A new technology to restore soil fertility

Land is a finite but also a shrinking resource. More EU land is affected by degradation all the time, and so some ecosystem services are lost. The soil desertification is the extreme form of land degradation and it is characterized by the reduction of soil thickness and fertility. The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate actions. One LIFE+ Environment thematic section supports projects operating in opposing desertification and in recovering soil fertility. The New Life project is funded for testing and using an innovative technology: the reconstitution - patented by the company mcm Ecosistemi. The reconstitution is used to restore a degraded soil of a closed landfill near Piacenza. This technology works on degraded soil through chemical and mechanical actions; it produces a reconstituted soil that has good productive and environmental quality. In the experimental phase of the New Life project it is analyzing - by soil sampling every six months on experimental plots - the evolution of some chemical and physical reconstituted soils parameters. Degraded soils used to make reconstituted soils are different for chemical and / or physical parameters such as texture, structure, hydrological properties, organic carbon content and pH. The results of chemical and physical analysis are presented. These results show the goodness of the technology in producing a soil with improved physical - including porosity, structure and bulk and particle density - and chemical properties - including pH, organic matter, humic and fulvic acids, carbon / nitrogen ratio. Some agronomic comparisons on corn grown on reconstituted and degraded soils showed better production results in reconstituted soils savings in water irrigation and nitrogen fertilization.