DELIVERABLE REPORT THEME: CIP Eco-Innovation

First Application and market replication projects

Value4Wool "Market umbrella for the utilisation of low grade grease sheep wool as organic

amendment and fertiliser " Grant Agreement Number: ECO/11/304500

Layman report Dissemination Level of Report

PU Public ☒

PP Restricted to other program participants (including the Commission Services) ☐

RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) ☐

CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services) ☐

Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME)

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floraPell®

- The ecological long-term fertilizer from sheep's wool

What is floraPell®?

The floraPell® is a new organic fertiliser, in particular for the organic farming. The

floraPell® sheep wool pellets are made from low grade coarse grease wool or woollen

fleeces, to transform them to a high value organic fertiliser and soil amendment.

Historically, sheep husbandry was a multipurpose rural activity. Sheep give meat, milk and

wool. Sheep can graze over a wide range of mountains, hills or marginal ground, they protect

the landscape and keep the country open, very economically and environmental friendly.

However, with the increasing production of fabrics from artificial fibres and a high increase of

imported raw wool from Australia and Africa resulted in low demands for coarse wool in

Europe. In the last years, sheap shearing was sometimes only an animal welfare activity with

no profit for the farmer. As a consequence, the development of new products like floraPell®

sheep wool fertilizer pellets from raw coarse or dirty wool might lead to a win-win scenario

for both, sheep farmers and for the transferring companies.

The risk is the acceptance and the trust in the highly regulated producer’s framework for

organic farming. The stringency of these frameworks for different organic labels accepts only

well defined kinds of fertilising and low amounts of additional organic fertiliser, which can be

purchased by the organic producers. Nitrogen is assumed as the most deficient nutrient.

Driven by the price competitiveness nearly no sale can be expected in common agriculture.

The number of organic stakeholders or organic operators in Europe demonstrates the potential

market and big number of market actor. The selling market is much more bigger than the

purchasing one, therefore, implementation and penetration of market of pelletized fertiliser

will be affected by price not by production volume. The prices are not only coupled to the

nitrogen content, but also to the handling behaviour and application parameters. The

competition between food and energy farming force on outcome of fertilising plants as well as

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more and more strict permission procedures for use of industrial organic by- and side products

do.

A sample of floraPell® sheep wool pellets

What are the main features of floraPell®?

The main advantages of floraPell® fertilizer pellets:

• unique ecological fertilizer from the wool of healthy, living sheep

• nitrogen 10 - 12 %, potassium 4 - 6 %: organic NK fertilizer

• no extraneous additives or chemicals

• optimal for vegetables, fruits, ornamental shrubs and trees, pot plants and ornamental plants

• depot fertilizer, one application per season, effect duration: up to 10 months

• very good water reservoir, able to absorb water up to 3.5 times of its weight

• soil loosening by swelling effect

• continuous nutrient delivery and ground moisture keeping

• pH value of approx. 8.8 - remedy against overacidification of the soil

• cool and dry storable at least for 2 years

• in the soil, sheep wool pellets will be completely biodegraded

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Water storage and plant growth support capacity of floraPell® fertilizer pellets

Eco-balance for floraPell® organic fertilizer from sheep’s wool

As an innovative product in the field of biological farming, floraPell® not only meets high

standards of ecological fertilizer, such as a high nutrient content without external additives

and 100% renewable, but also in terms of an environmentally friendly manufacturing process.

The Life Cycle Assessmnet (LCA) of floraPell® was carried out considering CO2 emissions

generated during from the production of wool to transportation to the customer.

Comparison of Global Warming Potential (GWP) of mineral fertilizers and floraPell®

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The result of this comparison is that the sheep wool pellets have far lower environmental

impact in their manufacturing than mineral fertilizers. Thus, the organic fertilizer floraPell®

is not only an alternative marketing opportunity for not salable wool represents, but also

sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to mineral fertilizers.

What plants can make use of floraPell®?

The sheep wool pellets of floraPell® organic fertilizer can be used for gardening of fruit and

ornamental shrubs and trees, for gardening of vegetables as well as for in-door pot plants.

Detailed application notes can be found at http://florapell.de/englisch/application.

The wool pellets can be used as organic fertilizer in horticulture crops. The trials to assess the

efficacy of wool pellets as fertilizer were carried out on the crops processing tomato and

broccoli. The obtained results turn out specially interesting in processing tomato, due to it has

higher fertilizer needs.

After two seasons of trials, it can be conclude that for processing tomato crop the dosage of

2000 kg/ha of wool pellets would be accurate, although a P and K supplementation is

required. In the trials the K needs were met by applying an organic fertilizer 30 % K.

Agronomic and technologic or quality parameters were worked out in the trials. The results

showed that the more N applied, the more total yield obtained. Applying 200 N the net yield

reached 100 t/ha, a very good yield, taking into account it is an organic crop. The health and

the ripening stage of the tomatoes were at the same level of a conventional crop, within the

average values. The quality of the tomatoes was good, as if they were grown under

conventional cropping system.

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Figure 1. Wool pellets applied on the soil.

Figure 2. Processing tomato plants fertilized with wool pellets.

Figure 3. Tomatoes from wool pellets plots.

As for broccoli crop, we would recommend a dosage between 1000 and 1500 kg/ha of wool

pellets, according to the soil characteristics. Applying this dosage it is feasible to obtain an

acceptable net yield with good quality broccoli heads, in terms of weight, firmness and health.

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Figure 4. Broccoli produced using wool pellets as fertilizer.

