Vellsam partners with European Funds to carry out the FERTILIGN Project

What if the waste the countryside generates today could become part of the solution for tomorrow’s crops? That is the question driving FERTILIGN, the project we are working on to make use of agricultural waste and turn it into more sustainable biostimulants and fertilizers.

The challenge: making the most of what we already have

Every season, farming generates a large amount of organic waste that is all too often underused. With pressure on natural resources and growing demands for sustainability, this waste stops being a problem and becomes an opportunity: the chance to close the loop and return to the soil and the plant part of what the field itself produces.

FERTILIGN was born from precisely that idea. Instead of always starting from new raw materials, the project explores how to add value to agricultural waste to develop nutrition and biostimulation solutions with a lower environmental impact.

Circular economy applied to plant nutrition

The underlying goal is twofold. On the one hand, to use available resources more efficiently and move towards a more circular farming model, in which the by-products of one stage feed the next. On the other, to look for solutions that can help improve crop yield and resilience, two increasingly decisive factors in a more demanding climate.

For a company like Vellsam, specialized in bioactive materials, this approach fits naturally with the way we understand agriculture: making use of what nature already offers to support the plant and help it express its full potential.

Behind every solution there is research

Turning a good idea into a product that is useful for growers does not happen overnight. Behind FERTILIGN there is ongoing development, testing and validation work: identifying the most valuable waste streams, transforming them through the right processes and checking under real conditions what they can genuinely contribute to the crop.

It is a path of research and trials in which each step helps fine-tune the next and shows how far the use of these resources can go.

The role of European support

A project this ambitious would not be possible without backing. FERTILIGN is being developed with the support of the European Union through the I3-4-BIOFERTILIZERS project, part of the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) instrument, which promotes cooperation between European regions to advance biofertilizers and move towards a circular bioeconomy.

This support is proving essential to move forward with the development, testing and validation of these new solutions. This funding allows us to keep researching, keep testing and, ultimately, keep moving towards more sustainable, more efficient agriculture that is better prepared for the challenges ahead.

At Vellsam we will keep sharing how FERTILIGN progresses. Because we believe the future of agriculture also lies in giving a second life to what the field already gives us.

Discover how we approach sustainability

FERTILIGN is one more piece of the way we understand agriculture: making use of what nature offers to care for crops and the environment. If you would like to learn how we approach sustainability and responsible plant nutrition, we invite you to visit our sustainability section.

Learn more about our sustainability