Nutrient Management: Competence and Practice-Based Research Network

Everyone is pulling in the same direction: In the nationwide project Competence and Practice-Based Research Network for the Further Development of Nutrient Management in Organic Farming (NutriNet), practitioners, advisers and researchers are working together to address the question of how nutrient management in organic farming can be improved. The NutriNet website brings together information on nutrient management in general, as well as results from practice-based trials across the network.

The NutriNet project uses a nationwide competence and practice-based research network to identify successful nutrient management strategies, further develop and test them in practice, and derive concrete recommendations for participating farms. To this end, practice-based research trials are being conducted on a total of 60 organic farms, which are organised into six regional networks across Germany. The regional networks also aim to further develop methods of practice-based research. As part of the project, farm data relevant to nutrient management are collected and analysed. Another key focus of the practice-based research project is to test new trial formats. For this purpose, so-called network trials are conducted with the participating farms. All project activities are accompanied by continuous knowledge transfer aimed at ensuring that existing knowledge is implemented promptly in practice, advisory services and vocational education.