It is worthy to mention that in the sensorial analysis of processing tomato and broccoli the

panellists evaluated better the samples products from the control treatments (no wool pellets

applied) or the wool pellets treatment at the lowest dosage.

After applying wool pellets as fertilizer the soil was analysed monthly throughout the whole

trial periods to evaluate the soil improving. It seems that the pH increased slightly, reached

values around 7, and the N content also increased but moderately. P and K content kept at the

same level that before wool pellets applying, and eventually K content was higher than at the

beginning, but it is necessary to take into account that K supplementation was applied. The

soil texture kept constant through the two season periods, as it is not a very easy changeable

characteristics. Finally, the total organic matter content increased slightly due to wool pellets

application, which along with the N content increment is a very important news, due to this

fact indicates the soil fertility.

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How can one buy floraPell® sheep wool pellets?

For wholesale purchasera near Dresden, Saxony, factory sales in Lauchhammer might be

the best solution. The retail network is in the state of construction, one can ask for

floraPell® sheep wool pellets at a garden center at one’s convenience. In case there is no

direct sales of floraPell® fertilizer pellets near to one’s place, all floraPell® products can

be ordered in the online shop at http://shop.florapell.de. Delivery is usually within 2 working

days after order completion.

The floraPell® product range

Premium quality is made for the customer.

1. Quality Description:

1.1 physical properties:

- Bulk density:> 650 kg / cbm

- Grain size 8 mm

- free-flowing

1 .

f l o r a P e l l ®

„M ini"

20g

2 .

f l o r a P e l l ®

„Smal l"

100g

3 .

f l o r a P e l l ®

„ C o mp a c t "

4 5 0 g

5 : f loraPel l®

„Stock"

25kg sack

4 .

f l o r a P e l l ®

„ S t o c k"

2 , 5 kg

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Commercial quality is made solely to large farm customers, the product is not approved for

retail stores.

1. Quality Description:

1.1 physical properties:

- Bulk density:> 350 kg / cbm

- Grain size 8 mm

- free-flowing

1.2 composition, nutrient content:

- Unchanged, see Declaration floraPell®, premium

This product is substantive cheaper than premium quality.

Certification

• floraPell was added to the supply material list for organic farming in Germany (FiBL eV)

• floraPell corresponds to the European fertilizer regulations

• certificates under http://florapell.de/englisch/information/certification-trademark-protection.

What is the project Value for Wool?

The Project “Market umbrella for utilisation of low grade grease sheep wool as organic

amendment and fertiliser” promoted within the ECO-innovation programme was developed

by a consortium composed of four partners from different European countries. The main

objectives to achieve in this project were to introduce a new organic fertiliser into the market

and design and implement a new market for this product, based on regional oriented business

The target market for the new fertilisers, consisting of sheep wool, is the European organic

farmers. Whereas the wool needed to manufacture the pelletized fertilisers have to be

purchased to sheep farmers.

The project Value for Wool is a CIP Eco-innovation project, aiming at the support of the new

product floraPell® sheep wool pellets, specifically:

• to introduce a new organic fertiliser into the market, in particular into the organic farming

market, thereby improving low grade coarse grease wool or woollen fleeces to a high value

organic fertiliser and soil amendment;

• to design and implement a new market structure for this product which covers regional

enterprises under a market umbrella for purchasing, producing and selling the fertiliser

commonly but based on regional oriented business to business within relevant European

areas.

The project addresses some relevant topics of European policy in agro-food branch like reuse

of by-products, performance of environmental friendly livestock breeding, protection of

environment and landscape by sheep running as well as strengthening of income in rural

areas.

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The project Value4Wool is launched by a consortium of five European partners from the

countries Austria, Germany, Hungary and Spain.

The figure below describes the structure of the Work Packages (WPs) of the project,

illustrating the connection between the market and the specific tasks, also placing in context

the respective partners responsible for a task.

Value4wool Work Packages

List of participants

Participant name Country Main Role in Consortium (WPs)

ifn Anwenderzentrum GmbH ifn Germany coordinator, technology provider (WP 1, 2, 6)

Centro Tecnologico National

Agroalimentario Extremadura

CTAEX Spain Provider of demonstration and application trials and

knowledge (WP 3, 7)

T&T Technik KFT SZENTES T&T Hungary Manufacturer, pelletizing technology provider

PBI Austria GmbH PBI Austria Trader/supplier for organic agro-food producers

CIVIS-Innovacio GmbH CIVIS Hungary Marketing expert for penetration market (WP 4, 5)

One of the main goals of the project Value4Wool - "Market umbrella for the utilisation of low

grade grease sheep wool as organic amendment and fertiliser" is to establish a “market

umbrella”, a common corporation among the partners, which is able to steer an international

consortium consisting of regional clusters. All these clusters are to be organized around the

product FloraPell® sheep wool pellets, but organizational structure and highlights of these

clusters differ from country to country and from cluster to cluster.

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Where can one participate the project of the

production and sale of floraPell® pellets?

Wool buyers, pellet producers and pellet sellers who are able and willing to cooperate, and

able to speak English/German are welcome to take part production and sale of floraPell®

pellets. In shaping future FloraPell® clusters, especially distributors and producers of similar

products (e.g. garden centres or pellet producers) are addressed, but cooperation with the

associations of organic producers and owners of organic labels are also important. To be

contacted is the project coordinator ifn, based in the Eastern part of Germany, or the project

partners CTAEX in Spain, PBI in Austria or CIVIS in Hungary.

Existing and planned clusters in Germany, Spain and Austria-Hungary