This practice aims to improve carbon neutrality and reduce the environmental footprint of broiler farming.

To this end, a group of farmers formed a cooperative company (https://www .agrofertil.it/) to collectively process spent litter and produce commercial fertilizers, according to Regulation (EU) 2019/1009. The plant can process up to 30.000 t/year of litter and enables to:

• avoid storage of spent litter on the farm or in the field;
• sanitising the material by pasteurisation with the elimination of pathogenic bacteria, while maintaining the presence of plant growth- promoting rhizobacteria;
• transforming spent litter, rich in quick-release nitrogen in the soil, into a commercial, slow- release nitrogen-rich fertiliser (humus);
• reduce GHG emissions from synthetic fertiliser production;
• reduce the carbon footprint in CO₂-eq per kg of meat produced.