Changing the nature of agriculture and chemistry through shared R&D

Our global food system prioritizes quantity over quality, resulting in higher emissions (in particular ammonia from intensive livestock farming), deforestation, more food waste and less overall nutrients in our food. Systemic change is necessary, but it’s hard to change things when revenue models and the livelihoods of many farmers depend on the status quo. So how can we transition towards a system where waste and emissions are minimized, with a regenerative and circular agriculture system, focusing on high-quality food, soil health, and sustainable farmer income?

Pulling instead of pushing

‘Fundamental change doesn’t happen in a vacuum’, says Tjeerd Jongsma, Managing Director of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT). ‘You need to involve the entire chain, from farmer to producer, from supermarket or restaurant to consumer. And you need to develop a shared vocabulary, identify shared goals and challenges and come up with solutions that add value to the entire chain. Just like a literal chain, you can’t push it in the direction you want. But you can pull it and that’s what we’re trying to do with open public-private collaboration programs like Fascinating.’

Fascinating stands for Food Agro Sustainable Circular Nature Technology in Groningen. ‘It’s an open innovation platform for food and agriculture that connects farmers with industry, knowledge institutes and governments’, Jongsma continues. ‘The main goal of our program is to create a circular agricultural system that supports a healthy diet, is balanced with nature and helps a farmer’s business model thrive. Through collaboration with local farmers, universities and food companies, such as FrieslandCampina, Avebe and Cosun Beet Company, we set up research projects to test new business models for sustainable and regenerative farming, find uses for agricultural waste streams and optimize food manufacturing processes.’

World-class competence

‘Being able to close the loop and use waste streams is a great step in the right direction. But another big challenge in agriculture is the current focus on bulk production, instead of nutrient density’, Jongsma explains. ‘Farmers get paid for the volume they produce, not the amount of nutrients that are in it. This means we ultimately end up with food products that are relatively lower in nutrients and relatively higher in energy, like sugars and carbohydrates. And with sedentary lifestyles, we don’t need a lot of energy in our foods. But our food system also doesn’t provide us with the nutrients we need to live healthy lives. And that business model needs to change, without impacting the livelihoods of farmers.’

We have all the building blocks to also produce some of the healthiest, highest quality foods in the world.

Tjeerd Jongsma, Managing Director of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT)

‘It’s a challenge, but I do think that we have all the ingredients right here to take big steps in changing that’, Jongsma continues. ‘In the Northern Netherlands, we have a high level of cross-sectoral expertise, available land, crops rich in proteins, renewable energy and good infrastructure. And in the Netherlands, we have some of the best farmers in the world, with unrivaled competence levels, who are well organized in cooperations, well connected to the food industry and are very focused on market demand. We became the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural goods for that reason, so we have all the building blocks to also produce some of the healthiest, highest quality foods in the world.’

Circular manure

‘But growing more nutritious food starts with the soil’, Jongsma says. ‘To be able to grow highly nutritious foods, you need a soil that can provide the right nutrients for the plants. Our 'Customized Circular Manure' project for example, is a multi-year, practice-oriented feasibility study with 6 farmers. Fresh manure with high levels of organic compounds from dairy farmers is picked up daily and sent to a nearby biodigester. And after that process we separate the nitrogen rich, phosphorus rich and potassium rich fractions.’ 

‘With these fractions you can tailor them to the exact needs of individual farmers, increasing their yield, with the potential to reduce the use of artificial fertilizers and ending up with more nutrients in our food, because of a much healthier soil’ Jongsma continues. ‘In fact, just today, the EU announced the RENURE agreement, where this type of modified manure can now be used as a substitute for artificial fertilizers, so we were ahead of the curve with this project. And another added benefit is that it could also solve the problem of excess manure.’

Potato juice

Another, more recent Fascinating project also revolves around finding new uses for agricultural waste. Avebe, a global leader in potato-based starch and protein innovations, and ChainCraft, a pioneer in the production of circular chemicals, are working together to convert residual potato juice into circular fatty acids through innovative fermentation technology. ‘These acids can be used in a wide variety of products across many industries, from food flavoring, animal nutrition and industrial chemicals to home and personal care products’, says Chaincraft CEO Marc den Hartog.

‘Potato juice is the watery substance you’re left with once the starch and proteins have been removed’, den Hartog continues. ‘It’s usually evaporated, which is a very energy intensive process and yields a low quality fertilizer. But it’s the perfect environment for our bacteria and it allows us to upscale organic waste into high-quality raw materials, reduce energy consumption and end up with water that can be filtered and reused.’

Fermentation

Chaincraft was founded in 2010 as a spinoff of Wageningen University, with a mission to provide a circular alternative for fatty acids. ‘Normally, these fatty acids are made from either petroleum or palm oil, both of which are not very sustainable, because they contribute to emissions and deforestation’, says den Hartog. ‘But fatty acids are important base chemicals for many products that we use in our daily lives, which is exactly why a circular alternative is so important.’

‘Bacterial fermentation is nothing new, but it’s usually too expensive for large scale production because the process needs to be completely sterile, where you mostly use a single bacterial strain or culture’, den Hartog continues. ‘We use a non-sterile process with bacterial cultures that are already present in the organic waste. It’s similar to producing biogas, but we stop the fermentation process before it turns into gas and then create the right temperature and conditions for the bacterias we need to produce fatty acids. Our production process is more cost-efficient, because it doesn’t require sterile or highly specialized equipment. This allows our circular fatty acids to reach price parity with traditional produced fatty acids with a high carbon footprint.’

We have chosen [to expand in] the Northern Netherlands because of our collaboration with Avebe, he entrepreneurial mindset and the available expertise in the region.

Marc den Hartog, CEO of Chaincraft

From pilot plant to factory

Chaincraft has a demo plant up and running in Amsterdam, with plans to build a full-scale plant in the TopDutch region in the coming years. ‘We have chosen the Northern Netherlands over other possible locations in Western Europe for a number of reasons’, den Hartog explains. ‘Our collaboration with Avebe is a major reason for expanding into Groningen, along with being close to other potential waste streams we can use, such as residues from sugar beets, corn and wheat production.’ 

‘But another big factor for us is also the entrepreneurial mindset and the available expertise in the region’, den Hartog continues. ‘For example the Wetsus research institute in Leeuwarden and innovative companies and research centers at the Zernike Campus in Groningen. And collaborative research programs like Fascinating are also very valuable to us, because they provide a very clear framework that requires real commitment and tangible goals, which means we’re able to take big steps forward in creating a better world together.’

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