Use of non-food crops for manufacturing bioproducts and biofuels

The first national value chain event in Poland

The first workshop on the use of non-food crops (NFC) for manufacturing bioproducts and biofuels, in Polish conditions, took place on November 14^th 2018, in the Mazovian Science and Technology Park in Płońsk. About 30 participants from various sectors attended the workshop, including science, self-government, advisory, industry and business institutions and non-governmental organizations.

The first part of the workshop was built around PANACEA project, the EIP-Agri partnership and various thematic networks implemented in the agricultural sector. Then, participants listened about bioproduction using NFC and prospects for the bioeconomy under the new European Union strategy. Moreover, various bioproducts from NFC for industrial, chemical and cosmetics purposes were presented to the audience. The illustrated examples of non-food crop species were a very interesting point for participants. Finally, the participants and the lecturers had the opportunity to discuss about bioproducts possibilities for manufacturing and related problems in Poland with.

Innovative Non-food crops (NFCs) Ideas:

1. Possibilities for displaying maize in various ways, e.g. biogas, ethanol or bedding from stalk for animals.
2. Use of Lignocellulosic (e.g. poplar and willow) for heat and power generation considering Polish conditions.
3. Moreover some participants were interested in rapeseed production for biofuels.
4. The participants told that there is no single solution or idea but NFC development depends on market and knowledge about crops and production technologies.
5. Nowadays, some farmers in Poland swap from animal production, which is intensive labour, to plant production. It is possible to use land, formerly used for fodder production, for NFC.

Gaps and Challenges for the uptake of above mentioned innovative NFCs ideas and research:

1. Instruments to encourage farmers to produce NFC
2. Lands are underused due to the lack of knowledge about NFC
3. Lack of cooperation in agricultural sector: farmer2farmer, farmer2industry
4. A weak position of farmers for negotiating with large industry
5. Unclear law and regulations in agricultural sector

We would like to thank all participants for attending the meeting. Moreover, we would like to thank the employees of the Mazovian Science and Technology Park in Płońsk for support in organizing our workshop.