Growing deep-rooted perennial crop attracts the attention of researchers and farmers to address modern agricultural challenges such as improving drought resistance. Alfalfa and intermediate wheatgrass are capable of taking up water to a depth of 2.0 m in the soil. However, understanding the farming context in which such crops would be beneficial remains complex.

Deep roots have become a hot topic in agricultural science. That is due to the fact that they allow the crop to exploit unused nutrients and water from the deep soil layers thereby increasing the sustainability of agriculture. However, most of the current agricultural cropping systems cannot utilize deep soil resources efficiently. The main limitation is the rooting depth, which it too shallow to access what subsoil has to offer. Intercropping is a one way to enhance the deep root growth of agricultural crops.

Eusun Han joined the Deep Frontier project in 2016 at its very initial phase, mainly to work in the field trial called DeepRootLab (DRL). Before that Eusun obtained his Ph.D degree from University of Bonn, Germany, studying on root growth in the subsoil under varying soil structural conditions. His main task in the Deep Frontier project has been developing the field facility and methods for quantification of root growth and function. To that end, the ingrowth-cores method and an AI-software were newly created to investigate deep roots’ function at unprecedent scales.

The demand for organic fruit and vegetables is growing significantly, but updated knowledge is needed about the climate impact of production of organic vegetables. For organic vegetables grown and harvested in greenhouses, there is another challenge. New EU regulation means that in the future, production must take place in open systems, i.e. with direct access to soil. The question is how this will influence the carbon footprint - and the leaching of nutrients to the environment? Researchers from AU, in collaboration with the industry, are looking into these questions within the framework of the ClimateVeg project.

Studies indicate that catch crop mixtures with legumes increase nitrogen and carbon supply for the benefit of both soil fertility and the climate

This fall Denmark's first farm for biorefining of grass was inaugurated at Ausumgaard. Among the guests present was the former Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Mogens Jensen, and in his opening speech he emphasized how grass is one of the sustainable, locally produced alternative protein sources, which could help reduce the amounts of imported soya - but how did the green adventure really start?

Efficiently recovered, sulfur (S) from the (bio)-gas desulfurization process may be reused as on-farm S fertilizer. Despite some reduction of sulfate and elemental S to sulfide during a storage in untreated and digested manure, the filter products were a valuable source of plant available S.

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The Danish production of organic berries and fruits must not apply chemical crop spray – for that reason the sector lacks effective means to fight pests and plant diseases. If a biological alternative to the chemical substances is to find, the ecologists may stabilize and increase their yields. A new research project will investigate whether wood ants can function as an organic alternative to pesticides.