On 22 October 2020, the GO-GRASS project held its first online event in the framework of the EU Green Week, to shed light on the overlooked potential of grasslands for the EU circular economy.
The event was the occasion for over 90 participants across the world to discover innovative solutions from five different research projects focusing on the opportunities arising from grassland and green fodder. While the morning session offered participants a journey across various technologies and demonstration sites using grassland over Europe, the afternoon session revolved around the policy and regulatory framework for grassland businesses, including a lively panel discussion focusing on the development of grass-based businesses.
If you missed the event, or would like to dig deeper into the topic, you can find the full recordings below:
Morning session
Explore various technologies and innovative solutions to exploit the potential of grasslands across Europe in this first session.
Afternoon session
Discover alternative solutions for grassland use in the bioeconomy, and dive into the panel discussion moderated by Alec Walker-Love, Project Director at ESCI, the European Science Communication Institute, with our four expert speakers:
- Philipp Grundmann, Head of Research Group Sociotechnical Systems and Institutional Change, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB)
- Prof. Johannes Isselstein, Director, Department of Grassland Science, Georg August Universität Göttingen
- Bram Koopmans, CTO and shareholder, Grassa!
- Sinead O’ Keeffe, Research Officer, Wageningen Plant Research (WUR), Agrosystems Research department
To learn more, you can also access the slides of our expert speakers below:
- Philipp Grundmann, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) – Why grass-based circular business models for rural agri-food value chains in the EU?
- Rommie Van der Weide, Application Centre for Renewable Resources, Wageningen University – Overview of key grassland management technologies
- Demonstration and showcasing of business models and technical solutions for the local use of surplus biomass from grasslands (GO-GRASS project):
- Durk Durksz, Application Centre for Renewable Resources, Wageningen University – The Netherlands: High value goods manufactured from low-quality waste products (road-side grass and nature/fauna grass)
- Thomas Hoffmann and Thomas Heinrich, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) – Northeast-Germany: Production of biochar using grassland-cuttings from wetlands for organic fertilisers
- Morten Ambye-Jensen, Aarhus University – Denmark: Sustainable business models on small scale grass refinery by extracting protein from clover, lucerne/alfalfa
- Susanne Paulrud, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden – Sweden: Local, heat treated, quality assured reed canary grass animal bedding increasing circularity
- Dieter Cuypers, VITO – The GRASSIFICATION project
- James Gaffey, Institute of Technology of Tralee – The Biorefinery Glas project
- Maria Rosa Mosquera, University of Santiago de Compostela – Alternative grassland uses in the EU bioeconomy framework
- Prof. Johannes Isselstein, Georg August Universität Göttingen – The GreenGrass project: Innovative grassland utilisation for sustainable agricultural intensification at the landscape scale
- Žymantas Morkvėnas, Baltic Environmental Forum – Tools and recommendations for sustainable grassland management: the LIFE Viva Grass project
Stay tuned and visit our GO-GRASS website to be informed about future events !
