Sustainable Silage

As livestock farming has become more effective and intensive, so has the silage production. Current silage production technologies have not studied thoroughly from nutrient leakage point of view, so there is a need to map and address the environmental risks of them. We need to look at the whole chain from growing grass for silage to storing and using it, as well as waste management of used silage plastic.

Farmers need more information and professional expertise about different innovative agri-environmental solutions in silage production. In the cooperation between 3 countries (Estonia, Finland and Latvia), the project tests and introduces to farmers new and innovative agri-environmental methods and farming practices connected to the silage. 

The project plans to:

Conduct silage management analysis on a farm level covering the environmental, economic and quality aspects.
Evaluate and recommend most relevant silage production technologies.
Analyse possible solutions for re-using silage plastic and effluents.
The pilot actions will be implemented in ca 25 pilot farms. As a result, it is expected that ca 20 of them can demonstrate real results in reducing nutrient runoffs from full silage production cycle. By 2025 ca 200 farmers gain new information and knowledge for mitigating the environmental risks from leakage of silage effluents to water bodies.

The project is financed by the INTERREG Central Baltic Programme (Core Porjects).