Good Yield Recycling Fertilizer 3

Good yield recycling fertilizer (HYKERRYS) project (Rural development program 6/2016-5/2019, RAKI program 6/2019-12/2020, Rural development program 1/2021-12/2021) has established a five-year field experiment studying recycled fertilizers to Haltiala, Helsinki in the fall 2016. The aim of the project carried out in cooperation with University of Helsinki Department of Agricultural Sciences, Ruralia institute and three businesses working in the field of nutrient recycling, Soilfood Ltd, Lantmännen Agro Ltd and Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY, is to produce new knowledge about recycled fertilizers and soil amendments originating from different sources in crop production, increase the use of recycled fertilizers in agriculture by improving farmers know-how and knowledge about the subject and reduce prejudgements related to recycled fertilizers. Communication about the project results to target groups is in a key role in the project.

HYKERRYS 3-project will carry out the last growing season of the five-year crop rotation designed for the experimental field and summarize the results from the whole five year study period. After four growing seasons with multiple crops the first results show that recycled fertilizers are comparable with mineral fertilizers in yields and yield quality, if nutrients, especially nitrogen, are given comparable amounts. According to life cycle assessment the amount of greenhouse gases and energy consumption are around half compared to mineral fertilizer. Using recycled fertilizers can also be as cost-effective or even more cost-effective as using mineral fertilization.