Strengthening NIBIO–CAAS Research Collaboration

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CAAS delegation led by Vice President Liu Xianwu with NIBIO colleagues in front of a NIBIO banner, September 2026

The CAAS delegation with NIBIO colleagues during the visit to NIBIO, September 2026.

It was a pleasure to meet colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) when they came to Norway as part of their Nordic visit from 14–19 September 2026. The itinerary was planned by Research Professors at NIBIO, and I was part of the group that had the opportunity to meet the CAAS delegation, sharing current projects and new avenues of growth.

Led by CAAS Vice President Liu Xianwu, the delegation visited the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) and its Apelsvoll Research Station, where discussions focused on the third phase of SINOGRAIN, green agricultural development, biotechnology, and opportunities to further strengthen joint research and research-platform cooperation between our institutions.

The visit forms part of a continuing research relationship between NIBIO and CAAS and provided a valuable opportunity to exchange perspectives, connect research activities and consider where our collaboration can develop further.

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Biochar and ferrous sulfate: Managing antibiotic resistance genes and nitrogen in pig manure slurry

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How can livestock manure be managed so that its nutrients remain useful while the risks associated with antibiotic resistance are reduced? Our newly published article in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering explores this question through the storage and fermentation of pig manure slurry (Cao et al., 2026).

The study examines the combined use of biochar and ferrous sulfate, bringing together two concerns that are central to circular nutrient management: the fate of antibiotic resistance genes and the transformation of nitrogen. I am pleased to share this publication with colleagues Yuang Cao, Zhuowu Li, Xiaoyu Xu, Jiahua Liu, Keqiang Zhang, Lianzhu Du and Suli Zhi.

Storage as an opportunity for intervention

Manure slurry contains nitrogen that can support agricultural production. It can also carry antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the genetic information that can enable microorganisms to resist antibiotics. The period before land application is therefore an important part of manure management. During storage and fermentation, changes in microbial communities and slurry chemistry can influence both nutrient availability and the persistence of resistance genes.

Our study focused on this stage using slurry collected from a pig farm in Tianjin, China. A 60-day laboratory experiment compared 13 treatment groups, with three replicate reactors per treatment, at approximately 30 °C. The treatments included biochar, ferrous sulfate, ferrous sulfate-modified biochar, physical mixtures of biochar and ferrous sulfate, and sulfuric acid, alongside an untreated control. Chemical measurements and metagenomic analysis were used to examine nitrogen forms, microbial communities and resistance-gene profiles.

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Low-dose chlorine and microalgae reduce antibiotic resistance genes in livestock wastewater

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First page of the study in Bioresource Technology, volume 463 (2027), article 135750, showing the title, authors and highlights.

Can reshaping microbial communities help reduce antibiotic resistance genes in livestock wastewater?

Our study explores how low-dose sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) pretreatment can support microalgal treatment of dairy-farm wastewater. The laboratory findings point to microbial community shifts as an important part of reducing antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) abundance.

Graphical abstract showing sodium hypochlorite pretreatment followed by microalgal treatment of livestock wastewater.

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One valley, three states: reading Pasvik as a border bioeconomy

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The Pasvik valley from the upper room of the 96-Høyden tower, Svanvik, Sør-Varanger. August 2026.
Photo and text copyright © 2026 CM Cordeiro

The Pasvik valley in Sør-Varanger, Finnmark, carries several administrative descriptions at once. It is a watercourse regulated under hydropower concession, a national park with an associated visitor centre, an international boundary between Norway, Finland and the Russian Federation, and an agricultural district supporting a small number of working farms. I spent three days at NIBIO Svanhovd in August 2026. The observation set out below is a modest one, drawn from a short visit and resting largely on material that the valley publishes about itself: much of the work of holding the district together as a coordinated bio-based economy appears to be performed by artefacts that the governance literature does not ordinarily treat as instruments. Interpretation panels, a heritage designation, a national park visitor centre and a farm shop price list are among them.

Research on transboundary environmental governance is conventionally conducted at the scale of the basin or the treaty, and there are sound reasons for the convention, since formal instruments are constituted at those scales. My contention in what follows is that the convention under-describes Pasvik. The arrangements that appear to be doing coordinating work in the valley operate at a considerably finer grain, and a number of them are physical objects placed in the landscape for the instruction of residents and visitors.

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Method over numbers: A Nordic contribution to China’s agricultural-waste training on the Yangtze.

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FAO agricultural-waste training, Ezhou, Hubei, July 2026

Photo and text copyright © 2026 CM Cordeiro

In July 2026, Erik Sindhøj and I were invited to join the third and final agricultural-waste training run by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Ezhou, Hubei. Representing NIBIO, the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, we presented on resource recovery from agricultural waste. Together with other international trainers, we helped support some 35 Chinese agri-environment officers as they learnt to become Farmer Field School facilitators, and we contributed a transferable, evidence-first framework for recovering value from manure, straw and mulch film in service of protecting the Yangtze.

