SMARTLAND active in pilot wet agriculture

Since last week SMARTLAND is involved in a pilot of Azolla cultivation, as a form of wet agriculture. Azolla or duckweed fern is a particular plant. The floating ferns grow very efficiently on nutrient-rich water, and can serve as life-stock feed, green manure, or bio-fuel, but also as a raw material for nutritional supplements, glue and bioplastics. There are also additional benefits to Azollateelt and wet agriculture in general. It inhibits the subsidence of moorland in the West Netherlands and reduces high emissions of CO2. In addition, wet agriculture is easily combined with water storage for wet and dry periods. SMARTLAND sees the development of wet agriculture as a very important and promising step towards a sustainable delta.