AgroInnovationLabs
In the Marginal Field Lab, which is being built on open-cast mine land, soils are heaped up to 6 m high in fields with defined, different stratification in each case. Plant species that are particularly well adapted to the conditions of climate change with heat and drought stress can be cultivated on the areas.
Fertile arable land is limited worldwide and is already being used intensively. Due to the growing world population, the demand for food is increasing, but the demand for plant biomass as a renewable raw material is also increasing. Therefore, land with so-called marginal soils is increasingly being developed for biomass production, which is less suitable for food production due to its inferior quality.
The gravels and sands exposed in the marginal areas of the opencast mines in the Rhenish mining area correspond to such marginal conditions for agriculture. In the Marginal Field Lab research facility, which is unique in the world, research, companies and agriculture can jointly test plants and techniques for biomass production.
More information: BioökonomieREVIER Rheinland
