Review: Bokashi technology as a promising technology for crop production in Europe

The main aim is to describe plant production systems and introduce bokashi technology for the advanced utilisation of food waste in Europe. The secondary objective is to demonstrate that the new Bokashi technology fertiliser products for field crops can improve soil fertility, plant health, yield and food quality in Europe. Bokashi technology is a straightforward yet innovative technology to recycle and valorise various kinds of biowaste into a nutrient-rich product that can be used as an organic fertiliser. Bokashi technology is a method for treating biowaste in general and food waste in specific, using controlled lactic acid fermentation (LAF) under anaerobic conditions. The term is based on a traditional Japanese method of the same name. The acidic and anaerobic environment quickly suppresses the viability of pathogens so even contaminated biowaste can be recycled. The Bokashi technology is almost absent in Europe at the moment. Conclusion: Bokashi technology – coming from Asia (Japan) – is an innovative technology to improve soil fertility, plant health, yield and food quality. This technology has a huge potential to be applied in Europe, but the right methodology should be developed based on the knowledge of temperature regimes for effective microorganisms that will influence the crop production.