Agrobiofilm®

In agriculture, there are 545 thousand tonnes of polyethylene-based plastic films (traditional mulch) being used annually, from which over 136 thousand tonnes are applied in the EU and Switzerland soils.

The traditional mulch is useful in the first stages of plant development, because it helps to establish plants therefore accelerating their growth and preventing infesting species from growing but it has several problems.
Most plastics are fossil plastics (polyethylene or PE) that affect the environment when disposed: they are deposited in landfills, abandoned in lands or even burned! Note that these plastics are contaminated with pesticides and other residues and that despite the measures taken by farmers to minimised plastic impact, removing all plastic residues is impossible and their decomposition takes centuries.

After 3 years of research and tests made in collaboration with another industrial SME, Universities, Research Centers and end users, we released Agrobiofilm®, a soil-biodegradable mulch film.

Made from corn starch, vegetable oils and biodegradable polymers, this bioplastic is incorporated into the soil without harming the environment.

Agrobiofilm® was proven to be more efficient than the traditional mulch providing improved performance for a number of crops.
The biodegradable mulch presented no differences in terms of soil preparation and mechanical application. One advantage is the fact that its removal is not required, sparing farmers from doing this while saving costs. This way, the biodegradable mulch must be incorporated in the soil at the end of the crop cycle along with crop waste. After being buried, this mulch will be completely biodegraded and transformed into organic material.

The concept of sustainability has deserved more and more attention from Governments, companies and the general society.

Agriculture is a field that directly depends on and intensively uses natural resources like the soil, water, sun or biodiversity. This way, we believe the use of Agrobiofilm® in this sector promotes sustainability, because the effective use of resources and reduction of their environmental impact is key.

The Agrobiofilm® may appear 2 to 3 times more expensive than the traditional polyethylene mulch, but prices are quite similar when estimations are made by the hectare: there is less Agrobiolfim® applied and its removal involves no time/costs.

For those farmers who are members of Producers Associations there is a co-funding of 52.2% in the price of biodegradable plastic (environmental measures established by the Operational Programmes), which renders this biodegradable film cheaper than polyethylene.

For more information about this product, please visit www.agrobiofilm.eu or contact us directly to the e-mail fleximagination@silvex.pt.