EU CAP Network visits BETA TC and several of the companies with which it collaborates

The EU CAP Network, an initiative of the European Commission that works to facilitate communication and collaboration in the field of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) throughout the European Union, organised last week a visit to the BETA Technology Centre and several of the companies with which it collaborates in the framework of various rural development projects.

The activity, which was attended by around thirty participants from all over Europe, was part of the EU CAP Network’s own “cross-visit” programme. The aim of this programme is to provide opportunities for the informal exchange of good practices and solutions developed in the framework of Operational Groups, highly applied innovation projects that facilitate contact between the private sector and the world of research. In Catalonia, the Operational Groups are funded through the Rural Development Plan of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

The agenda of the visit was designed to provide real examples from which to discuss common challenges, brainstorm new ideas and exchange results of projects related to the valorisation of agricultural and forestry waste that are being carried out across the EU.

The group of participants in the visit represented up to 16 Operational Group projects being carried out in Spain, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Hungary and Greece, covering various approaches related to the practical application of circular bioeconomy strategies to increase sustainability in the agri-food and forestry sectors.

After a joint working session at the BETA TC facilities, the group followed the programme with a series of field visits to companies that collaborate with the centre, to learn about, among others, some projects in which anaerobic digestion is applied to produce biogas, but at the same time water can be recovered efficiently and high added value fertilisers can be produced from the digestate. They also had the opportunity to visit the experimental fields of CT BETA itself, where the agronomic potting of various biofertiliser products obtained from livestock manure is carried out, as well as some of its pilot plants.