NOVAMONT organized in Novara a joint international symposium Italy-United States on biodegradable mulch films

On June 30^th, NOVAMONT organized at its headquarters in Novara the “Italy-United States International Symposium on biodegradable mulch films” with the scope to outline the state of the art of this application and to facilitate the sharing of information and successful case studies.

The event was part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) project “Performance and Adoptability of Biodegradable Plastic Mulch for Sustainable Specialty Crop Production” which involves three American Universities (Tennessee, Washington and Montana). The goal of the project is to study and evaluate the different characteristics of biodegradable mulch films: field functionality, soil biodegradation, assessment of potential impacts on soils.

The symposium was an important moment of discussion among the delegation of the US universities and experts from all over Europe coming from research centers, universities, industry and trade associations, on the development of the research on biodegradable polymers used in agriculture and on the applications that have been available on the market and are used by farmers.

In Europe, biodegradable mulch films is in fact a well-established application, which has proven to be agronomical and environmentally efficient.
After the symposium, the delegation was be able to see the use of mulch films in MATER-BI by visiting rice and tomato fields in the provinces of Novara and Parma.

The mulch film in MATER-BI proved it can inhibit the growth of weeds and has a good agronomic  yield, as well as ensuring biodegradability in soil thanks to compliance to the main European and international standards.