Baltic Impulse 2 nd workshop in Berlin

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Barbara King
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1 Name of the document 1 (5) Baltic Impulse 2 nd workshop in Berlin Notes from the discussions in relation to the texts for synthesis report with a working title Sustainable resource management for a healthy Baltic Sea Group 1: Farm-based management of nutrients General discussion about the structure of the synthesis report The structure and the headlines of the synthesis report were discussed and following suggestion was presented (points made in the joint final discussion added): Introduction/Situation analysis (BS state, main problems, why cluster and what are the main problems we attend) Nutrient management and bio-based society o nutrient recycling o bioenergy o agricultural system management Public management ( material from the other group) o Critical issues and technical solutions for water management management of contaminated sediments management of sludge Cohiba output o Good governance and Stakeholder participation to water management towards sustainable waste water management Overall policy recommendations o policy o research Mapping resources/energy resources from agriculture and other fractions of society Mapping is different in every country, talking about both food waste and industrial waste is difficult, the term mapping might not be the best one. Statistics of the sewage sludge spreading is available. Reporting is done by the countries. However, the content of the sewage is not known (bacteria, biosecurity etc. ) There are differences between nations on how the data is collected and how it is submitted to EU. Sludge treatment is different in every country. As sludge and fertilizer recommendation are made at the moment, this is good time to try to influence.

2 2 (5) Sludge directive in EU is politically sensitive, and countries have very different opinions. Fertilizer recommendations will probably include manure, but not sewage sludge. Sewage sludge may not be included as a resource. The issue of biosecurity need to be discussed. Apart from the discussion of whether sludge is resource or not is the important question: what are the best available technologies to keep the nutrients and not to let them leach to waters. Farmers viewpoint need to be considered, too. Suggestions for recommendations: - mapping resources in each country should be a future action - treated sludge should be used in suitable places in agriculture - Sewage sludge should be used for energy production. Identification of P risk areas Mapping resources and P risk areas are very close topics. High risk areas are mapped in order to get the best efficiency for environmental measures. Erosion problem is acentral question related risk areas. Data on fields with high P value are not readily available. The data can be owned by farmer, and thus private, or data is collected with different methods in different countries. Even the less detailed data can be used and the maps created from those. The stakeholders could then comment on them. The idea is to present the location of high risk areas, so that spreading fertilizers on them is avoided. High animal density can be in relation to high soil P status, as the economically viable distance to transport the manure is so short. Specific crops can also be connected to high P status. More evidence is needed for these relations. Research recommendation: - testing the connection of high animal density and P status with different data from different countries. Farm practices measures to reduce plant nutrients losses

3 3 (5) Most prioritized agri-environmental measures are in use in different countries. The legislation is the same but implementation varies in different countries. Animal feeding is often not regarded as a measure. However, right amount and right content is important from environmental view. Animal feeding should also be a measure as if animals are fed in a non-efficient way, there will be need to use more land to provide food for animals and more manure is produced. Optimization of nutrient efficiency is an underestimated measure at the moment. Good and effective measures are different in different countries. Some measures have value to number of countries but not to all. Both traditional and innovative measures should be used. More prioritized measures should be pointed out. The crucial question is how the legislation should be developed or implemented. However, legislation is not enough, there has to be enforcement/following up on implementation. Suggestion for recommendations: - improving enforcement of prioritized measures - optimizing nutrient efficiency Manure management on farms This text could be combined with the Farming Practices. As the writers of this paper were not present, it was not discussed in detail. Sustainable resource management Carbon based society/fossil free society is introduced in the paper but not dealt with. Main question is how to manage nutrients in the farm level. Some measures are easy, but some can be very expensive. The figure in the text is recently published data from Denmark. It shows that the biogas production could be tripled. Similar overview could be done in other countries too. There can be other sources of bioenergy that are not yet fully utilized, such are i.e. straw, slaughterhouse remnants etc. Residues from the biogas process should be addressed. How can residues be used in the agriculture? This question has been widely discussed in Germany, but not seen so difficult in Denmark and Sweden as in there no signs of problems has been seen from using the bioenergy residues. Re-distribution of manure P according to plant need and challenges around BSR

4 4 (5) This text could be combined to the text Identification of P risk areas. The text was not further discussed as the authors were not present. Farmer participation: advisory system The soil quality is the main factor when looking at the nutrient leaching from the farms. However, even though the analyzing system does not give complete picture, there is a lot of knowledge on the agricultural impact. Farmers feel that the background loading is not adequately taken into account. As there are such opposing views, the trust is the key issue in the farm advisory system. The advisors need to have good personal skills when they visit farms, and take up the subject. Suggestion for recommendation: - as there need to be bigger selection of agri-environmental measures to fit the different requirements for different farms, strengthening the advisory systems in the BSR level is a must. Ecological recycling agriculture ERA farming has many positive dimensions: aspects to eutrophication, rural development etc. However, the concept of Ecological recycling agriculture or ERA is not well known, as it is quite different than mainstream farming. As there is a generation change going on inside the agricultural sector, there is also a possibility to chance the farming system. The farmers are building up the market locally. In the big market the production is anonymous, the customer can t see where and how the product is produced. Thus the consumer engagement is not possible. Suggestion for recommendation: - more transparent link between production, market and customer Towards sustainable wastewater management Regulatory framework is needed. There are differences between EU directives and HELCOM recommendations. However, countries interpret them differently. A big question is who is responsible for waste water treatment. If there are big industries in the municipality, is it still municipal responsibility?

5 5 (5) Municipalities need support. Knowledge transfer is one way to develop the processes. There are good experiences coming i.e. from Sweden and Germany. There is also need for more financing, municipalities or any other actors - can t afford big treatment plants alone. The cost from the waste water handling can be divided to two parts, one half is clean water and the other half comes from handling the slurry. These two parts go hand in hand, so they should be treated together. This concern is directed very differently in different countries. Management of sludge involving re-use The text present the systemic change that is needed to solve the nutrient recycling issue. There is a list of innovative technologies. Sorting the sludge at the source could be added. The idea of payment logic could be added. Nowadays we can choose energy by the production method, i.e wind energy vs. nuclear energy. The price can be different, but the decision has been given to the customer. We could introduce the same for the water. If one wants to pay for better sludge management There needs to be PPP models and the experiences from them should be transferred to other BSR countries. Suggestions for recommendations: - new business models need to be supported, not discouraged by regulations. The end

MANURE STANDARDS Summary of project application

MANURE STANDARDS Summary of project application Sari Luostarinen Principle research scientist, PhD, Adjunct prof. Schedule of funding decisions and project, if accepted Application was submitted in January