FERTINNOWA – Sustainable water use in fertigated crops

FERTINNOWA was a European project that collected information on water use from several EU countries. The project concentrated primarily on horticulture. As a result of the project, a  ‘Fertigation Bible’ was created, which brings all current information on ways to collect, store, clean and recycle water together for farmers to use, for free.

In European countries, the cultivation of fertigated crops experience scarcity of water, and the intensity of cultivation poses significant risks to water quality. The main objective of the FERTINNOWA thematic network is to create a meta-knowledge database on innovative technologies and practices for fertigation of horticultural crops. FERTINNOWA will also build a knowledge exchange platform to evaluate existing and novel technologies (innovation potential, synergies, gaps, barriers) for fertigated crops and ensure wide dissemination to all stakeholders involved of the most promising technologies and best practices.

A multi-actor integrated approach will be used through the FERTINNOWA platform which will involve various stakeholders (researchers, growers, policy-makers, industry, environmental groups etc.) at several levels including the socio-economic and regulatory level (national and European) with a special focus on the EU Water Framework Directive and Nitrate Directive. Information will be gathered at national level to feed a European benchmark study that will evaluate and compare existing technologies used at various horticulture sectors, including vegetables, fruit and ornamentals in different climate zones.

All tools, databases and other resources generated will be shared within the consortium and the stakeholders’ group and will be made available to the broader scientific community, policy-makers, the industry and the public at large. FERTINNOWA will help the growers to implement innovative technologies in order to optimize water and nutrient use efficiency thus reducing the environmental impact.