Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VALPRO Path (new VALue landscapes for plant PROtein Pathways)
Période du rapport: 2022-09-01 au 2024-02-29
European agriculture is at a juncture in regards to the sustainable provision of dietary protein. It can embrace opportunities presented through existing innovations that are integrated into real-life scenarios to support stakeholders realise the new market opportunities that exist for indigenous, fully traceable plant protein. However, the current European plant-protein landscape is flawed. Production systems are focussed heavily on the production of feedstock for direct transfer into animal sectors in an attempt to counter the EU’s over-dependency on imported feed. In essence, there is an absence of premium supply chains - farmers miss out on added-value opportunities that exist within the crops they already grow across Europe. Built on the principles of co-creation, innovation and demonstration, VALPRO Path will design, validate and deliver sustainable and competitive plant protein crop systems and value chains. Focussed on underpinning economic value for all actors in the supply chain, it will exploit beyond state-of-the-art innovations, demonstrating and evaluating potential across 5 multi-stakeholder ‘living lab’ innovation production systems (IPSs). With strong industry involvement, the project will deliver a stronger ecosystem for plant protein production, supported with robust evidence of the social, economic, environmental, climate and health benefits. VALPRO Path will deliver new, sustainable business models, showing how focussed research can come into practice. Sustainable diversification of rotations with grain legumes will support the transition to more environmentally sustainable farming.
VALPRO Path was established across five EU member states to focus on building resilient plant protein supply chains in Europe. Its primary focus is to enhance the sustainable production, processing, manufacturing and marketing of grain legumes such as pea, faba bean, chickpea, lentil, lupin and peanut for food and feed markets across Europe. The first step in doing this is to identify the current challenges and opportunities that exist in the sector. Thus one of the first major activities carried out by project partners were to undertake an analysis of the knowledge GAPs and Lock-in situations preventing the growth of the plant protein sector. This work resulted in the production of a comprehensive report and accompanying story map, available at the following link:
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/281fbecc069d46bf966289284d0ccd55(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
A core part of the project is the implementation of 5 Innovation Production Systems (IPSs) located across the EU, which as ‘living labs’ generate data on novel production/processing systems optimum for specific regions that exploit the highest value potential from protein crops.
IPS 2 and 3 saw partners undertake field studies to select cultivars of major protein crops with the highest value potential for inclusion in European supply chains. This selection approach considers both production and processing criteria to identify cultivars with not just strong agronomic performance but also those that have potential has to be excluded due to a failure to meet specific processing criteria, essential to achieve added value as a food ingredient.
In order to evaluate the added-value potential of these crops, technologies such as dry separation and fermentation were investigated to refine these crops into their individual components of protein, starch and fibre for use in multiple food applications. Compositional analysis has further been carried out to analyse the quality of several of these fractions, with the data feeding into future potential business cases for implementation in IPSs.
Various meetings were held with partners to gather necessary data related to the cultivation, processing and manufacturing/packaging elements of the value chain in order to begin the process of Life cycle assessment of a number of business cases identified. Following this the conceptual framework for several business models such as the plant based burger, beverage and energy bar were designed. Business modelling of selected business cases was also initiated to identify viable business cases by the project end. Further to this a catalogue of all exploitable results was drafted and updated as the project progressed and new results arose.
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/281fbecc069d46bf966289284d0ccd55(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)
A core part of the project is the implementation of 5 Innovation Production Systems (IPSs) located across the EU, which as ‘living labs’ generate data on novel production/processing systems optimum for specific regions that exploit the highest value potential from protein crops.
IPS 2 and 3 saw partners undertake field studies to select cultivars of major protein crops with the highest value potential for inclusion in European supply chains. This selection approach considers both production and processing criteria to identify cultivars with not just strong agronomic performance but also those that have potential has to be excluded due to a failure to meet specific processing criteria, essential to achieve added value as a food ingredient.
In order to evaluate the added-value potential of these crops, technologies such as dry separation and fermentation were investigated to refine these crops into their individual components of protein, starch and fibre for use in multiple food applications. Compositional analysis has further been carried out to analyse the quality of several of these fractions, with the data feeding into future potential business cases for implementation in IPSs.
Various meetings were held with partners to gather necessary data related to the cultivation, processing and manufacturing/packaging elements of the value chain in order to begin the process of Life cycle assessment of a number of business cases identified. Following this the conceptual framework for several business models such as the plant based burger, beverage and energy bar were designed. Business modelling of selected business cases was also initiated to identify viable business cases by the project end. Further to this a catalogue of all exploitable results was drafted and updated as the project progressed and new results arose.
A report was developed through a meticulous literature search, with the primary objective of establishing a robust conceptual and methodological framework that could effectively identify bottlenecks and deficiencies within the European protein crop value chain. The focus of the report was on uncovering gaps and constraints at the European level, with specific attention given to variations in different pedoclimatic regions, including Atlantic Europe, Central Europe, and Southern Europe. Additionally, a detailed analysis was conducted for individual countries to ensure a nuanced understanding of the challenges.
VALPRO Path’s established ’Innovative Production Systems’ (IPSs) in five different pedoclimatic zones across Europe, to implement a range of innovative technologies across the plant protein supply chain in a living lab type setting. An example of this was the implementation of innovative on-farm processing activities, such as crop processing, which enabled differential value opportunities for farmers.
The project placed significant emphasis on quantifying the sustainability credentials of European land based protein crop systems. To do this it undertook at life cycle sustainability assessments on several business cases for plant based proteins providing social, economic, environmental, climate and health impact of production.
VALPRO Path’s established ’Innovative Production Systems’ (IPSs) in five different pedoclimatic zones across Europe, to implement a range of innovative technologies across the plant protein supply chain in a living lab type setting. An example of this was the implementation of innovative on-farm processing activities, such as crop processing, which enabled differential value opportunities for farmers.
The project placed significant emphasis on quantifying the sustainability credentials of European land based protein crop systems. To do this it undertook at life cycle sustainability assessments on several business cases for plant based proteins providing social, economic, environmental, climate and health impact of production.