Twente as a testing ground for using Food and Garden Waste as compost in Twente agriculture

All Food and Garden waste from Twente is collected from Twente households, and it is then processed into certified compost by Twence. This certified compost will be used on Twente’s farmland, where food is grown for the people of Twente. “This is how we are trying to close the loop even further”, says Wim de Jong, advisor at Twence.

Fifteen farmers are participating in this experiment. The goal of the experiment, which started last year, is to look at the effect of the certified compost on, for example, the amount of organic content and water retention capacity of the soil. That is also precisely why this region was chosen.

The farmland around Manderveen is also a water extraction area. The land in Manderveen is drier because of this. “We would like to measure the effect of certified compost on the water retention capacity of the soil in this experiment, and how it affects the quality of the groundwater.”

The intention behind using certified compost instead of manure is maintaining the moisture balance in the soil and enabling farmers to increase their production by having healthier soil and crops of better quality.

This experiment will take three years so that everything can be measured properly. This is necessary for eliminating various factors, including the weather. The soil and crop yield are measured every year, supervised by DLV Advies, so that the data can be compared with other studies. The associated legislation and regulations are also being examined during this period. 

The growing demand for increasingly scarce raw materials confronts us with significant social challenges. We must use our recourses more efficiently and focus on the sustainable extraction and processing of raw materials. Only then will Twente remain a pleasant and prosperous region where we can live, work and enjoy ourselves in good health and in a healthy environment. Twente Board stimulates investments into various innovations regarding circular economics. They have taken up the challenge of becoming more sustainable and anticipating the necessary changes, together with companies, governments and educational institutions. Mineral Valley provides innovative solutions regarding healthy soil and manure processing. The Twente Board provides a financial impulse for the testing grounds through its investment programme.