The four selected Operational Groups (OGs) of the 3rd EIP-Agri Call for Funding officially started their implementation on 30.07.2020 in Hedersleben, with prominent support from Prof. Dr. Claudia Dalbert (Minister for Environment, Agriculture and Energy of Saxony-Anhalt). In her speech, she stressed the importance of innovations in promoting a climate-neutral, resource-saving and resilient agricultural system. EIP-Agri enables the testing of sustainable, efficient and competitive solutions for the agriculture of tomorrow.
After three keynote speeches on the background and objectives of the projects, the Minister informed herself about the planned implementation steps. At the stands, visitors could sample Queller, a salty plant popularly known as "sea asparagus", as well as a wide range of market-ready products made from marjoram and hemp (tea, nuts, oil). In its EIP project, the OG Harz Hemp aims at the recycling of residual materials from food production (fibres, shives, press cake and pellets) with the aim of full utilisation of the plant close to the producer.
The regional added value is also strengthened by the OGs marjoram identification and marjoram breeding. Their aim is to breed, propagate and market particularly oil-rich, aromatic varieties adapted to climate change as "Thüringer Marjoram". In order to protect this quality feature, the OG is also developing a procedure for the court-proof proof of origin of admixtures.
A spontaneous culinary innovation was the combination of marjoram oil with Queller (Salicornia) at the stand of OG Grow Up Salicornia, which is testing the ecological cultivation of salt plants for marketing as food. In addition to the region's natural salt water resources, the project aims at the coupled use of by-products from potash mining for injection into the substrate in order to conserve valuable fresh water resources and increase resource efficiency.
After the minister's approval, the OGs exchanged views on their common concerns regarding processing, refining and marketing, and developed initial ideas for future cooperation. Further information can be found here.
Contact persons at IfLS: Oliver Müller, Svea Thietje & Dr. Ulrich Gehrlein (eip.sachsen-anhalt[at]ifls.de)
