Experience reports & successes

“The C02 footprint of peat is high (greenhouse gas emissions due to oxidation). In DE and NL together there are 58 million tons of C02, approx. 6% share of total CO2 emissions (DE), 4% of total CO2 emissions (NL). In the future, on thousands of hectares of moorland the water level will be raised to counteract the oxidation of these soils. The Interreg programme has funded innovative replacement production with almost EUR 0.5 million to give peat farmers alternatives to peat extraction. Instead of mining peat, in the future, chopped cattails will be used as substrates for horticulture or in potting soil. Through paludiculture (cultivation of plants on areas with high water levels), we were able to achieve innovative new production processes for cattail cultivation.”

“Interreg Germany-Netherlands has supported our project consortium Agropole Innovates with over EUR 3.5 to help become one of the most competitive, sustainable and innovative agribusiness/food regions in Europe. We are building an innovation platform for knowledge transfer and exchange and are developing solutions for the following topics:

• Evaluation of organic matter from insect production as a potential fertiliser and soil conditioner
• Reducing the use of pesticides through early detection of diseases and pests in tree nurseries
• Development of learning algorithms and use of AI to be able to react earlier to the dangers of plant diseases
• Improving animal welfare, resource efficiency and food safety through greater transparency in pig farming.

I am Managing Director of the Netzwerkverbund Agrobusiness Niederrhein and we are the lead partner in this project.”

“As a company in the biotech sector, we were able to benefit greatly from the EU investing over EUR 3 million in new drug development. The funding will allow us to develop a hydrogel that enables continuous drug delivery over weeks and replaces oral absorption. An innovative new form of painkiller treatment that helps save EUR 10-100 million in healthcare costs annually.”

“Climate change and the biodiversity crisis know no borders and are two major problems that we as a society can only solve together, across borders. This is why the Vereniging Nederlands Cultuurlandschap (VNC) and the Naturschutzzentrum im Kreis Kleve e.V. (NZ Kleve) have joined forces and launched the Landscape without borders project. Together, we are looking for ways to make the landscape in our project area, near Uedem, Goch, Weeze and Kalkar on the German side and Mook and Middelaar, Gennep and Bergen (L) on the Dutch side, climate-proof for the future, while also contributing to an increase in biodiversity.”