POR Project

RPE Project
Rise Phosphorus Efficiency

Intervention carried out using funding from the Veneto Region POR FESR 2014-2020, Axis 1. Action 1.1.4. Resolution no. 889 of June 13, 2017 – Call for support for projects developed by business aggregations.
The heart of RPE is the design and production of phosphate fertilizers, especially for organic farming, based on simple, non-chemically modified minerals and organic raw materials derived from the valorization of waste from other production chains.
The combination of phosphate rocks and food and animal residues, with specifically selected and studied additives, will lead to an increase in Phosphorus Use Efficiency, which is today universally considered very low and which has required, in recent decades, over-dosage and therefore a significant waste of resources to achieve the production objectives required by the economic viability of agricultural activity.
The keyword will therefore be: increase in P-UE (Phosphorus Use Efficiency).

Action 1.1.1
Researchers Project

“Study of technologies, models and sustainability systems in the agronomic field aimed at the valorization of food by-products in a green circular economy context”

Intervention carried out using funding from the Veneto Region POR FESR 2014-2020, Axis 1. Action 1.1.4. Resolution no. 889 of June 13, 2017 – Call for support for projects developed by business aggregations.
The heart of RPE is the design and production of phosphate fertilizers, especially for organic farming, based on simple, non-chemically modified minerals and organic raw materials derived from the valorization of waste from other production chains.
The combination of phosphate rocks and food and animal residues, with specifically selected and studied additives, will lead to an increase in Phosphorus Use Efficiency, which is today universally considered very low and which has required, in recent decades, over-dosage and therefore a significant waste of resources to achieve the production objectives required by the economic viability of agricultural activity.
The keyword will therefore be: increase in P-UE (Phosphorus Use Efficiency).

Participating entities: Fomet S.p.a.
Approved contribution: €86,506.55.

Action 1.1.2
Innovation Project

“New products with biostimulant action”

Fomet, a leader in the production of organic and organo-mineral fertilizers for organic farming, with a view to providing services to an increasingly specialized agriculture, is undertaking a path of creating claim-specific products—that is, products that are not only useful for fertilization, understood as the supply of simple nutrients, but products that have specific actions on plants, such as effects on flowering, coloring, rooting, etc.

This type of new technical means for agriculture belongs to a new category of products called biostimulants, which is growing increasingly at both national and international market levels.
To intercept these agronomic and market needs, Fomet is creating products with biostimulant action capable of activating plant metabolism, both in terms of production quantity and the profile of the bioactive molecules contained within them.

In particular, the focus of the project, integrated into the conceptual trajectories of smart-agrifood, is the evaluation of the effect of certain liquid formulations on medicinal plants, even in situations of abiotic stress, such as Calendula officinalis L., to verify the potential increase of bioactive phytocompounds, which are interesting from a phytochemical and nutraceutical point of view.

Participating entities: Fomet S.p.a.
Approved contribution: €3,200

Action 1.1.4
Nutrigrano Project

“Creation of new Nutraceutical foods through the development of Innovative fertilizers and the biofortification of Wheat flours” Acronym: NutriGrano
Projects

The project aims to develop high value-added food products starting from a raw material, wheat, enriched with bioactive compounds through a new low-environmental-impact foliar fertilization system, and the subsequent optimization of the production and transformation process to maximize the extraction of these bioactive compounds and increase the healthiness and nutraceutical characteristics throughout the entire supply chain.

The evaluation will be conducted using a target approach on chemical compounds with high nutritional value, in particular the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium. The work will be carried out with a multidisciplinary approach that will involve identifying the wheat varieties best suited for the final purpose and developing a pool of innovative fertilizers aimed at the nutritional improvement of the wheat.

The wheat, grown according to the protocol(s) developed during the project, will be analyzed to verify the achievement of the set objectives. Furthermore, it will be used for the development and optimization of dehulling, fractionation, milling, and stabilization techniques for by-products, which will be based on the possibility of minimizing the portion of the pericarp and aleurone layer of the grain (containing most of the microelements) removed with the bran, followed by industrial scale-up.
The flours obtained in this way will be tested for the production of cereal-based baked goods rich in microelements. The goal is to identify appropriate formulations that enhance their organoleptic qualities and preserve their nutritional characteristics.

Participating entities: Promolog S.r.l. (Lead partner), Fomet S.p.a., Terre del Delta S.c.a. (formerly Delta Mais S.c.a.)
Approved contribution: €181,845.78

Open field plot trial related to the Nutrigrano project at the Fomet SpA Center for Plant Nutrition.

Event related to the Nutrigrano project: from left Alberto Modena (Fomet Spa), Francesca Cobalchin (University of Padua), Ercole Zanellati (Terre del Delta Sca), Francesco Manni (Promolog Srl), Teofilo Vamerali (University of Padua), Mirko Volpato (Grandi Molini Italiani Spa).