Background Lignite – otherwise known as brown coal - is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat. It is one of the primary energy sources in Poland, where around 60 million tonnes are mined every year. The opencast mines used in this industry have a significant impact on the environment and the landscape: large areas are degraded and topsoil produced over thousands of years is removed. In Poland, lignite mining is carried out on approximately 16 000 ha, while the area of land damaged as a result of lignite mining covers more than 67 000 ha. Unfortunately, current remediation methods for land affected by lignite mining are ineffective and the total area of truly remediated land returned to agriculture is small. This issue is not restricted to Poland. Lignite is also mined in the following EU countries: the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The biggest producers in the EU are Germany, with an annual output of 175 million tonnes, followed by Greece, with 63 million tonnes. Objectives The EKOHEMPKON project aims to develop methods of cultivation and crop rotation that will allow for the rehabilitation of areas used for the mining of lignite. Practically, the land remediation will be conducted on an area of 25 ha of post-mining terrain left after closing of a lignite strip mine on the basis of the cultivation of two pioneer crops: 1. an industrial hemp yielding high biomass in the form of straw containing mainly carbon, oxygen and hydrogen 2. alfalfa able to assimilate nitrogen in symbiosis with the root nodule bacteria and leaves the produced organic matter as a green manure. The hemp and alfalfa will be mowed and a novel, environmentally sound technology of hemp straw processing developed. The terrain will be ploughed, creating a kind of biological composite in the soil which will generate accelerated agricultural remediation. The yield of the two crops should increase significantly over the years of the project and habitat improved for biodiversity. The project will disseminate information about the successful new remediation model and hemp straw processing. It also hopes to increase public awareness about the problem of remediation of degraded soils. Expected results: Demonstration of the practical feasibility of remediation of lignite mine areas Successful remediation of 25 ha of post mining land by accelerated innovative method of the biological composite. Increase of the humus content in the soil by about 20-50% Increase of yield of the cultivated crops: hemp from 2 t/ha to 5-7 t/ha; and alfalfa from 4 t/ha to 7-10 ton/ha in 6th year) Increase of absorption of the atmospheric CO2 by plants from 1 t/ha to 2 t/ha Creation of favourable habitats for birds and pollinating insects.