Title slide of the NIBIO presentation, Resource Recovery from Agricultural Waste

The opening slide of our NIBIO session, “Resource Recovery from Agricultural Waste”. The full presentation is available as a PDF: FAO_Resource_Recovery_AgWaste_v0.1 (PDF).

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From Microbe to Meal: A day in Wuhan with the students of Huazhong Agricultural University

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The Jianghan Customs House clock tower, Jianghan Road, Wuhan

The Jianghan Customs House clock tower, the street’s landmark since the 1920s.
Photo and text copyright © 2026 CM Cordeiro

There may be no better way to understand a region, a country, than to let its doctoral students show you around, first their work, then their favourite haunts. Our day with them began quietly, in a cool molecular-biology corridor where they spend their hours coaxing answers out of the invisible world. From there it spilled outdoors, into an unhurried wander down a hundred-year-old shopping street, and finally gathered, as the best days in Wuhan do, around a steaming tray of crayfish, sleeves pushed up, fingers stained happily red, everyone talking over everyone. What ties those three scenes together is more than good company. It’s a whole food system, quietly on display: the microbes that keep crops and soils healthy, the paddies where this city’s cherished summer catch is raised, and the streets and tables where all of it finally comes home.

Morning: microbes, and the students who study them

We spent the morning at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), one of China’s leading agricultural universities, in the company of the graduate students who work in its National Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology. If that name sounds abstract, the corridor makes it wonderfully concrete: wall after wall of research posters on the microbes that fix nitrogen, fend off crop disease, and turn waste into fertiliser. It is the diligent, invisible workforce underneath every field we had walked through earlier in the trip, and here were the people who spend their days getting to know it.

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Microalgae for Antibiotic Removal from Livestock Wastewater

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Microalgae-Based Technology for Antibiotic Removal from Livestock Wastewater: Mechanisms, Performance, and EPS Enhancement

Journal of Environmental Management publication

This review was conducted through an international collaboration involving Tianjin Chengjian University, the Agro-Environmental Protection Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in China, the Dali Observation and Experimental Station of National Agricultural Environment, the Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Green Agriculture in North China and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

Abstract

Antibiotic residues released from livestock and poultry farming are increasingly recognised as an important environmental challenge due to their contribution to water pollution and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. This review examines recent advances in microalgae-based wastewater treatment technologies as sustainable alternatives to conventional physicochemical and biological treatment methods.

Particular emphasis is placed on the role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which function as multifunctional interfaces between microalgae and pollutants. The review synthesises current knowledge on the mechanisms through which EPS contribute to antibiotic removal, including bioadsorption, bioaccumulation, photodegradation, enzymatic biotransformation, and synergistic interactions with bacterial communities. It also evaluates the antibiotic removal performance of different microalgal species and discusses environmental factors influencing treatment efficiency.

Beyond summarising the current state of knowledge, the review identifies important research gaps, including the need for a better understanding of EPS composition and functionality, improved characterisation of antibiotic transformation products, and optimisation of EPS-mediated treatment processes under practical wastewater conditions. These insights provide a roadmap for developing more efficient, sustainable and scalable nature-based solutions for livestock wastewater treatment and circular bioeconomy applications.

Keywords

Keywords: Microalgae; livestock wastewater; antibiotic removal; extracellular polymeric substances (EPS); bioadsorption; biodegradation; wastewater treatment; circular bioeconomy; nature-based solutions.

Reference

Zhang, R., Min, S., Zhi, S., Gong, Y., Liu, K., Cordeiro, C. M., Sindhöj, E., Shen, S., & Zhang, K. (2026). Microalgae-based technology for antibiotic removal from livestock wastewater: A review on mechanisms, performance, and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) enhancement. Journal of Environmental Management, 412, 130273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.130273

Rapid Ammonia Prediction in Pig Manure Composting

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Development of a Rapid Ammonia Concentration Prediction Model for Pig Manure Reactor Composting Based on Infrared Spectroscopy

This study was conducted through an international collaboration involving Northeast Agricultural University and the Agro-Environmental Protection Institute of China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with NIBIO the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.


Journal of Agro-Environment Science 2026 publication

Schematic diagram of the online ammonia monitoring system used during pig manure reactor composting

Abstract

To address the challenges of delayed sample collection, the loss of valid samples, and unstable concentration predictions during the monitoring of ammonia emissions from pig-manure reactor composting, this study developed an in situ online monitoring system integrating photoacoustic spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. A multi-indicator iterative outlier-removal method based on logarithmic binning, referred to as Method A, was developed and compared with a conventional single-indicator method using a global threshold, referred to as Method B. Partial least squares regression, random forest, and extremely randomized trees were used to construct quantitative ammonia-concentration prediction models for different concentration bins. Model performance was then systematically assessed using multiple evaluation indicators.

