Circular Economy at agricultural level
Despite the difficult weeks, a lot is happening in the eco-label schools, for example in the HBLFA Raumberg - Gumpenstein, which deals with the circular economy in agriculture.
The award of the Ecolabel for the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein is a reward for living ecology and sustainability. In the course of implementation, it was possible to achieve additional awareness and sensibilisation of environmental issues among the 430 pupils and 90 school staff. In addition to many "smaller" but no less important measures to save resources, there is a research project which is designed in the context of the circular economy.
The CIRCULAR AGRONOMICS (CircAgro) project aims to deepen the understanding of the cycles of basic substances in agriculture in order to reduce environmental impacts at farm level and regional level. At the EU level, currently half of the nitrogen and phosphorus applied annually as mineral fertiliser is obtained from non-renewable sources. These production processes require large amounts of fossil fuels.
The project contributes to anchoring our food production as part of a sustainable circular economy. This is to be achieved by increasing efficiency, recycling and reclaiming key nutrients.
The national part of the international project CircAgro is carried out within the framework of the project "Nutrient flows and environmental impacts of a cycle-bound milk production in an extensive grassland area" (acronym FarmlifeCF) by the working group Eco-Efficiency, headed by Dr. Markus Herndl. In this pilot study the nutrient cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus are investigated and the nutrient losses produced are measured, depending on different feeding strategies. The aim here is to demonstrate a closed-loop economy with the help of extensive farming at local level. Within the framework of this project, a doctoral and bachelor thesis will be commissioned and supervised.
We wish the HBLFA Raumberg – Gumpenstein and the working group Eco-Efficiency many interesting and valuable insights and look forward to the results and the implementation!