[dot]eu   ) I Follow us: @h2020vida

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, under Grant Agreement nº 777795.

Disclaimer: The content of this document represents the view of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility: it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-size Enterprises (EASME). The European Commission and the Agency do not accept responsibility for the use that may be made of the information it contains.