InnoSoilPhos
Project duration: 01.03.2015- 28.02.2021
Researchers:Kristin Steinfurth, Michael van Laak, Dr. Uwe Buczko
Project partner:
Phosphorus fertilizer has paramount importance for agriculture, and is essential for food security on earth. Global reserves of phosphate rock, which is the main source of P fertilizers, are finite and distributed heterogeneously on earth. Recent estimates predict „peak phosphorus“ – when global demand exceeds production capacity – for about 60-130 years in the future. Thus, optimizing the P supply of the soils can be viewed as an essential challenge for the survival of humankind.
The aim of the project, funded by the Federal ministry for education and research within the framework of the research program „Soil as a sustainable resource for bio-economy (BonaRes)“ is to lay the foundations for a sustainable bio-economy with a reduced dependence from phosphate rocks. Various approaches are utilized in InnoSoilPhos, spanning four different spatial scales from the atomic (molecular), the field and catchment scale up to socioeconomic and political aspects of the phosphorus problem. Researchers from 9 departments in 5 research institutes collaborate in 10 interconnected work packages in order to expand the basic knowledge about P in the soil-plant system and to develop practical solutions.
A twofold strategy is pursued: On one hand, mobilisation of P already present in the soil, i.e., increase of plant availability and minimizing P losses. On the other hand, analysis and enhancement of the effectiveness of fertilizers produced from recycled P by means of alternaive P fertilizers with