Compared with Method B, Method A increased the sample-retention rate by 22.4% and reduced the loss of dynamic range by 96.2%. During model development, the extremely randomized trees model achieved prediction coefficients of determination ranging from 0.894 to 0.973 across the concentration bins, with residual predictive deviation values of at least 3.0 and mean absolute error as a percentage of full scale ranging from ±2.19% to ±2.68%. Its performance was superior to that of the random forest and partial least squares models.

In subsequent validation, the extremely randomized trees models for the three concentration bins achieved coefficients of determination of 0.908, 0.978, and 0.989, respectively. The corresponding residual predictive deviation values were 3.217, 6.184, and 6.157, while the mean absolute errors as percentages of full scale were ±2.98%, ±3.20%, and ±3.59%, respectively. These results meet the requirements for high-precision quantitative analysis under complex operating conditions.

The findings demonstrate that combining logarithmic binning-based multi-indicator iterative outlier removal with extremely randomized trees enables rapid quantitative prediction of ammonia concentrations. This approach provides technical support for the accurate monitoring of ammonia-emission levels during reactor composting.

Keywords

Keywords: Pig manure; reactor composting; ammonia; quantitative prediction; infrared spectroscopy; outlier removal; prediction model.

Reference

Jia, Y., Yang, Z., Cordeiro, C. M., Sindhöj, E., Siesler, H. W., Qin, W., Zhao, R., & Zhang, K. (2026). 基于红外光谱的猪粪反应器堆肥氨排放浓度速测模型构建 / Development of a rapid ammonia concentration prediction model for pig manure reactor composting based on infrared spectroscopy. 农业环境科学学报 / Journal of Agro-Environment Science. Advance online publication. PDF download.

When optional harmonisation meets a patchwork: what the Fertilising Products Regulation tells us about EU regulatory design

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Seven years after its adoption, and nearly four years after it entered into application, the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) offers a quiet lesson in how EU regulatory design actually works. The lesson is not about fertilisers alone. It concerns what happens when a harmonised EU framework is placed alongside mature national systems, with producers free to choose between them.

That choice is known, in the language of EU product law, as optional harmonisation. Under the FPR, producers can CE-mark their product and place it on the internal market under EU rules, or they can continue to follow national legislation. Recital 5 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 makes this design choice explicit: unlike most Union product harmonisation measures, the FPR does not prevent non-harmonised fertilising products from being placed on the internal market under national law [1]. Compliance with harmonised rules therefore remains optional.

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The Invisible Return: A spillover pathway for EU agricultural research investment

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Image credit: Lachlan Turczan / Google, “Making the Invisible Visible,” Milan Design Week 2025.

The Invisible Return: A spillover pathway for EU agricultural research investment

A reflection on evaluation frameworks, spillover effects, and what infrastructure economics might teach us about Horizon tools

Horizon Europe represents one of the most substantial public commitments to agricultural research and innovation in the world, funding multi-actor projects, thematic networks, living labs, and knowledge exchange platforms designed to accelerate the transition to more sustainable, productive, and resilient farming systems. Yet as each programme cycle matures, a familiar challenge tends to re-emerge: how do we demonstrate that this investment actually works?

This article draws on ideas from infrastructure economics to reflect on why the challenge remains, suggesting that the issue may lie not in the absence of impact, but perhaps in where and how we choose to look for it.

What We Measure, and What We Miss

Current evaluation practice in EU agricultural research tends to focus on what programmes produce: scientific publications, technology prototypes, farmer training events, practice-ready guidelines, policy briefs, and social media outreach. These outputs are visible, countable, and reportable. They satisfy audit requirements and feed neatly into monitoring dashboards. But they tell us surprisingly little about whether research investment actually changes what happens on the ground.

The gap between outputs and outcomes is well recognised in the impact assessment literature. Weiβhuhn et al. (2018) reviewed decades of research impact assessment in agriculture and found that evaluations are systematically skewed toward economic and bibliometric indicators, with environmental and behavioural impacts left substantially underassessed despite being arguably the most policy-relevant outcomes in the current Horizon Europe context. More recently, Faure et al. (2024) tested a multi-dimensional societal impact framework across three agricultural research case studies and found that frameworks assuming simple cause-and-effect attribution consistently underperform compared to approaches grounded in contribution logic and systems thinking. In the Horizon agriculture context, a recent EU CAP Network study covering nearly 1,000 Operational Group projects found that while knowledge co-creation was broadly positive, tracing the pathway from project outputs to farm-level behaviour change remained methodologically elusive (EU CAP Network, 2024). This is not a criticism of the projects themselves; it is a reflection of the evaluative tools available to assess them.

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