Regions play a crucial role in achieving climate goals, especially in developing and accelerating the bioeconomy. But which province can best specialize in which biobased value chain, including the processing industry for textiles and building materials, is not always clear.
The report 'Regional supply of herbaceous biomass for local circular bio-based industries in the Netherlands' helps regions make targeted choices for the development of new sustainable circular value chains based in particular on fibrous biomass or bio-raw materials.
Specialization per region
The demand for biobased raw materials is growing steadily and each bio raw material has unique application possibilities. The transition to regional or even local supply of raw materials for circular bio-based industries is a complex process. It includes various aspects, such as primary production (cultivation), collection of by-products (such as reeds and roadside grass), investments in (scaling up of) conversion technologies from pilots to regional demonstration installations to implementations on an industrial scale. In addition, technological developments, coordination of volumes, cost prices for biomass and bio-based products, and the delivery of public values, consumer behavior, and regulations are all important.
This means that when choosing specific chains, provinces must not only look at available raw material flows and crops, but also at the impact on and interaction with other aspects. Not every chain fits in every region, so diversification between regions and informed choices are essential.
Martien van den Oever, senior researcher at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, emphasizes the importance of scale choices: “It ultimately comes down to choosing a logical scale in a logical location. Factories often operate on a large scale for economic reasons. One factory with a supply chain is often sufficient to meet the needs of a country like the Netherlands. At the same time, the Netherlands has considerable regional diversity. This requires regions and provinces to make choices about what they do and do not focus on.”
50.000 hectares of agricultural land for materials
The challenge is significant. If we want to replace 25 to 50% of fossil raw materials and imported fiber raw materials for textiles, insulation, facades, panels & boards and paper pulp, we need not only all available grass and reed production, but also the large amount of grain straw that is currently under land is plowed, and approximately 50.000 hectares of additional land for the cultivation of fiber crops. Although this may seem like a major challenge, it is not impossible in relation to the total Dutch agricultural area of 2,2 million hectares.
In addition, the cultivation of crops such as flax, hemp, Miscanthus and reed has a positive impact on biodiversity compared to traditional crops. This contributes to the natural values and can vary depending on local circumstances.
Why regions and provinces are crucial
To accelerate the transition to a circular bio-based economy and avoid the “chicken and egg problem”, coordination is essential. Farmers want guaranteed sales of crops, the market demands a guaranteed supply of (bio) raw materials and consumers demand products with proven performance. These stakeholders have different interests and are interdependent in the scale-up process, but often wait for each other to take the first step. Regional governments play a crucial coordinating and facilitating role in solving this chicken-and-egg problem. They have close contact with and influence on the necessary stakeholders, issue permits and are well informed about the local situation.
Source: WUR
Photo: still from video TSN AgriCultureVideos
