Project: Bean me up!

Project description

Problem

Sustainable. Climate neutral. Regionally cyclical. Agribusiness faces major challenges in the transition to sustainable agriculture. The CO₂– and emission-neutral design of the entire chain requires different production methods and shorter chains. These can only be developed if they also result in a positive business case for all chain partners. The food processing industry is one of the links in this chain.

There are plenty of market opportunities for protein-rich crops due to the increasing demand for responsible, locally produced protein. For example, there are short-term opportunities in the cultivation of legumes for human consumption and the rapidly growing market for vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian products.

New varieties and better knowledge about cultivation and the right place in the fruit succession can lead to an economically interesting cultivation and a broadening of the construction plan. Not least because legumes as papilionaceous plants have a positive effect on the quality (biodiversity) of the soil. Allowing the opportunities for legumes to grow also ties in with the requirements from the European Union to broaden the cultivation plans and fits in with the greening ambitions that have been set.

With the Bean me up! project, Hogeschool Inholland (leader) and the partners are giving the (process) technological and application development of the field bean chain a strong boost and are thus contributing to the sustainable strengthening of the region. In addition, a solid contribution is being made to the policy ambitions to achieve a regionally closed circular agriculture.

Approach

The activities that the partners in the project are carried out are clustered in five work packages. They investigate the field bean extraction and application and the bakery business model (WP1), the field bean extraction and application and the non-bakery business model (WP2), the business model of field bean cultivation (WP3) and the marketing model of field bean (WP4). The last work package (WP5) consists of the project management and administration. The researchers of Health & Food are the driving force behind work packages 2 and 5. Work package 1 is led by NMK-Esbaco and Donny Craves who, together with Inholland students Food Commerce & Technology, are already busy processing field beans in their bakery products (both B2C and B2B). Lecturer-researchers from Inholland, students from the University of Amsterdam and also teachers and students of Spark Education will participate in this.

Within WP2 we conduct process technology research and development into the extraction, production, application, formulation and sensory of vegetable protein from beans for the benefit of various food products such as dairy substitutes. The companies Biorefinery Solutions, Willicroft and Donny Craves are involved in this. In work package 3, cultivation is optimized and further developed so that growers, starting in the areas around the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, such as North Holland North, can implement it in an economically feasible way. Verify and CAV Agrotheek play an important role in this. In work package 4, Fresh Monkeys is an important player, they are good at marketing, storytelling and business communication with Donny Craves and Willicroft and are supported in this by the University of Amsterdam. The communication overall belongs to WP5, which also includes the administration, start-up, execution and completion in accordance with the project plan and project budget.

Expected results

• Detailed and validated process description for demand-driven optimal protein extraction from field beans and optimal process technology for the field bean business case.
• An optimized and validated cultivation, harvesting, processing and revenue model for field bean cultivation.
• Creating awareness and unlocking market potential of the short protein chain of the field bean, aimed at the agricultural sector, the processing industry and the end user (the consumer).
• Sustainable cooperation in the field bean chain in North Holland.
• Contribution to strengthening robust climate-neutral shortened chains in North Holland.
• The additional (sustainable) employment resulting from the projects carried out by the agri-companies, product processing and product valorisation and the knowledge institutions during the project period will also provide a boost to employment in the area.

Importance for education

Students from various programmes at Hogeschool Inholland, Vonk Onderwijs and the University of Amsterdam (jointly represented by the Amsterdam Green Campus) work with the professional field on innovative assignments and research. They take the knowledge they gain with them into education. In addition, the students make contacts within the future professional field and gain practical experience.

Partners

Publications

See here the first poster publication of Bean me Up!

Read here the complete master thesis of Tosca Wiedenhof, in which she investigates the environmental impact of the Dutch field bean with a Life Cycle Analysis.