Small livestock farmers in the mountains of Trentino-Alto Adige have now been participating in the LIFE OPTIMAL European project for several years. The project’s overall objective is to demonstrate an innovative approach to the management of zootechnical effluents using biogas technology, involving livestock farmers from small farms (“masi”) and rural businesses in the area. The farmers collect around 25,000 tons of manure and 45,000 tons of slurry and take this to the biogas plant for the production of digestate. This is then reused as a high-quality fertilizer. This approach not only reduces the intensive spreading of slurry on the area's steep terrain, but also enables compliance with the current environmental regulations.