We’ve been busy lately, with the Italian partners at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Piacenza, Italy, doing a fantastic job of hosting the inaugural AgriFoodPlast conference, and then going straight on to host our annual plenary. This gave most of teams from both MINAGRIS, and sister project Papillons, the opportunity to gather together, share our findings and make plans for the year ahead.
Read more: MINAGRIS goes to Italy: the inaugural AgriFoodPlast conference and our annual plenary
New EU legislation passed this week will restrict the use of intentionally added microplastics in products such as toothpastes, laundry detergents, cosmetics, as well as some polymer coated agricultural products like seeds and pesticides. Member states voted in favour of the Commission’s proposed bill to better control the use of microplastics, to lower their risk to the environment. The legislation, previously hit by delays, will target the 42,000 tonnes of microplastics intentionally put into products which ultimately end up in the environment annually. So, what does this mean for agriculture? Read our blog here to find out more.
MINAGRIS partners have hosted a participatory workshop at the scientific conference for organic agriculture farmers, land managers and the scientific community.
Partners involved are working on the assessment of plastic use across Europe and resulting microplastic concentrations in soil (WP3), and the overall sustainability analysis of the impact of microplastics and other stressors on ecosystem services (WP7).
They presented some of our findings so far, and held a series of smaller participatory workshops discussing whether organic agriculture possible without plastic, biodegradable vs. non-biodegradable plastic, and the plastic supply chain in food sector. MINAGRIS project partners Ildko Heim, Joelle Herforth-Rahme, Andreas Fliessbach, Anja Vieweger and Dominika Kundel hosted the event, with a small but very active group of participants, producing valuable insights into these important issues.
Our very own Dr Esperanza Huerta Lwanga presented MINAGRIS at the Plastics Europe annual scientific workshop in Amsterdam on Tuesday. The event fosters dialogue between scientists and industry, bringing together a great variety of expertise to share insights on all things microplastics. Click here for more detail on the event and Plastics Europe's work.
On August 15th, Minagris partner Joelle Herforth-Rahemé of FiBL Research instiute of organic farming presented at the International Symposium on Plant Nutrition Fertilisation and Soil Management in Angers, France. She gave an EPoster flash presentation on Minagris' work surveying micro- and nano-palstics in agricultural soils in Europe. To see the poster, click here.
