Towards cabon neutral research farm - Investment project

Natural Resource Institute Finland (Luke) is strengthening the research infrastructure for primary production research by intensifying and centralizing the use of facilities and building new partnerships. Luke invests in Kuopio (Maaninka) as a leading grass production research site based on high-quality infrastructure, on-site know-how and a central location in relation to the main production area in Finland. The system research platform in Northern Savo is being developed in a versatile way for grassland and peatland research. This project will significantly strengthen the infrastructure for measuring greenhouse gas emissions and the conditions for field research closely related to grass production and its environmental impacts, such as carbon sequestration and low carbon production management. In the short term, the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NIR) will be revised. The high-quality research infrastructure, instrumentation and a research network will guarantee that the scientific publication of the results will be quick and impactful. The project includes three actions: 1) Building a CO2 balance and weather station including dual laser spectrometer for N2O, CO2 and CH4 network to mineral and organic peatland to determine greenhouse gas balances as part of a national and international research network; 2) Developing a high quality field research environment for grassland and equipping it with state-of-the-art research equipment; and 3) Functional renewal of the research barn as a part of the carbon neutral research farm concept.