The nutrient management technologies developed by the EU-funded ECONUTRI project are helping to reduce dependence on fertilisers, eliminate groundwater pollution and pave the way for more resilient agricultural systems.
Nutrient pollution is one of the most pressing environmental challenges in agriculture. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus from manure, slurry and inorganic fertilisers cause soil overfertilisation and water and air pollution, contributing to biodiversity loss, eutrophication and climate change. The ECONUTRI project addresses this problem with 24 technologies and nature-based solutions that minimise or even eliminate nitrogen and phosphorus losses from the soil. The results are in line with the European Green Deal's goal of reducing nutrient losses by 50% by 2030.
Curbing nutrient losses
Since its launch in 2022, the project has successfully developed and validated 10 different technologies designed to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus losses from organic biowaste. "A key achievement is the systematic mapping of all critical stages of nutrient losses along the agricultural production and bio-waste management chain, including manure and slurry storage, anaerobic digestion, separation of fermentation residues, composting processes and soil application," explains Dimitrios Savvas, professor at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), which coordinates the project. "With this integrated approach, we are demonstrating that nutrient emissions can be significantly reduced while at the same time nutrients from biomass waste can be recovered, stabilised and upgraded by converting them into agronomically valuable products."
The most important results with regard to the management of biomass produced in livestock housing include the acidification of animal manure with sulphur to reduce ammonia emissions – including a recorded reduction of between 30 and 35% during storage and composting – while at the same time improving nitrogen fixation. High nutrient recovery efficiencies were also achieved through struvite precipitation from the liquid fraction of the natural fermentation residue, particularly for phosphorus and ammonium, with recovery rates of up to 92% for phosphate and 66% for ammonium. Other successes include improved nutrient stabilisation during composting with selected beneficial microbial inoculants and the correction of imbalanced nitrogen/phosphorus ratios in fertilisers derived from biowaste – a critical issue in regions with high livestock densities.
ECONUTRI is developing nine novel technologies to reduce nitrate and phosphorus losses from fertilisers. These include the NUTRISENSE decision support system (DSS) developed by the AUA TEAM, the Veg-Sys DSS developed by the University of Almería, and the virtual lysimeter developed by Wageningen University & Research. The three decision support systems used by ECONUTRI are designed to help farms use data- and sensor-driven nutrient management to apply economically viable and environmentally friendly fertilisation practices for crops grown in soil and without soil. By dynamically adjusting fertiliser use to plant requirements, the three DSSs contributed to a significant reduction in water, nitrogen and phosphorus use in pilot trials, amounting to 45% and 54% respectively for cucumber plants grown in soil and managed using the NUTRISENSE decision support system. In addition, the decision support system improved nitrogen and phosphorus use in soilless cucumber plants by 16 to 21% and 5 to 46% respectively over two consecutive years. Overall, the technologies showed a significant reduction in irrigation and fertiliser use and an increase in water and nutrient efficiency.
Reducing emissions
Eight ECONUTRI instruments and technologies were aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions in livestock housing, slurry stores and fields. In dairy cattle barns, biochar and frequent floor cleaning reduced ammonia emissions, while in pig barns, frequent mucking out of the pit reduced methane emissions. In the storage and composting of manure, treatment with biochar, especially nano-biochar, showed considerable potential for reducing nitrogen losses. In addition, fertiliser alternatives and additives were tested on arable land, in variable cropping systems and in greenhouses, resulting in measurable reductions in ammonia and nitrogen oxide emissions of between 20 and 60%.
ECONUTRI (Innovative concepts and technologies for ECOlogically sustainable NUTRIent management in agriculture aiming to prevent, mitigate and eliminate pollution in SOIL, water and air) is now focusing on integrating the tools into a cohesive nutrient management system and scaling up the technologies for commercial use. "The next step is to make the tools fully available and accessible to farms," explains Savvas. In this way, the project supports reduced dependence on mineral fertilisers and agricultural systems with greater resilience to market fluctuations.
Source: European Commission - CORDIS.
"Novel tech for next-generation green agriculture"
https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/463702-novel-tech-for-next-generation-green-agriculture/de
© European Union, 2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
The role of the ATB
The ATB is responsible for the project component “Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia (NH₃) emissions from dairy cattle barns”. Our goal is to develop practical solutions and test them under real conditions on agricultural farms. The Leibniz Innovation Centre and the cooperation with our partner farm LVAT in Groß Kreutz play a central role in this, where emission reduction measures are tested and measured under normal farming conditions.
The ATB is investigating both the use of additives (News: Simple additive, big impact: Calcium cyanamide significantly reduces methane emissions from manure) – for example, for the chemical stabilisation and pH regulation of liquid manure – as well as management measures and emissions-based monitoring in barns. With the aid of measurement systems, emission reductions are quantified and the effect on greenhouse gases and ammonia is scientifically evaluated. Initial results show that significant emission reductions are possible through targeted additives and adapted farm management, such as more frequent manure removal and a good barn climate.
Publications:
- Umar, W.; Vandenbussche, C.; Dinuccio, E.; Dong, H.; Amon, B.: Acidification of animal slurry in housing and during storage to reduce NH₃ and GHG emissions – recent advancements and future perspectives. Waste Management. (15 July 2025): 114855, 2025
(online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2025.114856 ) - Agency for Renewable Resources (project report, ATB et al.): Development of a process for the targeted reduction of methane emissions in slurry and fermentation residue storage with the possibility of reactivating and maintaining the gas formation potential for biogas production; final report (FKZ 2220WD016A).
ATB - Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (Potsdam): 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2025.
(PDF: https://projekte.fnr.de/index.php?id=18415&fkz=2220WD016A Download final report) - Anestis, V.; Umar, W.; Dragoni, F.; van der Weerden, T.; Hassouna, M.; Noble, A.; Bartzanas, T.; Amon, B.: Mitigation of greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions due to livestock housing management practices: Analysis of the DATAMAN database. Biosystems Engineering. (September 2025): 104260, 2025
(online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1537511025001965?via%3Dihub) - Janke, D.; Bornwin, M.; Coortevis, K.; Hempel, S.; van Overbeke, P.; Demeyer, P.; Rawat, A.; Declerck, A.; Amon, T.; Amon, B.: A low-cost wireless sensor network for barn climate and emission monitoring. Athmosphere. (31 October 2023): 1643, 2023
(online: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/11/1643)