Nutrients cycling for sustainability

Under climate change, eutrophication and soil degradation conditions, the Baltic Sea region is facing the challenge of recovering and obtaining nutrients. The coastal area of the Baltic Sea is rich in biomass resources (algae, macrophytes and mussel shells), which can be used in agriculture for sustainable food production. It is in light of recent years, the interest in “nutrient circularity”, “closing the nutrient loop” and “circular nutrient solutions” is on the rise. These solutions will prevent fertilizing nutrients from being dissipated in the environment and becoming pollutants. The idea of nutrient cycling involves the application of algae/mussel biomass as fertilizer to the soil and the simultaneous use of gypsum to soil in order to reduce the leaching of nutrients available for assimilation by crops. Fertilizer technologies have increasingly used renewable resources; most manufactured products are still based on mineral deposits. The efficiency of synthetic fertilizer’s use is often 50% with Nitrogen and Phosphorus losses from crop systems polluting the biosphere. To reduce dependency on inorganic fertilizer, organic fertilizer, such as manure, digestate, biochar and crop residues are used as alternatives. The potential benefits of recycling the biomass for agricultural land and soil quality, and crop nutrition in a “cycling manner” could be very good contribution for green and blue technologies as well as circular initiatives in the South Baltic region.