Aina Calafat, international coordinator of the Spanish Society of Organic Agriculture and Agroecology (SEAE) and the organisation’s representative in this project, will be the ambassador for LIFE AgroPaper® during BIOFACH – VIVANESS, the world’s largest trade fair for organic food, BIOFACH, and VIVANESS, the international trade fair for natural and organic personal care, which will be held in Nuremberg from 14 to 17 February 2023. There are 2,765 exhibitors – including 222 at VIVANESS – from 95 countries with a wide range of products that are also showcased on the event’s digital platform.
Calafat has scheduled several exhibitor visits and presentations to raise awareness of the LIFE AgroPaper® project and share progress to date. LIFE AgroPaper® is a European project aimed at replacing the plastic mulches used in agriculture with biodegradable and compostable paper mulches. The initiative aims to demonstrate that paper mulch is a solution for farmers wishing to practise sustainable, environmentally-friendly agriculture.
SEAE is taking part in this project to study how the use of AgroPaper® mulch film influences or could influence current and future legislation on organic production.
LIFE AgroPaper consortium
The partner entities with which SEAE is involved are :
– Smurfit Kappa, the project coordinator, which is responsible for ensuring that the validation of the AgroPaper® product runs smoothly.
– The AN Group is a benchmark in the cultivation of cereals, fruit and vegetables, as well as in the poultry sector. AN is involved in the testing and validation of paper mulch on crops.
– Florette, one of Spain’s leading manufacturers and distributors of ready-to-eat fresh vegetables. It is carrying out paper mulch trials in Navarre and Murcia.
– Floréale, the Agrial group, one of France’s leading agricultural and agri-food cooperative groups, is also carrying out demonstration and validation trials using paper mulch on crops.
– The Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CEBAS), part of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), is evaluating the fertility of the soils tested, from an agronomic and environmental point of view, as well as the effectiveness of Agropaper® in terms of the yield of each of the crops tested compared with conventional mulching.
LIFE AgroPaper®, “Towards to zero plastic soil management agricultural practices”, receives financial support from the European Union’s LIFE programme under reference: LIFE 19 ENV/ES/000404.
