Optimisation of Manure Use Along the Management Chain to Mitigate GHG Emissions and Minimize Nutrients/contaminants Dispersion in the Environment

In line with the farm to fork strategy, the methane strategy, the EU zero pollution action plan and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the successful proposal will support research and innovation (R&I) to help farm business reduce local and global GHG and ammonia emissions from livestock farming systems. It will contribute to support policy makers with enhanced knowledge to limit emissions and investigate further measures, inter alia under the common agricultural policy, to achieve reduction targets of 2030 and beyond.

The proposed project is expected to contribute to the reduction of the environmental and climate footprint of the livestock farming systems, through a better understanding of i) the potential of scaling up efficient and innovative manure management practices and technologies, and ii) the impact of emission abatement and contaminant reduction measures on health and environment (air, water and soil) safety.

Activities under this topic will contribute to all of the following outcomes:

• Improved cost-effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and atmospheric, air, water and environment pollutants produced by the livestock manure management chain, both in conventional and organic livestock farming.
• Boosted uptake of improved and innovative practices and technologies to optimise manure management (while considering potential trade-offs).
• Improved capacity to better manage manure nutrients, minimizing their losses, increasing circularity and matching demand and supply.
• Policy recommendation on improving manure management to mitigate GHG and ammonia emissions and minimize dispersion of undesirable manure components such as biological and chemical contaminants in the environment.

Agriculture is a sector that significantly contributes to GHG emissions in EU and to air pollution, mainly through ammonia emissions. Reducing the environmental and climate footprint of the livestock farming system is therefore of paramount importance. Several practices and technical measures to limit emissions from manure management are already available. Some other techniques are still considered experimental. Despite major advancements, there is still no widespread application of these practices and further research is needed to assess their socio-economic and environmental impacts. Furthermore, there is the need to do a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of mitigation strategies along the entire manure management chain and to take into account different GHGs and the pollution swapping effect, i.e. decreasing the emission of one GHG that can cause the increase of another one or the increase of the emission of the same GHG at one of the other stages of manure management.

Another important aspect of manure management is to reduce environmental pollution caused among others by ammonia emissions, excess of nitrogen and phosphorus, by nitrate leakages, and by different components of manure, including potential contaminants, on air and water quality, on soil health, on animal health, welfare and productivity and on human health.

Therefore, there is the need to develop further strategies and technologies for livestock farming systems to reduce GHG, ammonia and nitrate emissions from manure through an integrated approach for the management of manure, taking into account all steps: feeding, housing, handling, collection, treatment, storage and application. The following elements should be incorporated:

• Identify and establish inventory of up-to-date manure management practices, technologies and data originating from R&I activities (from feeding to low-emission manure storage and processing, composting, exchange of manure/slurries between livestock and crop farms, manure additives to reduce emissions, etc.) in conventional/intensive, semi-intensive, household and organic livestock farming systems;
• Improve or develop lifecycle assessment methods, models and equipment for the measurement and monitoring of GHG (CH4, N2O), atmospheric and air pollutants (NH3, NOx) at each stage of manure management practices, from feeding to field application;
• Improve knowledge on the fate and persistence in the environment (e.g., water, soil, air) of manure chemicals and biological contaminants, including pathogens antibiotic resistance genes, heavy metals and associated health/environmental risks;
• Demonstrate and test the most efficient strategies and technologies to mitigate GHG emissions and air pollutants from manure at regional/local scale. Activities should take into account relevant practices, strategies and data on GHG, atmospheric and air pollutants mitigation from several livestock farming systems, covering conventional/intensive, semi-intensive, grazing/low input or organic, in different climate/biogeographical regions;
• Cost-benefit assessment of practices/technologies used to mitigate GHG emissions, air pollutants and nitrate emissions from manure, including assessment of pollution swapping effects, trade-offs and co-benefits on animal (e.g., health and welfare, production efficiencies) and environment (e.g., ammonia emissions, nitrate leakage, nitrogen balance and P losses to water);
• Formulate technical guidelines and policy recommendation to enhance the implementation and uptake of methods, technologies or practices to limit emissions and contaminants from manure management.

The proposal should take into account other EU-funded projects, including those funded under the ERA-NETs SusAn^[1] and ERA-GAS^[2]. Proposals should be based on a gap analysis taking into account the existing legislation^[3] and related knowledge.

Proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach’ and ensure adequate involvement of the farming sector, agricultural advisory services, manufacturers, ecology and nature conservation experts, and other relevant actors.

In this topic, the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.

Due to the scope of this topic, international cooperation is strongly encouraged, in particular with China. This topic is within the scope of the Administrative Arrangement between the European Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China on a Co-funding Mechanism for the period 2021-2024 to support collaborative research projects under the Food, Agriculture and Biotechnologies (FAB) and the Climate Change and Biodiversity (CCB) flagship initiatives.

Actions will contribute to implementing the EU-China Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology (FAB) flagship initiative, which aims to ensure sustainability of agri-food systems, catering for the needs of a growing population, the reduction of food and agricultural losses and waste, and the provision of safe and healthy foodstuffs. Interaction with other actions developed under the EU-China Climate Change and Biodiversity (CCB) Research Flagship and the Flagship on Food, Agriculture and Biotechnologies (FAB) is encouraged if relevant.

[1] https://era-susan.eu/.

[2] https://eragas.eu/en/eragas.htm.

[3]Such as Directive 2000/60/EC on the water framework directive; Directive 91/676/EEC on protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources; Directive 2010/75 on Industrial Emissions; Directive 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants.