Due to strict environmental regulations, farmers are not allowed to spread all of their manure on their land. At the same time, they use synthetic fertilizers to provide their crops with sufficient nutrients. The result: a growing manure surplus and the loss of valuable nutrients.
Ph.D. researcher Marrit van der Wal is working on a circular solution: a method to separate nitrogen and potassium from manure and make them reusable.
"I'm from Friesland, my father works as a livestock feed trader, and many of my friends and acquaintances are farmers. So I'm very familiar with the challenges they face," Van der Wal explains. When she read the project description, she didn't hesitate for a second. "I even moved to the south of the country for it."
From the very beginning, her goal was clear: through her Ph.D. research, she wants to make a real contribution to solving the current problems in the agricultural sector.