1 Nov 2010
Unit:
Food and Biobased Research
Algae production offers economic opportunities and is good for the climate and environment.
In a few years’ time, it will be possible to cultivate algae on special algae farms in Gelderland. This was the message given to the 50 farmers and market gardeners from Gelderland who attended a meeting organised by the Province of Gelderland and Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) on Thursday 28 October. The meeting entitled ‘Algae seeks farmer’ was opened by Annelies van der Kolk, climate expert for the Gelderland Provincial Executive.
René Wijffels, Professor of Bioprocess Technology and algae expert, was among the speakers: “In the short term – let’s say 5 years – we expect to see algae being produced commercially for their protein value in the food industry and for aquaculture. Some of the algae will probably be cultivated in partnership with farmers and on special algae farms. This is why the Gelderland provincial authorities and Wageningen UR are currently sounding out farmers and other relevant businesses”.
René van Eijden, programme coordinator at the Gelderland provincial authorities and responsible for evaluating subsidies for agriculture, spoke about the Province’s policy on algae. Erwin Houtzager, founder and owner of Phycom, explained about the favourable short-term economic prospects for algae production. And the final word was for Maria Barbosa, project leader at AlgaePARC.
Triple benefits for Gelderland
Annelies van der Kolk from the Gelderland Provincial Executive: “If we can manage to develop products including a new type of fodder here in the region, we will be able to shorten the distances for transporting it, which will benefit both the climate and the environment. The algae is intended to replace some of the soya fodder currently being used for livestock. Innovative ideas must be translated into business, into hard money. However, production must be both sustainable and socially responsible. Not just in Gelderland, but across the borders too. This means that the Province must stimulate any innovation that contributes to solutions affecting the entire chain. Attention must be paid to the impact on the surroundings, on animals and people. Respect is the key. By providing funding, the Province is helping the agricultural sector in Gelderland to take advantage of the opportunities that algae are offering the corporate sector”.
Stimulating demand
Alongside the actual cultivation side, ensuring demand from the market is another challenging aspect. It is therefore important to involve end users in the development and application processes for algae cultivation technology. Next year, Bosplant Nursery from ’s Gravenzande will be launching a pilot project for cultivating algae. The owner of the company, who was present at the meeting, admits to having spent eight years investigating the possibilities of algae. "We were already aware of the opportunities, so not all of today´s information was new. It has, however, cast doubt on the type of system. We had initially decided to operate an open system in our pilot, but after today, we think a closed system would probably be better. The pilot will go ahead, hopefully in partnership with a knowledge centre such as Wageningen UR and potential clients, such as animal feed businesses. We need to tackle this together, and we do not intend to take any risks ".
Infancy
Although the cultivation of microalgae is a form of sustainable primary production, compared with current agriculture, it is still in its infancy. Collaboration between growers and knowledge partners plays an important part in developing new and existing projects.
A lot of new technology is currently being developed. It will take a good few years to modify it and make it commercially viable for a broader range of products. In the meantime, businesses can get started but they will need to devise responsible working practices.
AlgaePARC
Both the ‘Algae seeks farmer’ meeting and the building of an algae park are parts of AlgaePARC (Algae Production and Research Centre). The Gelderland provincial authorities are providing € 750,000 worth of funding for AlgaePARC.
The research centre will concentrate on studying the scaling-up of algae production and comparing various techniques. This will include aspects such as energy requirement, production costs and logistics. The ultimate aim is to be able to translate fundamental research at laboratory scale into the industrial production of algae. The Centre is due to open on Wageningen Campus in mid-May.
Companies from the energy, food, oil and chemical industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (formerly Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality), the Gelderland provincial authorities and Wageningen UR are all collaborating in or contributing to this algae research centre.
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