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FACCE-SURPLUS and SusCrop hold joint seminar on 7-8 February in Ghent

Published on
March 17, 2023

Report from the Status Seminar and Outreach Workshop, February 2023

Almost exactly nine years have passed since the start of the ERA-NET Cofund FACCE SURPLUS. In this time, the network has launched three trans-national calls, with projects of the 3rd and final call reaching their end-term. A status seminar was held in February in Ghent to discuss the research projects’ outcomes and achievements so far.

A collaboration with the ERA-NET SusCrop provided a good opportunity to exchange knowledge in the area of sustainable agriculture.

“The event was a real success”, says Stefanie Margraf, Project Management Jülich, member of the FACCE-JPI & SusCrop organising team. “We had over 90 participants on-site and online representing Scientists, Funding Agencies, Industry, Policy Makers as well as Representative of Farmers and Farmer Associations.”

On the first day, project coordinators of the 2nd call of SusCrop presented their initial results during their mid-term meeting and FACCE SURPLUS 3rd call Project Coordinators presented results regarding the utilisation of second-class vegetables and fruits, sunflower by-products, upcycling of (agricultural) waste streams and upgrading of marginal land for the use of biomass. The status seminar at the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) was followed by a side-visit at Hof ter Vrijlegem, a local family-owned farm producing rapeseed oil and miscanthus for renewable energy.

During the second day an outreach seminar on sustainable crop and agricultural production for the future took place. It based its discussion on the “12 Farmers of the Future” based on a report by the European Commission JR commissioned by DG Agri (Link to report). During the workshop participants discussed how the knowledge and innovation needs for the different types of farmers can be delivered.

Click here to find the presentations from the seminar.

Click here to find the agenda from the seminar.