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• Spent mushroom compost (SMC) – retrieved added value product closing loop in agricultural production

  185-202

  Agnieszka Jasińska

  Views:

  911

  Worldwide edible mushroom production on agro-industrial residues comprises of more than 11 million tons of fresh mushrooms per year. For 1 kg of mushrooms there is 5 kg of spent mushroom compost (SMC). This enormous amount of waste results in disposal problems. However, SMC is a waste product of the mushroom industry, which contains mycelium and high levels of remnant nutrients such as organic substances (N, P, K). The spent mushroom compost is usually intended for utilization, but there are increasing numbers of experiments focusing on its reuse in agricultural and horticultural production. Recently, the increase of the global environmental consciousness and stringent legislation have focused research towards the application of sustainable and circular processes. Innovative and environmentally friendly systems of utilisation of waste streams have increased interest of the scientific community. Circular economy implies that agricultural waste will be the source for retrieving high value-added compounds. The goal of the present work was to carry out a bibliographic review of the different scenarios, regarding the exploitation of this low cost feedstock with huge potential for valorisation.

• Agri-Environmental Issues in the National Sustainable Development Strategy of the Member States of the Enlarged EU

  346-353

  Andrea Gáthy

  Views:

  75

  In preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg), almost all EU member-states and some accession countries presented their national strategies for sustainable development (NSSD) during the summer of 2002. Along with other countries, Hungary is only now setting up this important document. Everywhere during the last decade, as in the EU countries, the intention was to involve the environmental problems into other political questions (agricultural, energy and transport policy, etc.). Today the strategy-builders have given up the sectoral view because of difficulties and setbacks, and use a view aiming the problem.
  Agri-environmental issues appear as the elements of sustainability in the national strategies. For example, in accordance with the danger of global warming, the emission of green-house gasses of agriculture; in line with eco-efficiency, the production of renewable raw materials and energy sources originating from agriculture, and, in relation to changing lifestyle, food-safety and the future of biological agriculture will be disputed. With this study, I investigate the main characteristics of sustainable development strategies at both the EU level and at the level of the different member states from an agri-environmental point of view.