Living Soil in Slovakia

Open innovation arrangement

Slovakia, Živá záhrada, s.r.o. and PedaVita oz
Website: http://www.pedavita.sk ; https://www.zivazahrada.sk

Vision & Objectives

  • The vision is to restore degraded soils in Slovakia and in the region.
  • The main objectives are:
    • To educate farmers, municipalities, law makers, citizens, and children to be part of a change
    • To produce compost of high biological quality suitable to innoculate degraded soils with full local microbial soil biodiversity
    • To research soil biome (diversity and biomass) in the context of plant, animal, human and environmental health
    • To cooperate with like minded people

Activities

  • Laboratory analyses of soil and compost microbiome
  • Composting for high biomass and biodiversity of local beneficial soil microbiome
  • Consulting and soil renewal
  • Research in cooperation with the National Agricultural and Food Centre (NPPC) on composting, renewal of degraded soils and effect on plant micronutrients
  • Citizen science
  • Garden services to local citizens with the aim to create local biocircular economy (full circle from garden services to garden waste collection to composting and back to garden services with applications of compost and compost liquid amendments in the gardens)
  • Education
  • Organising of public events in order to promote knowledge and relationship with living soil (e.g. a concert, art event, regenerative produce market)
  • Policy and advocacy

Production sector

  • Arable farming
  • Horticulture (vegetable, ornamental, fruit)
  • Apiculture
  • Animal husbandry
  • Mixed farming
  • Grassland management
  • Forest management